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Archive for the ‘Authority Control’ Category
Authority Control in Washington DC? ALA
Tuesday, June 22nd, 2010Tags:ALA
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Why is Authority Control Important?
Thursday, May 20th, 2010Why is Authority Control Important?
A basic definition of Authority Control is the process used to maintain consistency in access points and the process of showing the relationships among names, subjects, and works.
Some basic goals of authority control go back to Charles Cutter’s goals for a library catalog:
- To enable a person to find a book
- To show what a library has in its collection
- To assist patrons in their choice of a book
Using Cutter’s goals for a catalog, we can go further by saying that the purposes of authority control are to help patrons:
- find an item from known information
- identify an item with limited information
- collocate items using a controlled vocabulary
- evaluate and select an item
- locate synonyms to aid subject searching
To achieve these goals, authority records need to bring together related terms for the specific name, subject, or work. Many times, the name of a person, place, or thing is constantly changing. For example, the artist currently known as “Diddy” has had several name changes over the years. Without a current authority record, a patron may not be able to find all of the items by this artist if they are searching on his former name of Sean Combs. With the following authority record, the patron would be able to search for any of the artist’s former names and find all relevant items.
010 $a no 97057848
100 $a Diddy, $d 1969-
400 $a Puff Daddy, $d 1969-
400 $a P. Diddy, $d 1969-
400 $a Combs, Sean, $d 1969-
400 $a Combs, Puffy, $d 1969-
400 $a Puffy, $d 1969-
400 $a Diddy, P., $d 1969-
400 $a Combs, $d 1969-
400 $a Combs, Diddy, $d 1969-
Authority control is also important when a well-known name has been translated into several different languages. For instance, the authority record for William Shakespeare has ninety-seven alternate forms of his name translated into multiple languages.
In order to increase access for the library’s patrons, it is important to use authority control to standardize the forms of search terms and increase the likelihood that the search will return the items that the patron desires.
Reference:
Taylor, A. G., & Joudrey, D. N. (2009). The Organization of Information (3rd ed.). Westport, Conn.: Libraries Unlimited.
Tags:Authority Control
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Announcing: New 300 Field Validation
Friday, April 9th, 2010We’re excited to announce that the 300 field validation that we’ve been working on is now in place and working. We add this to the hundreds of other corrections and validations that we make to bibliographic records as we process them. Judy, one of our Project Managers, explains the new process:
In an effort to continue improving our bibliographic validation services, we’ve been writing some cleanup steps for the 300 field. Nothing drastic of course — just some “straightening out” changes. The cleanup takes place only on records marked with ‘a’ in leader byte 6 … non-print bibs such as media, electronic resources, microforms, etc. are left as-is. Here’s a list of what the programming will do:
- * 300 $a = ‘unp.’ [or] ‘n.p.’ is changed to ‘1 v. (unpaged)’
- 300 $a = a comma is added to #### page numbers if missing (ex.: 5332 p. becomes 5,332 p.)
- 300 $a = ‘l.’ is changed to ‘leaves’
- 300 $a = ‘approx.’ is changed to ‘ca.’
- 300 $a = preliminary leaves and it’s abbreviation (p.l.) are removed (ex.: 4 p.l., xv, 312 p. = xv, 312 p.)
- 300 $a = ‘unnumbered’ is removed and brackets added (ex.: 48 unnumbered leaves = [48] leaves)
- If the p. is up against the :$b or the illustrative matter is up against the ;$c we add a space to separate
- 300 $a = Missing periods are added to ‘p’ (ex.: 135p. = 135 p. )
- 300 $b = The illustrative matter is rearranged to be in correct order
- 300 $b = Obsolete illustrative matter is replaced with ‘ill.’ (ex.: ‘tables’ or “fronts.’ = ‘ill.’)
- 300 $b = If ‘ill.’ is followed by the parenthetical illustrative matter, ‘ill.’ is dropped and the parenthetical matter remains (example: $bill. (ports.) = $bports.)
- 300 $b = illus. is changed to ill.
- Adds missing semicolon before $c
- Adds ;$ccm. if missing from 300 field
- [various pagings] = changes brackets to parentheses
- If there is no 300 and the record is a book, the default of $ap. ;$ccm. is added
- If there is numbered plate info in the $b that is moved to the $a – if plate designation is not numbered, it’s deleted
As with any of validation rules, these are optional, and if necessary, we can work with you to develop exactly what you’d like. These rules are now being included by default in our processing. We hope you find them useful!
Tags:Announcements, Bibliographic Records, Enhancements
Posted in Automated Authority Control, Bibliographic Records | 1 Comment »
What is Series Authority Control
Monday, March 29th, 2010Last week we talked a little bit about the history of how series have been handled, but what is series authority control? Of all the types of Authority Control (Names, Subjects, Series) series is likely the most complex aspect and can be quite overwhelming for both newcomers and veterans of Authority Control. Our Authority Librarian, Karen, has once again come to our aid to help explain what a series is, and how Authority Control works with series.
