The Joint Steering Committee did not finish early on Friday, but we did complete consideration of all the priority issues in the responses to the RDA full draft.  During our meeting, I think we considered and resolved over 500 comments, out of almost 1200 comments received.

The discussion jumped around, picking up a number of issues postponed from previous days.  I am going to start with a separate discussion on Appendix J and then report on the remaining issues in the order in which they appear in the RDA draft.

Appendix J: Relationship designators for related works, expressions, manifestations, and items

There were a large number of errors in the text of Appendix J included in the full draft.  In the present discussion, the JSC worked from a clean copy in which all of the errors had been corrected.

The JSC reviewed the conceptual structure of Appendix J and how the designators are to be used, but (in general) did not make major structural changes.  Some of the more significant decisions about specific designators include:

• It was decided that all definitions should include the identification of the "Reciprocal relationship: ...".
  

• Designators for relationships between a libretto and the musical work will be included under Complemented by (work) and Complemented by (expression).
  

• Designators for relationships between a cadenza and the musical work will also be included under Complemented by (work) and Complemented by (expression).
  

• Definitions of Augmented relationships will use the term "predominant" to describe the augmented entity.
  

• Continuity of numbering was removed from the definition of the continues relationships. Supersedes relationships will not be distinguished from continues relationships for serials. However, designators for the supersedes relationships will be retained with very general definitions.
  

• After long discussion and much drawing of pictures, it was decided that the reciprocal of "Separated from" was "Continued in part by". The fact that this was not intuitive was the reason the JSC decided to identify reciprocal relationships explicitly.
  

• Both "electronic reproduction" and "digital transfer" designators will be retained, but "digital transfer" will be limited to digital-to-digital transfers, as "electronic reproduction" is already limited to analog-to-digital transfers.
  

• Designators for both the reproduction and reprint relationships will be retained, but the latter will become a narrower term under the former.
  

• The "offprint" designator will be deleted.
  

Chapter 3: Describing carrier

• Instructions will be added to the sections on recording extent for specific types of resources, to specify the use of singular or plural forms of terms as appropriate. [line 454]
  

• There is a distinction between reels (the physical housing) and rolls (the material rolled onto the reels); the instructions for dimensions need to allow either to be measured, as a roll may exist that are not wound on a reel. In the list of carrier types, categories need to be added for film roll and microfilm roll.  [line 484]

Chapter 6: Identifying works and expressions

• The instruction dealing with changes in responsibility for the creation of a work will be revised to call for revising the authorized access point, rather than creating a new access point for a new work.  [6.1.3.3; line 553]
  

• Instructions on recording names of languages will refer to ISO 639-3, which is a more complete list of languages than ISO 639-2.  [line 602]

Appendix H: Dates in the Christian calendar

• H2, conversion of dates to the Gregorian calendar, will be deleted.  There are an abundance of resources available for making the determination as needed; RDA does not need to replicate this information.  [line 1048]

Appendix I: Relationship designators ...

• The captions will be revised to say "Relationship designators for persons, families, and corporate bodies associated with works" [etc.]  [line 1051]
  

• Language will be added to each section of Appendices I, J, and K to indicate that one may assign either a broad relationship designator or one of the narrower designators. [line 1052]
  

• The JSC will not create a complete alphabetical list of the designators; we are hoping that the RDA software will support a browse of the terms.  [line 1053]
  

• (a) The name of the Producer (2.21) will be changed to Producer of an Unpublished Resource; this will allow "producer" to be used for producers of film, radio, and television works. (b) In Appendix I, two new terms (Director, Producer) will be added to I.2.2; the current terms for Film producer, etc., will become narrower terms under these designators. [line 1064]
  

• In the definition of "arranger of music" (I.3.1), we agreed to change "... the musical substance of the original composer ..." to "... the musical substance of the original composition ..." -- although we were tempted to leave it in order to see whether anyone was paying attention.  [line 1068]
  

• We agreed to merge the designators for "choreographer of ..." into a new designator "Choreographer (Expression)" and to merge the designators for "composer of ..." into a new designator for "Composer (Expression)".  [lines 1071 and 1072]

Appendix K: Relationship designators for related persons, families, and corporate bodies

• It was agreed that this appendix should be labelled as "provisional" for the first release of RDA.  [line 1095]
  

Glossary

• The term "atlas" will be limited to "A volume of maps or other cartographic content ..." [line 1132]
  

• The definition of "captioning" will begin "Text representing speech ..."  An additional sentence will be added to the definition: "Excludes subtitles" in a language other than that of the spoken content. [line 1134]
  

• General carrier categories that are not actually used as Carrier types (e.g., cartridge, cassette) will be removed from the Glossary.
  

• Although recognizing that the definition of "computer" applies only to the use of this term as a Media Type, we decided not to revise or add to the definition, due to some complicated considerations (believe me, you do not want to know!) about how the RDA software is expected to display definitions when a user clicks on terms occurring in the text of RDA. [line 1141]
  

• New terms Adaptation and Arrangement will not be added to the Glossary, but the narrower term Transcription [of a musical work] will be removed.  [line 1157]
  

Final thoughts ...

