Automatic Authorities Processing--Oh No!!

["Occidental College Library CAS Dept." <acqdept@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Greetings All:

While we slowly boil into oblivion (expected temperatures of 105 this
weekend),
and prepare for all the protest groups who will attend the Democratic
Convention, I'm sitting here reading through last week's discussion of
Automatic Authorities processing.

I'm sad to read that Authorities-Processing Vendors (whose names I shall not
repeat) treat all Series as "Series Traced Differently".  (hold on, those of
you who do not know Catalogese--it gets better).

I've long been averse to making local changes about use of MARC fields,
(in our case, USMARC) because you simply do not know how your library
system will evolve in the future, and I consider it generally better to use
USMARC as defined, and then use the fields reserved by USMARC for local
uses.  In this way, we can more confidently migrate to new versions, or
share data with Consortial databases, or even change to a different library
system.

So I join Gene Fieg at STClaremont in lamenting such practices, because it
results in duplication.  I don't think it's _bad_, I just would prefer to
use USMARC the way it was defined, and use the "local" fields for creative
or unusual
uses.  I can see the ease with which Haverford's Authorities Vendor can now
scan the database, identify needed changes, and get the changes done.  But
I wish the Vendor's software was sophisticated enough to look for 440s,
830s, and make appropriate changes.

We'll be visiting this issue in the coming months, as we take on Automatic
Authorities Processing.  Who knows what I'll decide!!

--Mark (who reaches over to turn up the fan speed ...)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---
Mark Braden                             Internet: mbraden@xxxxxxxxxx
Catalog/Systems Librarian               Facsimile: 323.341.4991
Occidental College Library              Voice: 323.259.2668
1600 Campus Road
Los Angeles, California  90041-3392

,,George ist auch der beste kleine Geschirrspueler in Texas."
                        --Barbara Bush, Ehefrau von George Bush
                                _Zeit_, 11.2.94




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