[rak-list] AACR/RAK

[Margarete Payer]

Liebe Kolleginnen und Kollegen,

ich moechte diese Mail sehr unterstuetzen: die gleichen Erfahrungen habe ich
gemacht waehrend meiner verschiedenen Praktika in den USA: immer dann, wenn
es Diskussionen um die korrekte Auslegung der oft sehr schwammigen
AACR2-Regeln gab, brachte ich die im allgemeinen sehr eindeutige RAK-Loesung
ein. In vielen Faellen wurde die Loesung dann uebernommen.
Aus der Ferne verfolge ich mit Kummer, dass in einem so wohlhabenden Land
wie Deutschland und mit den fundierten bibliothekarischen Kenntnissen in
Deutschland man aufgibt, ein modernes Regelwerk zu schaffen, das auch fuer
die Reform von AACR Vorbild sein koennte.
Hier in Bolivien sind leider solche Kenntnisse im allgemeinen nicht
vorhanden (fuer die Katalogisierung verwendet man mehr oder weniger eher
weniger AACR 1. Aufl.!, weil man sich alles andere nicht leisten kann.)

Schoene Gruesse aus La Paz
Margarete Payer
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jim E Cole" <jecole at iastate.edu>
To: <rak-list at ddb.de>
Sent: Tuesday, December 11, 2001 12:21 PM
Subject: [rak-list] AACR/RAK


> 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
>