The JSC said semi-official farewells to a number of people whose involvement in RDA will end on June 30.  These are (in order of seniority):

Nathalie Schulz, who has been JSC Secretary for 8 years, who is amazingly diligent and productive, always a joy to work with, and whose organizational efforts are probably responsible for the fact that we completed all our work this week.

Hugh Taylor, who has ably represented CILIP for over 5 years, and whose sound judgment we often depend on and whose sense of humour (so spelled in honour of his British sensibilities) -- although sorely tested by the RDA development process -- has never failed to raise our spirits.

Tom Delsey, the RDA Editor, whose vision of what RDA should be -- both in its overall conceptual shape and in its remarkably consistent and tightly-crafted details -- will remain at the heart of RDA even after his active participation ends.

Marjorie Bloss, the RDA Project Manager, who refused to give up on an impossible task -- herding cats doesn't begin to express it! -- and whose efforts to keep very diverse groups of participants on track were both gracious and persistent.

And finally, Marg Stewart, whose term as Chair of the Committee -- although thankfully not as the CCC representative -- comes to an end at the end of June.  Marg has served as Chair during a critical, and challenging, time in the development of RDA and has brought to the task her experience, common sense, integrity, and (perhaps most important) the patience of a saint!

Tonight, the JSC is feeling a strong sense of standing at the end of a long road. The nature of the JSC will change considerably in the next year or so, not only because of the need to operate without the contributions of those who are leaving the project, but also because the nature of the task will be changing in many ways.  The road ahead is still obscured by fog, as many decisions have yet to be made, but we are looking forward to having a completed RDA product to maintain.

Chapter 6: Identifying works and expressions

Thursday morning began with a discussion of proposals dealing with the additional instructions for musical works and expressions (5JSC/LC/12 and related documents).  In spite of limited time and a large number of complex, contentious issues, the JSC managed to agree on a significant number of changes to the text in the RDA full draft. 

Barbara Tillett and Judy Kuhagen had worked very hard to compile a list of the areas of agreement. Kathy Glennan and Mark Scharff joined me in presenting the ALA position.

The report below is often lacking in detail; don't expect to find detailed wording of the instructions involved; a more detailed report on these revisions will be given later, when I have had a chance to check my notes with Kathy and Mark.

• An exception that allows the preferred titles of a numbered sequence of works in a particular form (e.g., the 9 Beethoven symphonies) to be consistently formulated was moved from the instructions on recording the preferred title (6.15.2.4) to the instructions on choosing the preferred title (6.15.2.3) and reworded.
  

• The instruction to delete initial articles from the preferred title were deleted in 6.15.2.4 because an earlier instruction had already specified that omission.
  

• The special instruction for trio sonatas was deleted, as this is covered by other instructions.
  

• The instructions on recording the preferred title of a part of a musical work were revised.
  

• The scope of Medium of performance was revised: "instrument, instruments, voice, voices, etc."
  

• The instructions and table under Standard combination of instruments (6.16.1.5) was reworded to make the instructions clearer.
  

• The instructions for one or more solo instrument (6.16.1.9) was reworded to combine the two paragraphs in the full draft.
  

• The instructions for recording terms such as "mixed solo voices" were revised to be applicable "if no specific voice types or ranges can be ascertained".
  

• Minor revisions were made to the instructions on Choruses (6.16.1.11).
  

• The instructions on Indeterminate medium of performance (6.16.1.13) were revised.
  

• The caption at 6.17.1.1 was changed to Numeric designation of a musical work; a new second paragraph was added to 6.17.1.3.1, dealing with inconsistent numbering of a series of compositions; 6.17.1.3.3 was revised to allow all types of numeric designations to be recorded in this element, not just the one (or more) that will be included in the preferred access point.
  

• The definition and instructions on recording the key (6.18) was revised to clarify that "Key is designated by its pitch name and its mode, when it is major or minor".

• In 6.28.1.3, the phrase "single song" was changed to "single excerpt".
  

• 6.28.1.4 was deleted because it deals with non-musical works and is covered by the general instructions.
  

• The scope of 6.28.1.4 was reworded: "For a musical work composed for choreographic movement, such as a ballet, pantomime, etc."
  

• The caption at 6.28.1.4 was changed to "Operas and other dramatic works with new text and title".
  

• Additional instructions were added to the section on cadenzas (6.28.1.8) to deal with cadenzas that do not have titles.
  

• A catch-all instruction will be added to allow for the creating of variant titles when the cataloger feels they are appropriate.
  

• A new section will be added to specify a variant access point for a libretto based on the preferred access point for the musical work.
  

• The caption and scope of the instructions for Music or incidental music composed for a dramatic work will be expanded to cover "dramatic work, film, etc."
  