A series is defined by AACR2 as a group of separate items related to one another by the fact that each bears, in addition to its own title proper, a collective title applying to the group as a whole. A series under authority control uses a controlled or unique chosen access point for the collective title of a series in the analytic bibliographic records.
Series authority work is the process of controlling those collective titles through the use of authority records. Series authority work is done for the same reasons as name authority work; that is first, to create a single form of the series title which will collocate records so that the user can find all the records related to that resource; and second to create a unique form of the series title which will distinguish records for one resource from those for a different resource. Uniqueness is especially important since many series have the same or similar titles.
There are several decisions that need to be made to control a series. These decisions should be based on a standard such as AACR2.
The first decision is to decide which form of the series title will be used as the authorized form. A single, unique form of the title needs to be chosen often from among several variant forms. Then that decision needs to be recorded. Three possibilities for this include:
- Use the bibliographic record for the resource used for the series data to record the authorized form.
- Create an alphabetic listing of series in the library.
- Use a Series Authority Record (SAR)
The SAR provides the best method for access, and can also contain a lot of other valuable information about the series. The authority record can be on a card, or most commonly now, a machine-readable record. More on SAR’s below.
The second decision to make is how the series will be treated. How will you handle the parts of the series that come in to your institution? A couple of points to consider are:
- Analyze or not
- Class together or separately
The third decision is whether to trace the title or not. This means deciding whether to use the access point in your database or catalog.
It is important that these decisions be recorded because not all series will be handled in the same way. Actions taken for subsequent acquisitions need to be consistent. The most common way to record series authority records is a MARC 21 record format. Since MARC21 is a machine-readable format, the records can be updated at any stage in the workflow. They are based on standards and can be easily shared with the greater library community.
A Series Authority Record (SAR) is the means to generate consistency in any database (or catalog) and allow the retrieval of all the series in a logical display. The SAR should serve three functions:
- Provide a unique and authoritative heading. The record reflects the chosen form that will be used as an access point for the series for all bibliographic records containing references to the series. Uniqueness promotes consistency in the database and allows the retrieval of all analytics in a predictable display. Several fields in a MARC format SAR provide the required information. The 1xx field is used to record the chosen form of the series title. This is the authorized heading. Related to the function of the 1xx to record the chosen form, the 4xx fields are used to record variant forms of the heading (series title) that were not chosen as the authorized form. The 642 field provides the style of numbering to be used with the series if it is numbered and also provides consistency.
- Provide identification – the record should provide enough information to identify the resource used in doing the authority work for a particular series, and distinguish this series from all others. The 1xx and 4xx fields are also part of this function. Other fields providing identification are:
643 – contains the place and publisher of the series
670 – contains the time period of publication
642 – numbering example taken from the source listed in the first 670 field.
667 – this is a note field that is used to record other information that is valuable, but does not fit into other fields.
- Show the treatment – the SAR should be a record of the decisions regarding analysis, tracing, and classification. It can have both local and other decisions. Fields used for this function are:
050-090 – These fields record the call number chosen for the series if the decision is to class holdings together.
644 – this field records the analysis decision
645 – this field records the tracing decision
646 – this field records the classification decision (see fields 050-090)
One other type of SAR can actually be for something that is not a series. Many resources have phrases or other character strings that will not be considered as a series. Although a SAR is not required to record this conclusion, providing one with the documentation for the decision to not consider it a series will create consistency for questionable cases. It will also save time in the future by avoiding having to make the same decision over and over again as other materials come in.
In a MARC21 bibliographic record the 490 field is used to record the transcription of the series from the item. In this field, the series appears exactly like it does on the item. A 500 note field may also be used for the series. The 8xx fields (800, 810, 811, and 830) are used to provide a tracing for the series when needed. These fields will contain the authorized form of the series title. This demonstrates the need for the authority work to provide consistency. The series on items do not always appear the same way so there could be different headings in the 490 fields for the same series. But by having one authorized form, the 8xx fields for that series will always have the exact same heading. Without this consistency, it could be very difficult to find all the parts of the same series in the catalog or database.
Series authority records can provide effective management for the bibliographic headings and can also provide physical control of series holdings in the library. By creating series authority records and maintaining a database of the records (an authority file) consistency will be maintained. Time and effort will be saved in the future. As new materials come in, the work on the series and the decisions regarding it will not have to be done over and over again.
For a detailed explanation of Series authority work see the excellent power point presentation by Judith A. Kuhagen of the Cataloging Policy & Support Office at the Library of Congress. http://library.ust.hk/info/other/feb2005/series.html Although this presentation is from 2005 and some of the LC policies and MARC tags talked about have changed, the process of making the decisions needed for series authority work in gone into in great detail.
