RDA and the “cascading vortex of horror”: proposals for simplification of RDA Alan Danskin Metadata Standards Manager, British Library British Library Representative to Joint Steering Committee for Development of RDA ISNI:

2 From JSC Agenda JSC/ALA/29 Clarifying core element status for “not identified” elements in the Distribution and Manufacture Statements (RDA 2.9 and 2.10)6JSC/ALA/29 6JSC/ALA/Discussion/4 Transcription issues associated with the Production Statement (RDA 2.7)6JSC/ALA/Discussion/4 6JSC/BL rep/1 Simplification of RDA JSC/BL rep/1

3 Overview Imprint From Panizzi to RDA Cascading Vortex of Horror Problems with imprint in RDA What is to be done? Next Steps Links

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5 Panizzi’s 91 Rules XXVII Then the place where the book was printed; and in particular cases, as in the instance of early or very eminent typographers, the printer's name to be specified. Next the date : when no date or place is specified, then either or both to be given, if known to, or conjectured by, the librarian ; but in these instances to be included in brackets. The form to follow, whether fol., 4to, 8vo, &c.

6 AACR 138. Imprint. A. Order of elements. The imprint is recorded in the catalog entry in the conventional order of place, publisher, date. C. Printer's imprint as a substitute for publisher's imprint. If neither the place of publication nor the publisher is named in the work and the place of printing and the name of the printer are, the latter are used in the imprint Place of publication. Preliminary note. The place of publication is the place in which the offices of the pub- lisher are located. It is commonly designated on the title pages of his publications, immediately preceding or follow- ing his name Publisher. A. General rule. The publisher statement appearing on a work is abridged as much as possible without loss of intelligibility or identification of the publisher Date. A. General rule. An imprint date on the title page is always recorded. F. Date uncertain. If there is no imprint date given in the book and the exact date cannot be ascertained, a date is supplied....

7 AACR2 1.4B. General Rule 1.4B1 In this area, record information about the place, name, and date of all types of publishing, distributing, releasing, and issuing activities. For unpublished materials, see 1.4C8 1.4B2 Record information relating to the manufacture of the item in this area. 1.4B3 When more than one place, name, or date is recorded in this area, give them in the order that is appropriate to the item being described. 1.4B4 Give names of places, persons, or bodies as they appear, omitting accompanying prepositions unless case endings would be affected. Use abbreviations as instructed in appendix B B 1.4B5 If the original publication details are covered by a label containing publication details relating to a reproduction, reissue, etc., give the publication details of the later publication in this area. Give the publication details of the original in a note if they can be ascertained readily. 1.4B6 If an item is known to have fictitious publication, distribution, etc., details, give them in the conventional order. Supply the real publication, distribution, etc., details as a correction if they are known.

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9 Changes from AACR2 to RDA AACR2RDA RecordTranscribe Record shortest form Penguin Generally don’t omit information Penguin Books Aggregate functions Publication, Distribution, etc. Area Separate functions Production Statement Publication Statement Distribution Statement Manufacture Statement Chapter 4 ManuscriptsDistinction between published unpublished resources

10 Some issues Cascading vortex of horror Published and Unpublished resources Transcription and identification Resource Discovery requirements Complexity

11 “Cascading vortex of horror…?”* “Refers to the chain of instructions the cataloguer may be required to follow in order to satisfy the core requirements, when a piece of information is not available.” * Phrase Attributed to Kathy Glennan

12 For example… Publication Statement Edinburgh : Canongate Books, 2013 Publication statement when all components are known. Publication Statement Edinburgh : [publisher not identified], 2013 Distribution Statement Kirkcaldy : Danskin Distribution, [2014] Statements required when core element cannot be identified

13 Published and Unpublished resources Publication“Products” Books, Serials, Scores, Commercial Recordings, etc. Archives, Manuscripts, artworks, naturally occurring or manmade objects, etc. “Self describing”Not self describing Explicit statement by publisherNo statement TranscriptionTranscription …of what? Explicit statement by publisherNo statement AuthoritativeDubious, erroneous, unclear

14 Transcription and identification Transcribed note Imprinted at London by Thomas Este, the aßigné of William Byrd, & are to be fold at the houfe of the fayd T.Este, being in Alderfgate street, at the figne of the black Horfe Publication Statement : London : Thomas Este, 1590 Distribution Statement: London : T. Este, [1590] Manufacture Statement London : Thomas Este, 1590

15 Discovery relying on transcribed data Thomas Este T. Este  Thomas Est Thomas Easte T.E. T. East Find things printed by T. Este