• The instructions to base the preferred access point for a libretto on the preferred access point for the musical work were deleted; access points for librettos will be formulated according to the general instructions, but a variant access point (new section reported above) will be provided based on the preferred access point for the musical work.
  

• A new section will be added to specify a variant access point for a cadenza based on the preferred access point for the musical work for which the cadenza was composed.
  

• The caption and scope of 6.28.1.12 was changed to "Additions to access points for musical works with distinctive titles".
  

• The instruction for musical sketches (6.28.3.4) was revised.
  

• The instructions on librettos as musical expressions (6.28.3.6) were deleted; librettos are being treated as related works.
  

• "Variant" was added to "access point" in a few instructions in which it was missing.
  

There were a number of comments on other parts of RDA that were related to this discussion:

• It was agreed to remove the limitation on the number of instruments, voices, etc., that may be recorded as Medium of performance.  [7.21.1.3; line 714]
  

• In the Glossary, a definition of "Distinctive title" was added; "Non-distinctive title" will not be added; the term "Type of musical composition" (with "musical" deleted) will be retained and revised.  [lines 1154, 1163, and 1167]
  

There was agreement that any issues in the LC/12 documents not discussed will be deferred until after the first release of RDA.

After the discussion on musical works and expressions, the JSC resumed its consideration of priority issues in the constituency responses to the full draft.

Chapter 25: Related works

• It was decided that publishers' numbers and plate numbers should not be used as identifiers for use in indicating relationships; examples will be removed from Chapter 25 and 27.  Examples of ISBNs as relationship identifiers are only appropriate in Chapter 27, Related manifestations; examples will be removed from Chapter 25.  The examples of identifiers in Chapters 24-28 will only show the identifier.  [line 954]

Appendix A: Capitalization

• It was agreed to add a paragraph allowing agencies to use internal guidelines on capitalization of transcribed data; this will be limited to the recording of attributes of manifestations and items.  [line 989]
  

• Key will be deleted from the exception at A.3.2; the first "word" of a key statement will be capitalized.  [line 990]
  

• The capitalization instructions for "Serbo-Croatian" (A.48) will be split into three sections for Bosnian, Croatian, and Serbian.  [line 996]

Appendix E: Record syntaxes for access point control data

• E.2, which gives the current AACR2 presentation instructions for access points, will remain limited to AACR2 rules.  If any additional access point control elements are added to RDA, the JSC will need to decide whether to maintain this section or to allow it to become obsolete.  [line 1028]

The final day will deal with Appendices I, J, & K; with the Glossary; and with a few priority comments for which we did not have time earlier in the week.  We expect to end the meeting early, with all of the priority comments having been discussed.

The JSC had another productive day, ending up well ahead of schedule.  Unfortunately, my notes became increasingly cryptic as the day progressed, so I haven't tried to report on all the decisions.

Chapter 6: Identifying works and expressions

• A definition of "reference source" will be added to the Glossary: "Any source form which authoritative information may be obtained, including authority files, reference works."  [line 560]
  

• It was confirmed that the designation "Selections" will never be the preferred title, but will always be added to some conventional preferred title, such as "Works."  [6.2.2.11.3; line 571]
  

• The instructions on preferred titles for the Bible does not include provision to add "Selections" because "Selections" is not part of the preferred title (6.23.2.9.7) but rather is an addition to the preferred title (6.30.3.2).  Instructions and references will be added to 6.30.3.2 and to 6.25 that will specify the addition of "Selections" when appropriate. [line 632]
  

• The instructions on access points for works will include a reference to the scope of the Creator element, in particular to the instructions on corporate body as creator in 19.2.1.1.  [line 642]
  

• It was confirmed that compilers are only considered to be creators in the case of compilation of factual information (e.g., bibliographies, dictionaries), but not in the case of compilations of aggregate works.  In other words, there was no intention to change the AACR2 rules relating to collections, which will be entered under the preferred title.  6.27.1.4 will be revised to clarify this, as will the definitions of Compiler and Editor of Compilation in Appendix I.  [line 644]
  

• An exception will be added at 6.27.2 to allow access points for episodes of moving image works to be formulated with the preferred title of the work, followed by the preferred title of the part.  [line 651]

Chapter 8: General guidelines

• The scope of Person will be expanded to include fictitious persons.  As a result of this, works that purport to be created by fictitious persons such as Miss Piggy will be treated as creators of those works.  [9.0; line 730]
  

• The definition of Family was expanded to "two or more persons related by birth, marriage, adoption, civil union, or similar legal status, or who otherwise present themselves as a family".  [8.1.2; line 731]
  

• The scope of Undifferentiated name (8.11) will be limited to names of persons.  [line 741]

Chapter 9: Identifying persons

• The instruction at 9.2.2.9 will be rendered gender-neutral: "married persons identified only by a partner's name".  [line 764]
  

