Svensk Biblioteksförenings kommitté för katalogisering (The Swedish Library Association, Cataloguing Committee)

Gunilla Jonsson
Chair of the Cataloguing Committee
2003-01-15

Reply to: ISBD(ER) Revision Proposals of November 2002 by the IFLA Section on Cataloguing’s ISBD Review Group

We do endorse most of the responses issued by Library of Congress Policy and Support Office (2003-01-07). We want, however, to add a few points.

Elimination of area 3 and revision of 5.1.1 – we accept the elimination of area 3 with some reluctance, primarily because we do not find it sufficiently clear where in the record the information will be visible to the common user instead. We anticipate that the issue be revisited when the Joint Steering Committee of AACR2 has finished its review of the GMD. Like LC, we also think the text in 5.1.1 must be clear as to whether it is talking about GMDs or SMDs, which the proposal isn’t.

Revision of area 8

8.1.1 – we agree with LC that the distinction between numbers that shall be handled according to 8.1.1 and 7.12 is too difficult. We would, however, for the time being, prefer to treat all numbers used as identifiers on electronic documents according to area 8 rather than according to 7.12. The note area does not seem quite suitable to this kind of information which needs recording in a well structured part of the record and which needs to be easily and quickly located. If anything, an identifier is even more important for electronic resources than for traditional publications.

8.1.2 – LC questions the transcription of the PURL example, but even the URN example has an incorrect syntax, it is given as ”urn:ietf:rfc1630”, it should be urn:ietf:rfc:1630. We also think it would be more appropriate if an example of an URN with a namespace of the publishing world be given, URN:ISSN:[xxxx-xxxx], e.g.

For the Swedish committee,
Gunilla Jonsson
chair