[rak-list] AACR2 und RAK

[Charles Croissant]

Liebe Kolleginnen, liebe Kollegen,

die Veröffentlichung der deutschen AACR2-Übersetzung ist auch auf der
amerikanischen Seite des grossen Teichs zur Kenntnis genommen und in
unserer AUTOCAT-Liste erörtert worden. Auch kam bei uns neulich die
Frage auf, wie zukunftsträchtig die AACR seien. Eine Nachricht an die
AUTOCAT-Liste von einem kanadischen Kollegen, J. McRee Elrod,
veranlasste mich, folgenden kurzen Aufsatz zu verfassen und an die
AUTOCAT-Liste zu schicken. Ich schickte diesen Beitrag auch an Frau
Monika Münnich, die mir daraufhin den Vorschlag machte, ich sollte ihn
auch an die RAK-Liste geben. Ich komme ihrer Bitte gerne nach:

> J. McRee Elrod wrote:
> > Is AACR going to survive, or will it be replaced?
>
> My prediction is that it will grow increasingly international, with
> anglo-centric provisions becoming more language neutral, resulting in even
> more wide use.
> It's already being used outside the English language community, or
> influencing rules in other languages, because with all its faults it has
> no peer.


German catalogers would, I imagine, take issue with the statement
"because with all its faults it has no peer." They are understandably
proud of RAK, the German cataloging code, and are ready to back up their
assertion that RAK has a more strictly logical structure than AACR2. Be
that as it may, I'm quite happy to be an AACR2 cataloger - it's a great
cataloging code (though -- like all of us, I'm sure -- I'm aware of its
faults). The organization of AACR2's chapters is very user-friendly, and
it is a great plus that it incorporates rules for all types of formats
and for dealing with all languages. So I would hope that AACR2 will
survive, while continuing to be revised and improved.

I hope very much that Mr. Elrod's prediction is correct, and that
AACR2's
anglo-centric provisions will become more language neutral, and that it
will become more international in this way.

I was heavily involved in the project that translated the text of AACR2
into German (the intent was to make AACR2 more accessible for German
librarians to study, not to promote the use of AACR2 in Germany), and in
doing so, I became more aware than I had been of just how anglo-centric
AACR2 is. Indeed, I came to the conclusion that any cataloging code is
bound to be anchored in a national "mind-set", if you will. It is not
feasible, in my opinion, to simply transport AACR2 into a
non-English-speaking country without modification; rather, it is
necessary to create a new version of AACR2 that contains modifications
tailored to the country in which it is meant to be used. In other words,
in the library world, there is no "one size fits all" solution. AACR2 is
definitely making its presence felt internationally, but we in the
Anglo-American community needn't therefore assume that everyone will be
better off if they simply adopt AACR2 lock, stock and barrel (not that I
mean to imply that Mr. Elrod is assuming such a thing; I am speaking in
general terms here).

The goal of greater harmonization of cataloging codes is one we should
all be pursuing. I would hope, as we go about this, that we work to
inform ourselves about the various solutions that various codes have to
offer, and then select the most promising set of solutions - but we
should be aware, at the same time, that the set of solutions that work
in one country may not be the set that is best for some other country. I
feel that ultimately, the needs of each country's user community must be
seen as paramount - so that in the final analysis, it may not be
possible to create a single international code that is uniformly applied
throughout the world. What we should hope for is the largest possible
degree of harmonization among codes, based perhaps on an updated and
expanded version of the Statement of Principles of 1961. 

As an example of other solutions to cataloging problems, RAK has rules
for determining main entry under a corporate body that are more
clear-cut and easier to apply than is AACR2's rule 21.1B2: they rely
less on determining the content of an item and more on the formal
presentation of information on the title page. This would spare us some
of the hair-splitting we occasionally indulge in when interpreting
21.1B2.

Many German catalogers support the idea of continuing to work on a major
revision of RAK ("RAK2"), one of whose goals is to incorporate a number
of changes that bring it closer to AACR2. This seems a promising
scenario.

sincerely,
Charles Croissant

mit freundlichen Grüssen,
Charles Croissant
-- 
Charles R. Croissant
Catalog Librarian
Pius XII Memorial Library
Saint Louis University
3650 Lindell Blvd.
St. Louis, MO  63108-3302
(314) 977-3098
croisscr at slu.edu