• The apparent contradiction among various examples that include "saint"; "saint" is not part of the preferred name (9.2.2.9.6) but is part of the access point (9.19.1.1).  [line 767]
  

• Instructions for recording elements such as date of birth (9.3.2.3) need to specify a particular way of recording dates because the instructions for access points simply refer back to these instructions.  This was in part because it was desired to be able to construct access points algorithmically by picking up the content of the related elements and adding them to the preferred title.  [line 785]
  

• Limitations on recording elements only when needed as part of a preferred access point will be removed; it is also legitimate to record elements when needed as part of a variant access point.  [9.6.1.4; line 789]
  

• It was agreed that the distinction between Field of activity and Profession or occupation was difficult to make.  However, in part because these are distinct elements in FRAD, it was decided to defer making any change.  [9.15, 9.16; line 792]

Chapter 10: Identifying families

• It was confirmed that families must meet the definition, i.e., two or more related persons; it is not sufficient that the name include the term "family".  Therefore, the Partridge Family, which a fictitious family but a legitimate corporate body, will be treated as the latter.  [line 800]

Chapter 11: Identifying corporate bodies

• An ALA proposal to deal with ruling executive bodies was deferred until a formal proposal can be presented for consideration.  [11.2.2.19; line 827]
  

• The instruction at 11.2.3.3 that refers to multiple identities was an error in the full draft. The concept of multiple identities is limited to persons.  [line 852]
  

• Date of usage is also limited to persons.  [line 852]
  

• Text will be added to the exception at 11.3.2.3 to explain the conditions under which the name of an institution is given instead of a local place name as location of a conference.  [line 858]
  

• Number of a conference, etc., will be made a separate element in Chapter 11, and will be identified as a core element.  [line 877]
  

• It was agreed that access points for conference need not always include the location. All additions to names of conferences will be made "when applicable and readily ascertainable."  The World Series example will be moved the the section of the instructions dealing with a series of conferences, etc.

Chapter 17: General guidelines on recording primary relationships

• It was agreed to move the term "related" from this chapter, to help distinguish Section 5 from Section 8.  [line 914]
  

• "Item of manifestation" will be changed to "Exemplar of manifestation".  [17.11; line 918]

Chapter 18: General guidelines

• An instruction was added allowing use of relationship designations that are not listed in Appendix I, J, or K.

Chapter 25: Related works

• There was a long discussion of how contents notes ended up in Chapters 25 and 27, as relationships, rather than in Chapter 7, as an attribute describing content.  Contents notes will remain as structured descriptions of parts of the resource being described, but a reference at 7.10 (Summarization of content) will point to Chapters 25 and 27 for contents notes.  [line 951]
  

There will be no JSC meeting on Wednesday; the JSC will be meeting with the CoP in the morning and will have at least part of the afternoon to recover.  I won't be posting a report.

Thursday morning the JSC will consider issues relating to names of musical works (5JSC/LC/12 etc.).  On Thursday afternoon, we will resume consideration of Chapter 25 and subsequent sections, including the appendices and glossary.

The JSC had another busy meeting on Monday, and for the first time, we failed to complete discussion of all the priority comments (those for Chapter 3); we hope that we can come back to the unresolved priority comments later in the agenda.  We did cover chapters 4, 7, 5, and began discussing Chapter 6.

Chapter 3: Describing carriers

• The JSC agreed that number of frames of still images should be recorded as part of the extent statement (3.4.1.7) rather than in a note (3.22.2.10).  [line 438]
  

• The exception for early printed resources that says to record all sequences of unnumbered leaves or pages is followed by a later exception that says not to record sequences of unnumbered leaves or pages containing advertisements.  To resolve this conflict, we agreed to delete "all" from the first exception. [line 467]
  

• The JSC agreed to change the caption at 3.4.5.10 from Folded leaves and pages to Folded leaves on the grounds that it is physically impossible to fold a page.  We left unresolved the question of how to record the extent of an item that has folded leaves containing numbered pages. [line 471]
  

• The Japanese orihon format (a sheet folded accordion style) will be treated as a volume.  An example of a note explaining the format will be added to 3.22.7: "Leaves are joined end to end and folded accordion style."  [line 473]
  

• The definitions of Base Material and Applied Material were simplified, in part to allow Base Material to be used when there is no applied material. I don't have access to the exact text of the revised definitions tonight.  [3.6, 3.7; line 490]
  

• The JSC confirmed that Type of recording (3.16.2) should be confined to how a resource is encoded for playback.  Details about an analog capture recording from which a digital recording for playback has been made can be recorded in a note.  The values for this element will not be limited to analog and digital, in order to allow for other recording formats such as acoustic.  [lines 500-502]
  

• An element sub-type for Resolution will be added to 3.19, Digital file characteristics; this will allow the resolution in pixels or megapixels to be recorded.  [line 508]
  

• Regional encoding will remain in 3.19, Digital file characteristics rather than 3.18, Video characteristics.  3.18 is used only for attributes of analog recordings; attributes of digital video are included in 3.19.  [line 513]
  

• We observed that 3.22 is not a complete list of notes on carrier characteristics; in addition, there are instructions on recording details (as notes) under many of the elements in Chapter 3.  [line 523]

Chapter 4:  No decisions to report.