16 Discovery relying on controlled data Thomas Este  T. Este  Thomas Est  Thomas Easte  T.E.  T. East  Find things printed by T. Este

17 ICP Objectives and Functions of the Catalogue The catalogue should be an effective and efficient instrument that enables a user: to find a single resource to find sets of resources representing: … all resources defined by other criteria (language, place of publication, publication date, content type, carrier type, etc.), usually as a secondary limiting of a search result;

18 FRBR User Tasks FRBR User TaskFINDIDENTIFYSELECTOBTAIN Group 1 EntitiesWEMIWEMIWEMIWEMI Attributes of a manifestation Place of publication/distribution L L L L H Publisher/distributor L H LL H Date of publication/distribution MML MMH MM H H Fabricator/manufacturer L L L Relationships Between a Manifestation and: persons/corporate bodies responsible for production/dissemination M

19 RDA and use cases

20 Complexity 4 Statements x 5 elements 54 Pages 186 instructions Conditional core requirements Optional additions Option omissions Exceptions Alternatives Different from AACR2

21 What’s to be done? 1.Separate the IDENTIFY and FIND tasks: –Same data cannot support both 2.Replace aggregate elements with simple statement transcribed from source –Production Statement an exception? 3.Use relationships to support collocation –How far can we take this? 4.Propose new elements/instructions to fill gaps –What are the wider implications

22 Choices There are different approaches I have illustrated the main options in two scenarios Scenario A (lighter touch) Scenario B (major impact)

23 Summary of Scenario A Transcribe dates in –i.e. do not apply instructions for numbers recorded as words, etc. at RDA 1.8 Deprecate subordinate elements –i.e. Place, Name, Date Define new elements Date of Manifestation & Place of Manifestation to record controlled form of dates or names of places

24 Example 1; Scenario A 2.8 Publication Statement Imprinted at London by Thomas Este, the aßigné of William Byrd & are to be fold at the houfe of the fayd T.Este, being in Alderfgate street, at the figne of the black Horfe ? Place of Manifestation London 2. ? Date of Manifestation relationship to Publisher East, Thomas, 1540? – 1608?

25 Summary of Scenario B Transcribe dates in –i.e. do not apply instructions for numbers recorded as words, etc. at RDA 1.8 Deprecate New Element 2.7 Issuance Statement Deprecate subordinate elements for Place, Name and Date Extend model to –Unconstrain Place entity – Add Timespan entity

26 Example 1; Scenario B 2.8 Issuance Statement Imprinted at London by Thomas Este, the aßigné of William Byrd & are to be fold at the houfe of the fayd T.Este, being in Alderfgate street, at the figne of the black Horfe relationship to Publisher East, Thomas, 1540? – 1608? 23.? relationship to Timespan ? relationship to Place Sign of the Black Horse, Aldergate Street, London

27 Example 2: Scenario B 2.7 Issuance Statement Published by: Prospect, London. Printers: Wyndeham (Peterborough) Limited, 21.3 relationship to Publisher Prospect 21.5 relationship to Manufacturer Wyndeham Limited 23.? relationship to Timespan Published ? relationship to Place Published

28 Benefits: Scenario B More consistent instructions on transcription No aggregate elements Simpler to apply: No cascading vortex of horror Shorter text Simpler metadata

29 Benefits: Scenario B Richer discovery Variant terms Place Entity and Timespan Entity Attributes, e.g. calendar; script; system of numeration Wider applications, e.g. Place of Birth; Date of Work Extensibility

30 Scenario B

31 Simplification: Pages RDA ReferenceCurrent TextScenario AScenario B Date of Manifestation020 Place of Manifestation020 Total54327

32 Simplification: Instructions RDA ReferenceCurrent TextScenario AScenario B Date of Manifestation070 Place of Manifestation070 Total

33 Wider issues Substantial changes to instructions Changes to RDA element set Changes to MARC 21 Additional subfields and indicators for 264 New fields Changes to FRBR model New entity Timespan Remove constraints from Place ISDB

34 What happens next? Constituency responses to JSC papers due by 4 th October JSC meets in Washington, D.C. 3-7 November Minor changes could appear in RDA April 2015 Update Major issues will need further work, even if agreed

35 Links to RDA Joint Steering Committee for Development of RDA RDA Toolkit RDA Registry

36 Links to papers discussed

37 Links to IFLA IFLA Statement of International Cataloguing Principles cataloguing-principles Final Report of the IFLA Study Group on Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records (FRBR) bibliographic-records