Towards an International Cataloguing Code Ten questions to Barbara Tillett

Abstract

Barbara Tillett discusses with Mauro Guerrini on the process of recognition of the world cataloguing practices, started in Frankfurt, July 2003, with the First IFLA Meeting of Experts on an International Cataloguing Code - IME ICC1. The interview is centred on this process and on its comparison with the revision of the AACR2 by the Joint Steering Committee (JSC) of the AACR, that in 2007 shall result in the drawing out of a new edition of the code.
Mauro Guerrini, starting from the question of the comparison between the traditional cataloguing practices and the new methods for codifying and retrieval in the digital environment (metadata, search engines, etc.), asks an account on the second meeting held in Buenos Aires, and on the state of the work on the 5 year plan of IME ICC, putting the emphasis on the main challenges and the principal questions in the writing of an international cataloguing code, in the context of an information environment in rapid evolution.
Another series of questions is about the relationship among the revision of AACR2, that is moving toward a new code and whose publication is intended for 2007 and the IME ICC process; there is an aspect on how conciliating principles and rules and another one related to co-operation among persons taking part to both the process.
A final question in centred on the future asset of the code(s), on what will be demanded on an international level and what at a national level; in particular, on this aspect the gap existing between cataloguing practices and theories around the world might affect the internationalisation.