Chapter 5: General guidelines

• The definition of "access point" was clarified (a) to indicate that the term includes both authorized [formerly "preferred"] and variant access points, and (b) to indicate that access points in Section 2 cover both works and expressions.  [5.1.3; lines 541-542]

Chapter 6: Identifying works and expressions

• 6.2.2.8 for incunables will be deleted, because the instructions are consistent with the general instructions for pre-1501 works (6.2.2.5)  [line 568]
  

• "(normally the year)" will be removed from 6.4.1.1 and other scope statements; the specific instructions will be given in 6.4.1.3 and comparable instructions.  This resolves an apparent conflict between the scope and instructions. [line 578, etc.]
  

• Original language of work will be deleted, as this element was removed from FRAD.  All language information is at the expression level.  The language of the original/first expression of the work can be recorded in a note.  [6.7; line 589]
  

• It was agreed that the definitions of identifiers (6.9.1, etc.) will contain language indicating that the identifier may also be for a surrogate for the work [etc.] (e.g., an authority record).  [line 591]
  

• Some possible discrepancies between the text and the element analysis table were pointed out and the explanation is one of the things that will have to be explained to catalogers using RDA.  Note that, for example, there are two elements named "Date of work" (6.4 and 6.21); it was explained that the sections and subsections of the additional instructions for musical, legal, religious, etc., works are often not formally defined as elements, but are simply additional instructions for elements defined elsewhere.  Therefore, 6.4 and 6.21 are in fact one element.  Furthermore, the subsections of 6.21, dealing with date of promulgation of a law and date of signing of a treaty are not in fact element subtypes, but are simply additional sets of instructions under the Date of work element.  All of this is further complicated by the fact that many of these non-elements are labeled as core elements.  The JSC took a deep breath and decided that (a) the names of the section of additional instructions will be given distinctive names, e.g., 6.21 will be named "Date of legal work" and (b) the core element requirements will make it clear what the core element in question actually is: e.g., for 6.21 and its subsections, the core element required is "Date of work". [line 620]
  

• It was decided that not all examples of preferred title of expression or of preferred access points of expression need to identify a single separate expression, but that at least one example should show how the preferred title or preferred access point for a single expression would be created.  The most common example is that of a translation; many of the current examples identify all the expressions in a particular language, which is legitimate, but we would like to see at least one example that identifies a particular translation.  [line 654]

Chapter 7: Describing content

• The scope statement for Nature of the content (7.2.1.1) will refer to the "primary content".  [line 671]
  

•  The definitions of longitude and latitude will be generalized so as not to be limited to the Earth.  [6.4.2; line 673]
  

• The use of abbreviations for academic degrees will not be specified in 7.9.2 and abbreviations for academic degrees will not be added to Appendix B; however, the examples under 7.9.2 will continue to use abbreviations.
  

• The scope of Date of capture (7.11.3) will be revised to allow recording a range of dates.  [line 682]
  

• Form of notation (7.13) will be expanded to include form of notated movement.  [line 686]
  

• The terms under Form of tactile notation (7.13.4) will be changed to braille code, computing braille code, mathematics braille code, Moon code, music braille code, tactile graphic, tactile musical notation.  Level of contraction (e.g., Grade 2) will be treated as a detail to be recorded in a note.  [line 688-689]
  

• The revised definitions of full screen and wide screen provided by ALA were accepted.  [7.19.1.3; line 706]
  

The Joint Steering Committee had Sunday off, so naturally I have delayed making my report on Saturday's meeting until the last minute.

The JSC finished its discussion of Chapter 2, having dealt with all the priority issues, and began its discussion of Chapter 3.

Chapter 2: Identifying manifestations and items

• The JSC spent about an hour trying to resolve some issues relating to sources of information, before finally admitting that these could not be resolved before the initial release of RDA.  The problem is complicated, but involves the lack of a clear instruction to prefer a source that contains a collective title, as well as the exceptions in 2.2.2.4 that prefer a label that is permanently affixed to the resource over a label or container that is detachable.  We agree that the results of the current instructions are problematic, but were unable to find a solution that we were confident would not cause other problems.  This issue will probably be a high priority for revision after the initial release.  [line 133]
  

• The JSC revised the next-to-last paragraph of 2.2.2.2: "use as the preferred source of information another source within the resource that bears a title, giving preference to sources in which the information is formally presented.  [line 146]
  

• The two paragraphs following the first list in 2.2.4 will be moved to 2.2.2.1 where they will clarify sources for analytical descriptions, and the definition of container. [line 150]
  

• The sources of information for key title will be (in order of preference): the ISSN Register, the resource itself, any other source.  [line 210]
  

