Data Formats Books

I started using this book to become familiar with all the MARC fields and tags, and how to use them. Except for the several mistakes in the answers, I thought that the first section (on 008 field) was very good. But I was sadly disappointed in the following sections. In fairness, the introduction of the book explains that this book is only to reinforce your understanding of MARC (but you didn't know that until you had the book in front of you). I assumed this was a book to teach how to use the MARC format. (I just ended up taking another few classes on MARC-- then I could understand this book-- defeats my purpose of having bought the book though). I haven't used the other 2 sections of the book (AACR2 & Authority control) so can't comment on those. But if you need to learn about MARC, this isn't the book for you.

Although the idea is good, the execution of this national standards review misses the mark. Mr. Stitt was unfortunate to have based his overview on an outdated model. All of the information I reviewed fails to reflect the current AIA and CSI documents, despite a copyright date later than the current national standards. The level of detail is inadequate for providing standard guidelines suitable to assure compliance.

I have read several books authored by Mr. Stitt - however, this particular book was especially poorly edited. The content of the book itself was fine and useful.

I found it ironic that a book dedicated to elevating the precision and accuracy of architectural construction documents would be burdened with so many spelling errors, repeat sentences, slang comments (I guess to give some personality to the author) and out of context information. The book was difficult to read because the errors were so distracting.

I can only speculate that either the book was published in haste and not edited at all prior to printing; to save money, 3rd graders were hired to edit the book (paid with candy and lunch money); or, Mr. Stitt has become very sloppy with age.

All said, the previous books I have read by Mr. Stitt have been masterful in presentation and content. This book is a huge disappointment!

Let me start with the only problem with this book. Because of its size and binding method, it is next to impossible to lay the book open on the desk as a continuous reference manual. As for the material and Cadd formatting, the book provides a necessary outline of layering and naming that closely follows what has already been programmed in the software. What makes this book such an important refence manual is the clarity with which it address each profession involved on a job. By providing the standard with which all professions can easily read and translate into their work, the book easilly pays for itself by clarifying the ambiguity of what information is necessary and where does it belong.