So, as I said a few days ago, I have been out of the library
game for awhile. But I have a persistent question regarding MARC and BIBFRAME.
Maybe it’s been answered already, and if so, some kind person needs to point me
to the answer so I can lay my feelings to rest on the matter.
Here’s my question: BIBFRAME is in English. Does this bother people? Did it once bother a lot of people and it's now all fixed up and has a resolution?
I know that English has become sort of the lingua franca
(haha) of the digital world, but I’ve always seen the strength in MARC as its
language independence. I may not speak German, and the German across from me
doesn’t speak English, but we both know what a 300 field is. BIBFRAME is, I’ve
heard, being experimented with by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek. Are they
using a translated version that has a crosswalk to English? Or is it just
English and they have to learn it? How do they feel about this? How do other
countries’ library folks feel about this English-centric model? I’m so curious,
and I haven’t really had time to dig very deep into this question of mine in
search of answers, but it seems absolutely of vital importance if this is
supposed to be a framework on which we rest all of our future cataloging. Which is why I assume that someone smarter than me has figured this out already. I just don't know what they did about it, and would like to.