• The following will be added to the list of types of edition designations in 2.5.2.1: "g) particular voice range or format for notated music".  [line 238]
  

• The summary sources of information instructions for Numbering at 2.6.1.2 will be deleted; the instructions will be given for each sub-element; those instructions allow information to be taken from any source within the first issue or part. [line 252]
  

• In 2.6.3.3 and elsewhere, instructions to use square brackets will be replaced by a reference to 2.2.4, where use of square brackets is one of several options for indicating that information was taken from outside the source. [line 259]
  

• In 2.8.4.7, the text was revised to make it clear that the distributor's name is to be recorded as such, not as the publisher's name; furthermore, the instruction to record the distributor's instead of the publisher's name was deleted.  When there is no publisher identified, it will be necessary to record "name of publisher not identified"; the decision to record the name of the distributor will thus be independent of whether the publisher is named.  [line 308]
  

• The ALA proposal that ISSNs of series be taken from any source was withdrawn when I realized that this was the ISSN in the series statement (490$x), not the ISSN itself (022). [2.12.8.2; line 364]
  

• ALA had asked that instructions on changes in mode of issuance be added.  We decided that the only case in which a change in mode of issuance did not result in a new description would be a change from a single unit to a multipart monograph, serial, or integrating resource.  There are additional issues about whether such changes should require a new description; therefore, the issue was deferred until after the first release of RDA.  [2.13; line 378]
  

• The JSC agreed to add "trade name, brand name" before "agency, etc." in 2.15.1.4, thus allowing the recording of recording labels as qualifiers to publishers' numbers.  The "Nimbus" example in 2.15.2 will be deleted (that instruction is limited to notated music); the references in 2.15.2 and 2.15.3 back to 2.15.1.4 will be deleted, so that it will not be required to give the name of the agency assigning the number.  [line 392]
  

• It was agreed to move the ISRC example to Chapter 6, as this is an expression-level identifier.  [2.15.1.4; line 394]
  

• The instruction at the end of 2.20.2.4 to make a note on deletions will be broadened to include other types of title changes.  [line 406]
  

• In 2.20.12.5, "always" will be deleted; the date an online resource was viewed will not need to be given in every case.  [line 413]

Chapter 3: Describing carriers

• The JSC decided that the list of carrier types at 3.3.1.2 would not be converted into a table. The footnotes will be added to the Glossary definitions.  It is anticipated that the terms will be linked to the Glossary definitions in some way. [line 425]
  

• The JSC did not agree to add "audio file" and "streaming audio file" to the list of carrier types; these categories will have to be negotiated with the RDA/ONIX group.  [lines 427-428]
  

• The JSC did not agree to add "flash drive" to the list of computer carrier types; again, this category will have to be negotiated with the RDA/ONIX group.  An example will be added to the appropriate instruction under Extent.  [line 429]
  

• The scope note "Use for photographic carriers only" will be deleted from the Projected media carriers list.  [line 430]
  

• The JSC agreed to add "Object" to the list of unmediated carrier types.  [line 432]
  

• "Videodisc" was deleted from the list of video media carrier types, and will be reinstated.  [line 433]
  

• It was agreed that all terms in the Production method for manuscripts element will be given in the singular.  [3.9.2; line 492]
  

• The Font size element will be generalized to Text Characteristics, with two sub-types: Font Size and Other Text Characteristics; in the future, instructions for other sub-types may be added.  [3.13; line 497]

Today the JSC worked through comments on the General Introduction and Chapters 1 and 2.  The following are some of the more important decisions:

Chapter 0: General Introduction

• The list of core elements will be prefaced by a rationale for the core list.  This will state that the core elements are those most significant for performing certain user tasks and will list the user tasks which the JSC has identified as the most important (from 5JSC/Chair/15).  The ALA suggestion to define the core elements as a certification that certain elements should always be considered when applicable (instead of being required when applicable) did not resonate with the group.  The core elements will be stated as required when applicable and readily ascertainable.  [line 36]
  

• Language of expression will be added to the list of core elements at 0.6.3.  [line 55]
  

• Medium of performance (for music), Numeric designation (for music) and Key (for music) will be always be core elements for works with non-distinctive titles, not just when needed for differentiation or when included in an access point.  These elements will be core elements for works with distinctive titles, when needed for differentiation.  [0.6.3, line 58]
  

• Elements relating to dates will be core elements for persons, families, and corporate bodies, not just when needed for differentiation -- i.e., the elements will be moved from the second list to the first list in 0.6.4. [line 61]
  

• Expression manifested will be a core element only when more than one expression exists. [0.6.5; line 65]
  

• Contributor will not be a core element (this resolves a conflict between 0.6.6 and 20.2) [line 67]

Chapter 1: General guidelines

• The concept of "re-basing" will be limited to updating loose-leafs (i.e., it will not apply to online integrating resources):  "Create a new description for an integrating resource if a new set of base volumes is issued." [1.6.3.3; line 105]
  

