On Tue, Nov 18, 2003 at 07:52:04PM -0500, Morbus Iff wrote: > Is that something anyone would be interested in? I suspect there are a huge > amount of problems with the approach (most prominently that the idea of > using > tag numbers was to reduce typing in the first place), but has anyone ever > had some non-MARC-expert intern try to modify some code and screw it up? > Would "English"'d methods like this be helpful?
It really depends on who you anticipate using the module. I suspect for working catalogers who have to scrape subfields and indicators from under their fingernails at the end of a day, the non-English'd methods are faster and easier. So it seems to me, and I'm 6 or 7 years out of practice as a cataloger. I don't have a good sense of how many non-catalogers and non-library-staff want to work directly with MARC data. I'm certain that you aren't the only one. My assumption is that most folks will be interested in getting data out of MARC for use in systems that make more sense for their purposes, but not in writing it back to MARC. If you decide to write something for inclusion in the MARC:: family of modules, I would suggest that you do some form of usability testing (be it merely informal polling of potential users) to see if their understanding of the semantics of your method names corresponds to your intentions. That's where I would expect problems to arise. Chuck
