[rak-list] AACR/RAK

[Jim E Cole]

Dear Colleagues:

	Please pardon my writing in English.  It is my native language, and
I can express myself better in it.

	I have been a cataloger now for thirty years, first using the North
American text of the 1967 edition of AACR, and then the various versions of
the second edition of that code.  I have, however, for years preferred RAK 
over AACR; in fact, much of my writing over the years has been an attempt 
to inform the Anglo-American community about RAK, its logic and utility.  

	Because I have had the opportunity to observe both codes in
practice--AACR first hand through my work, and RAK through the Deutsche
Nationalbibliographie and online through the ZDB and various German library
catalogs, I am much distressed by your decision to abandon RAK in favor of
AACR and MARC 21.  This may indeed be an economic decision; perhaps it is
political.  That is, quite honestly, none of my business.  I am extremely
sad, however, to see the logic of RAK as it was originally framed abandoned
in its entirety, and felt it necessary to express my extreme dismay.

	However such a turn of events has been executed, one thing is clear
to me: the better catalog code is disappearing, and the Joint Steering
Committee for the Revision of AACR is further extending its authority in
Europe, while Germany will undoubtedly have a greatly diminished voice in
international cataloging decisions.  German libraries will suffer from
another disruption of their catalogs and databases, and catalog users and 
catalogers alike will have to be re-educated once again.

	Thank you for your time.

Jim Cole

---
Jim Cole, Editor-in-Chief
THE SERIALS LIBRARIAN
http://www.ameshomeschool.org/serialslibrarian