• Punctuation of numbering statements: An exception will be added to 2.6.1.4 and 2.12.9.3 to specify use of the slash for numbering of double issues and spanned dates. [line 117]
  

• After discussion various ways to give unspecified dates when decade or century is certain or probable, the JSC decided to use 1.9.2.4 and 1.9.2.11 to specify the date or range of dates.  This eliminates the ambiguity of 1900s (century or first decade).  [line 121]

Chapter 2: Identifying manifestations and items

• The definition of alternative title (2.3.2.1) will be revised based on the definition in the ISBD. [line 158]
  

• "Parallel title" and "Paralel title of series" will be changed to "Parallel title proper" and "Parallel title proper of series".  [2.3.3, 2.12.3; line 164]
  

• The definitions of parallel elements was changed so that it no longer refers to the language of the title proper, but to the language of the information recorded in the element.  For example, parallel other title information is other title information in a language other than that of the statement recorded as other title information.  I don't have the exact language, and I think the result will make my sense than my attempt to explain it. At least I hope so!  [line 181, etc.]
  

• It was agreed that earlier and later titles should not be treated as variant titles; the names will be changed to Earlier title proper and Later title proper. [2.3.6-2.3.8; line 187]
  

• The JSC once again refused to acknowledge the legitimacy of the concept of continuing resources, even in the definition of the Key Title element.  [line 209, etc.]
  

• It was agreed to add "supplied title" as a cross-reference to "devised title" in the Glossary [line 212]
  

• The exception that calls for omitting statements of responsibility relating to editors of serials will be reinstated, as Statement of Responsibility is now a core element. [2.4.1.4; line 224]
  

• "Statement of responsibility relating to the title" will be changed to "Statement of responsibility relating to the title proper."  The same change will be made for "Parallel statement of responsibility relating to the title proper." [2.4.2; line 229]
  

• The list of sub-elements under Numbering of serials will be expanded to eight, to cover first/last designation in a sequence; first/last chronology in a sequence; first/last alternative designation in a sequence; first/last alternative chronology in a sequence.  [line 250]
  

• The instruction on year used as a numeric designation will be moved from 2.6.3 to 2.6.2; a reference will be included in 2.6.3.  [line 258]
  

• A new section will be added to 2.20 to cover notes on details of copyright dates.  [line 355]
  

• The definition of Frequency will be reworded based on the ISBD definition: "intervals at which the issues or parts of a serial or the updates to an integrating resource are issued" [line 384]

Discussion of priority comments on Chapter 2 will continue tomorrow and we will begin discussion of priority comment on Chapter 3.

Today was the first session of the JSC meeting.  The morning was taken up with an Executive Session.  The afternoon was devoted to a series of general comments on the full draft of RDA and to the first part of a discussion of the General Introduction (Chapter 0).

Before reporting on decisions made, let me outline the parameters for this meeting.  First, this will be our final opportunity to make changes to the text of RDA before the first release.  At the end of the meeting, the Editor will have from one to eight weeks (depending on the nature of the changes) to deliver marked-up PDF files to the developers.  All changes must be agreed to during this meeting (i.e., by the end of our session on Friday, March 20); after that, we will only be able to correct outright errors.

Second, we will only be able to deal with priority comments from the constituency responses.  We have identified those comments; there are about 400 of them.  So far, we seem to be a bit ahead of schedule, but we are not at all certain that we can deal with all the  priority comments.  Any comments not considered by the JSC will have to be dealt with after the initial release of RDA.

General comments on the full draft

Decisions included:

• We decided to use the phrase "authorized access point" instead of "preferred access point"; we will continue to use "preferred title".

• We decided to use the phrase "character string" instead of "alphanumeric string".

• We decided that instructions on recording details about an element -- as opposed to recording a term or terms -- will be given as separate instructions; in the full draft this was done in Chapter 7, but not in Chapter 3.

• The centered captions for groups of elements will be reinstated, but will not display in the contents pane.

• Additional CJK examples will not be added for the first release; in fact, we have been informed that the first release will not be able to include any CJK examples.

• Footnotes containing definitions will be replaced by links to Glossary; footnotes containing instructions will be moved into the text; the only remainint footnotes will be those giving bibliographic citations.

Chapter 0. General Introduction

The following decisions were made:

• "human and non-human" will be deleted from definition of person; this leaves person defined as an individual, and users of RDA will need to decide whether this includes non-human individuals; at this stage, there will be no specific instructions (or examples) for access points for non-human individuals, so users of RDA will need to decide whether to apply the general instructions to non-human individuals.  RDA will not forbid this practice, but will (at this point) do nothing to support it. [0.3.3, line 16]
  

• The JSC noted that the principles of Representation and of Language Preference, as they are used in RDA are not in fact consistent, but no more so than other conflicting principles.  One action that reduces this inconsistency somewhat was to remove the phrase "(in order of preference)" from the third paragraph of 0.4.3.4.  [lines 25, 28, 29]

• Core elements: The JSC decided that when sub-elements are included in the list of core elements, both the element and the sub-element should be identified as core. [line 35]

• The instructions for recording core elements will say that the element should be included if applicable "and readily ascertainable."  [0.6.1; line 39]

• Devised title will not be considered a formal element sub-type.  When the cataloguer must supply a title proper, the devised title is the title proper.  [line 40]

• Place of Publication, Place of Distribution, and Place of Manufacture will be added to the list of core elements.  [0.6.2; line 44]

• The core requirement for subject relationships will be simply to record one subject relationship element for the work. The list of potential subject entities will be removed from 0.6.7 [line 68]

Discussion on the General Introduction will continue on Friday.

