Re: [Cohsl-list] Greek diacritics in cataloging records

Send CoHSL-list mailing list submissions to cohsl-list(a)lists.fas.harvard.edu To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit http://lists.fas.harvard.edu/mailman/listinfo/cohsl-list or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to cohsl-list-request(a)lists.fas.harvard.edu You can reach the person managing the list at cohsl-list-owner(a)lists.fas.harvard.edu When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than "Re: Contents of CoHSL-list digest..." Today's Topics: 1. Greek script diacritics in OCLC records (Robert Rendall) 2. Eco Lending Library (KALAMOS BOOKS) 3. Eco Lending Library (KALAMOS BOOKS) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message: 1 Date: Mon, 01 Feb 2010 14:43:15 -0500 From: Robert Rendall <rr2205(a)columbia.edu> Subject: [Cohsl-list] Greek script diacritics in OCLC records To: cohsl-list(a)lists.fas.harvard.edu Cc: Peter Fletcher <pfletcher(a)library.ucla.edu>du>, David W Reser <dres(a)loc.gov>ov>, Polyxeni Georgiadi <pg2032(a)columbia.edu>du>, Robert Maxwell <robert_maxwell(a)byu.edu> Message-ID: <4B672ED3.6050508(a)columbia.edu> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Colleagues - I am serving on the PCC Task Force on Non-Latin Script Cataloging Documentation. This group has been charged with producing "authoritative and comprehensive documentation on providing equivalent fields in non-Latin scripts that provides for consistent application across available scripts." We are aware that in most records with Greek script currently in OCLC, the diacritics that normally appear in Greek text are omitted. We have also been told that is it technically possible to enter Greek script with appropriate diacritics in OCLC by using the same MARC-8 combining diacritics used by catalogers in OCLC for Latin script (see for example the contents notes in OCLC record #428012280 for Progymnasmata quae exstant omnia, with Greek script added by Brigham Young University; this record passes OCLC validation). The two diacritics needed for contemporary, post-1982 modern Greek orthography can be entered reasonably easily in OCLC using the "Enter Diacritics and Special Characters" menu. All the other diacritics needed for pre-1982 and classical Greek can also be entered, but some are not available from this menu in OCLC, and special keystroke combinations need to be set up to produce them. Entering valid combining diacritics in local systems before uploading records to OCLC might present further complications. All of this is quite different from the way Greek is usually entered and encoded in other contexts on the Web, I think, and text with diacritics produced by other methods cannot be copied into OCLC records. The CoHSL list is the only place where I have found any discussion of Greek diacritics in OCLC records (in a few messages from 2007). My group will be recommending standards to be followed by the Library of Congress and other participants in the Program for Cooperative Cataloging. I would welcome any comments on whether we should recommend that entering Greek diacritics should be encouraged or required for items in post- and/or pre-1982 orthography, given that they would have to be input as described above. I would particularly like to hear from any catalogers in other libraries currently entering Greek script in bibliographic records. Please forward this message as appropriate. Thank you, Robert Rendall