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Open discussion of RDA, RDA Toolkit, and related topics

  • 1.  titles for legal briefs

    Posted Jul 26, 2022 04:53 PM
    I've been looking over records for legal briefs, pleas, etc. and I've found that there are multiple ways in which we and/or other institutions handle the Court, case number, and caption in the title proper/245:

    In the Supreme Court of the State of California, John H. Saunders and Clement Boyreau, plaintiffs and appellants, vs. William S. Clark, defendant and respondent : ǂb brief of appellants / ǂc Saunders & Campbell, J.B. Felton, atty's for appellants.

    In the Supreme Court of the State of California, John H. Saunders and Clement Boyreau, plaintiffs and appellants, vs. William S. Clark, defendant and respondent, brief of appellants / ǂc Saunders & Campbell, J.B. Felton, atty's for appellants.

    In the Supreme Court of the State of California : ǂb John H. Saunders and Clement Boyreau, plaintiffs and appellants, vs. William S. Clark, defendant and respondent : ǂb brief of appellants / ǂc Saunders & Campbell, J.B. Felton, atty's for appellants.

     John H. Saunders and Clement Boyreau, plaintiffs and appellants, vs. William S. Clark, defendant and respondent, brief of appellants / ǂc Saunders & Campbell, J.B. Felton, atty's for appellants.*

     John H. Saunders and Clement Boyreau, plaintiffs and appellants, vs. William S. Clark, defendant and respondent : ǂb brief of appellants / ǂc Saunders & Campbell, J.B. Felton, atty's for appellants.*

    *with a note that reads "In the Supreme Court of the State of California at head of title."

    If you were cataloging this according to RDA, which of these would you use?


    --
    Jessie Sherwood
    Associate Librarian
    The Robbins Collection
    University of California Berkeley, School of Law
    Tel: 510.643.1236
    jcsherwood@law.berkeley.edu



  • 2.  RE: titles for legal briefs

    Posted Jul 27, 2022 09:16 AM
    I have almost never cataloged any of these, and our library doesn't catalog many of them, but I think I would prefer the last example.

    ------------------------------------------
    John Hostage
    Senior Continuing Resources Cataloger
    Harvard Library--Information and Technical Services
    Langdell Hall 194
    Harvard Law School Library
    Cambridge, MA 02138
    +(1)(617) 495-3974 (voice)
    +(1)(617) 496-4409 (fax)
    ISNI     0000 0000 4028 0917



    Original Message


  • 3.  RE: titles for legal briefs

    Posted Jul 27, 2022 09:33 AM
    I assume the variations reflect different interpretations of 'title proper' and how it appears in the layout of its recording source [used to be source of information]. The general issue is the differentiation and extraction of the components of a 'title statement'. The original Toolkit followed ISBD in a 'title proper' + 'other title information' + statement of responsibility (relating to title proper)' structure, but has always been fuzzy with the boundaries of these components. Part of the cause is the mixed utility of 'title proper' as a browseable label, as a source of a title-specific keyword index, and as support for the user task 'identify' in the context of the principle of representation (how the manifestation describes itself).
     
    The official RDA Toolkit introduces manifestation statement elements for the last utility, encoded in MARC 21 tag 881.

    881 ##$cIn the Supreme Court of the State of California, John H. Saunders and Clement Boyreau, plaintiffs and appellants, vs. William S. Clark, defendant and respondent, brief of appellants, Saunders & Campbell, J.B. Felton, atty's for appellants.
     
    [I assume this is a reasonable normalized transcription of the title page ...]
     
    The official Toolkit retains separate elements for the components. A title keyword index can be generated from 'title proper' (or the broader 'title of manifestation'). Processing the title for authority control is accommodated in the "access point for manifestation" elements.
     
    Fuzziness remains:
    In this example, what is the value of the title proper (defined in RDA as "A nomen that is a title of manifestation that is selected for preference in a specific application or context"), and what is its relationship to access points?

    Cheers

    Gordon




    Original Message


  • 4.  RE: titles for legal briefs

    Posted Jul 27, 2022 01:12 PM
    Official RDA isn't in use yet, so its want of clarity isn't worrying me just yet, but, yes, different logics would prompt different decisions.  If I were falling back on AACR2 where RDA (the one in current use) is unclear, I'd go with option five.  If I were following the logic of the layout, I'd use the third or the fifth option. If I were following the logic of the filing,* I would use the second option.

    * I worked in a law firm that did a lot of litigation and some appellate work before I came to Berkeley. This case could well have been Saunders and Boyreau v. Clark in the District/Superior Court, the Court of Appeals, and the Calif. Supreme Court and dozens (even hundreds) of briefs, motions, etc. would have been filed in its course, so the court, the caption, and the type of brief/motion/etc. are equally integral information for naming and identifying what I have in hand.

    --
    Jessie Sherwood
    Associate Librarian
    The Robbins Collection
    University of California Berkeley, School of Law
    Tel: 510.643.1236
    jcsherwood@law.berkeley.edu




    Original Message