Note: The line numbers given above are to the response table for the full draft; I have included them for my own tracking purposes.  Please ignore.

The following is the report that I submitted to ALCTS, CCS, etc., on my activities as ALA Representative to the JSC between June 2008 and January 2009:

Content development for RDA: Resource Description and Access is winding down, and the product development is gearing up.  In addition, now that we have a complete text for RDA, implementation planning can begin.

Since my last report in June, 2009:

In August, RDA was presented at a very successful IFLA satellite conference at the IFLA Annual Conference in Québec City.  Both the code and the RDA online product generated considerable interest.

The Joint Steering Committee worked through a number of remaining issues, completing consideration of all of the priority issues from previous constituency reviews, and forwarded the content for the full draft of RDA to the developers near the beginning of September, 2008.  The full draft was finally released on November 17 for a brief constituency review.  It was not possible to issue the draft in a pre-release version of the online software, as we had hoped, and the process for producing the text for the PDF files released for the review was far from smooth. However, the draft is now out and is being reviewed.

The JSC will be meeting from March 12-20 in Chicago at ALA Headquarters. At that meeting, we will make decisions on any outstanding issues, specifically those raised in the responses to the full draft. We plan to turn over as final text to the developers early in June 2009. At the March meeting, we will also begin to consider how to maintain RDA, including how to deal with a long list of issues that we had decided we could not include in the first release of RDA.  We expect that there will be substantial updates to RDA in the coming years.

Product development:  A prototype of the RDA software was demonstrated at the ALA Midwinter meeting.  The Co-Publishers expect that RDA will be released during the third quarter of 2009.  They have begun to release some preliminary information about pricing and licensing, which includes both one-time and subscription prices.

RDA testing:  The Library of Congress, National Agriculture Library, and National Library of Medicine will be testing RDA once it is released.  They are looking for about 20 institutions or individuals to join them in the test.  Preparation for the test (training of participants and practice work) will take about three months; the test will take another three months; after that, the results will be evaluated and announced.

 

John Attig

ALA Representative

Adam Schiff, chair of Examples Group II sent me some comments on some of the ALA comments in our response to the full draft, and asked me to share them with you:

Form of work (6.3) is required only when needed to differentiate a work from another work with the same title, which is not the case here. It also seems redundant to apply in this case, since the preferred title is "quintets" and the form is "quintet". This is an instance when RDA haphazardly veers between calling for explicit recording of data previously inferred from context and retaining those omissions, presumably in the interest of legacy data.

This example would also be more helpful if it were to include the construction of a preferred access point.

Adam's comment:

In this example, the form of work is required to distinguish a variant title for the work from the preferred title for another work by the same composer.  The form of work also is needed to distinguish other variant titles for the work from variant titles for another work by the same composer.  The only way to include the qualifier (Quintet) in the variant access points (see the three 400 fields in the MARC example on p. 83-84 that include this qualifier) is to have recorded this qualifier in the Form of work element.  Schubert also wrote a song titled Forelle, and that song is also known by the titles Truite and Trota.

So in this particular case, while form of work is only required when needed to differentiate one work from another work with the same title, it is recorded here (optionally) to distinguish one work from an identical variant title of another work.

9.2.2.5.3

9.2.2.5.3 b), examples Li An (p. 12) and Ang Lee (p. 14): There is a director whose name is established as "Lee, Ang, 1954- ." Users of RDA aware of this director will believe the examples misrepresent the instruction. A further note should be added to clarify that the examples are referring to the Chinese author Li An.

This example actually is for the motion picture director.  I do not see how this example misrepresents the instruction.  Ang Lee the director has made Chinese language and English language films. The systematically romanized form of his name is Li An.  The well-known name established in English language reference sources is Ang Lee.  The fact that the authorized heading for him has a date in it, is immaterial to the examples here.

0.10:  "Specified elements" refers to the lists of transcribed elements vs. recorded elements and the different ways in which things like numbers and dates are treated in RDA.

0.11:  This instruction allows for alternative vocabularies -- which is what allows use of both codes (treating the MARC code lists as alternative vocabularies) and terms in languages other than English to be recorded.

Wow, those were my only comments on the Introduction.

The first draft of the response is not complete; editing and fine-tuning remain.