Quoting MJ Suhonos <[log in to unmask]>: >> dcterms so so terribly lossy that it would be a shame to reduce MARC to it. > > This is *precisely* the other half of my rationale — a shame? Why? > If MARC is the mind prison that some purport it to be, then let's > see what a system built devoid of MARC, but based on the best > alternative we have looks like. OK, now I've got to go back and define my terms, sorry I was unclear .... 1. MARC the data format -- too rigid, needs to go away 2. MARC21 bib data -- very detailed, well over 1,000 different data elements, some well-coded data (not all); unfortunately trapped in #1 So, back to my statement, let me re-state it as: "dcterms is so terribly lossy that it would be a shame to reduce MARC21 bib data to it." You might want to browse around in http://kcoyle.net/rda/ where I have made simple lists of the RDA data elements (because that's easier for me to view than looking in the rather complex RDA documentation or the metadata registry, and I haven't yet made a similar list for MARC21). Some of those elements may seem to be overkill ("Alternative Chronological Designation of First Issue or Part of Sequence"), but the fact is that someone somewhere in cataloger land has found a use for it. And where in RDA elements you have, for example, Place and date of capture Place associated with the corporate body Place associated with the family Place of birth Place of capture Place of death Place of distribution Place of manufacture Place of origin of the work Place of production Place of publication Place of residence I don't think any of these are available in dcterms. My general rule has always been to retain the most detailed level of granularity that you can, because in indexing, display, etc. you can easily mush elements together, but once you've put them together it's devilish to get them back apart again. I'll do more work on enumerating the MARC elements. Some data is here: http://futurelib.pbworks.com/Data+and+Studies That also has links to some CSV files of MARC elements that make it easy to play with them (deduping, sorting, counting, etc.). It's those files that need to be made into something more useful, which will take some editing and analysis. kc -- Karen Coyle [log in to unmask] http://kcoyle.net ph: 1-510-540-7596 m: 1-510-435-8234 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 1-510-435-8234 end_of_the_skype_highlighting skype: kcoylenet