A Tale of Two Standards: recent developments in standardisation, and their impact on MulDiCat and the Best Practice for National Bibliographies

Abstract

This paper explores how the Multilingual Dictionary of Cataloguing Terms and Concepts (MulDiCat) and the Best Practice for National Bibliographies are taking different paths to adapt to the needs of the professional community as well as the moving landscape of bibliographic standardisation. While one is moving away from being a standard, and describes the whole range of possibilities rather than laying down the law, the other one wants to be a full-fledged standard, as it claims its position as a reference glossary for all IFLA bibliographic standards. In both cases though, it is interesting to notice that strategic orientations stemmed from practical considerations.