As someone who uses OCLC WorldCat occasionally for bibliographic research, I
am often amused if not totally shocked by some of the felicitously incorrect
contributions. I was looking up a book titled The Artist in America,
Compiled by The Editors of Art in America, and published by W.W. Norton in
1967, to determine its authorship (i.e., Art in America? Editors of Art in
America? Lloyd Goodrich, introduction?).
What I found was a complete surprise. The author is Art in America (A
Musical Group).
Here's the citation in brief:
The Artist in America.
Art in America (Musical group)
1967 [1st ed.]
English Book 256 p. illus. 29 cm.
New York, Norton
---------------------------------
This is the only citation for this book in OCLC. It indicates 1199
libraries own this book. Do all of these librarians accept Art in America
as a rock band, a singing group, a jazz combo, or a string quartet perhaps?
I'm trying hard to imagine then septuagenerians Jean Lipman, Mary Black and
Lloyd Goodrich in any of these roles; unfortunately OCLC is rather vague
about the kind of musical group they formed.
As subscribers, we are encouraged to add comments or reviews. I have
offered a correction but have no idea if it will be accepted or included.
Oh for the good old fashioned National Union Catalogue.
Do librarians write these bibliographic entries, or are they outsourced
to the overseas editors of Rolling Stone?
Raymond Smith / R.W. Smith Bookseller
New Haven
__________________________________________________________________
Mail submissions to [log in to unmask]
For information about joining ARLIS/NA see:
http://www.arlisna.org/join.html
Send administrative matters (file requests, subscription requests, etc)
to [log in to unmask]
ARLIS-L Archives and subscription maintenance:
http://lsv.uky.edu/archives/arlis-l.html
Questions may be addressed to list owner (Judy Dyki) at: [log in to unmask]