For more information on the changes to series policies and MARC tags see the article “A Brief History of Series Authority Work”
For more information on using the MARC21 standards, see the MARC21 Format for Authority Data http://www.loc.gov/marc/authority/ecadhome.html and the MARC 21 Format for Bibliographic Data http://www.loc.gov/marc/bibliographic/ecbdhome.html
Tags:Authority Records, Bibliographic Records, Series
Posted in Authority Control, Authority Records, Bibliographic Records, MARC | 2 Comments »
Genre Terms and the GSAFD List
Tuesday, November 17th, 2009Judy Archer shares with us her insight on genre authorities and GSAFD.
Ahhh genre terms … what a subject is, versus what a subject is about. The necessity for this distinction seems obvious, doesn’t it? If I want to find poetry written by Robert Frost, I wouldn’t necessarily want to weed through all the works written about his poems, would I? The more logical option is to access only his actual poems. Yet for a long time I had no choice, for genres were considered part of the general subject access.
As time went by, the library community saw the need for a distinction and recommendations were developed for a national standard. This standard provided guidelines for developing genre access as well as subject access for fictional works, humorous works, drama, poetry and folklore.
To accommodate this effort, the “Guidelines on Subject Access to Individual Works of Fiction, Drama, etc.” 2nd edition was published in 2000, and this came to be known as the GSAFD. In chapter 1 of that Guideline was a list of 153 genre terms, and in 2001 the Association for Library Collections and Technical Services (ALCTS) developed MARC21 authority records for these 153 terms. The source file is located at Northwestern University, but OCLC has a link to the terms and their full authority records, which can be accessed at the following link:
http://alcme.oclc.org/gsafd/OAIHandler?verb=ListIdentifiers&metadataPrefix=z39_19
If you would like to know more, The ALCTS discusses their creation of the authorities here:
http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/alcts/resources/org/cat/marc21authority.cfm
Discussions continue about the formulation of genre terms, and the Library of Congress began their own ambitious project in 2007 to formulate authorities for genre terms. They started with Moving Images, but they have also moved on to additional categories such as: Cartography, Law, Religion, Literature and Music. They have a timeline and commentary about the project which you can find here:
http://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/genretimeline.pdf
Many libraries will use terms from the GSAFD list, the Library of Congress authorities, or other thesauri. If you plan to use the 153 GSAFD terms in your catalog, they are handled by way of a 655 field using a second indicator of ‘7’ and a subfield $2 with the term ‘gsafd’. This clarifies the thesaurus you used. Here are examples of how both GSAFD and LC terms are entered in MARC21:
From the GSAFD list:
655_7 $aEpic poetry.$2gsafd
From the LC subject headings catalog:
655_0 $aRoad films [or] 655_7 $aRoad films.$2lcsh
Tags:genres, GSAFD, LC genre timeline, LC genres
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AAT – Art & Architecture Thesaurus
Tuesday, October 27th, 2009Many people know what the Library of Congress Authority Record Database is and how it can help their library. But what do you know about the other large authority collections? Nate Cothran, Product Manager of MARS Automation Services and expert on the Art and Architecture Thesaurus (AAT) sheds a little light on it for us:
The Art & Architecture Thesaurus (AAT) is a collection of 131,000 authority records about the visual arts and architecture maintained by the Getty Institute. Though the AAT is updated every month, the licensed version—which Backstage uses—is sent out once annually.
Within the authority record itself, the AAT entry lists the main heading in the 155 tag:
001 __ 300015529
155 __ $abird's-eye views$B(<views by vantage point or orientation>, views, <visual works by form: image form>, <visual works by form>, <visual works>, Visual Works, Visual and Verbal Communication, Objects Facet)$I1000015529$TDescriptor$GN/A$HCurrent$VUndetermined$L70052/American English$AN/A$ON/A$8300015529.1
The 155 $a is the part of the heading that will be reflected in your updated bib heading:
655 __ $abird's-eye views
I can see what you’re thinking on this: How is it that the authority’s 155 above contains so much more information than the bib’s 655 field? Sometime in the last year, the AAT authority records began including an incredible amount of reference points & additional information encoded into capital-letter & numbered subfields. Unless your system is able to incorporate this extra data, the pertinent information you likely prefer to retain resides in the main (lower-cased) subfields.
In order to bring the authority records received from AAT back into a more manageable structure, Backstage can remove all of the capital-letter subfields as well as the numbered [0-9] subfields. This makes the loading into your system error-free in case your system balks at the extra subfields it has to somehow categorize on the fly.
So this revised authority heading:
001 __ 300015529
155 __ $abird's-eye views
Now matches cleanly and updates easily within your ILS system.
At least now you’ll know what to look AAT in your Art & Architecture Thesaurus authorities.
http://www.getty.edu/research/conducting_research/vocabularies/aat/about.html
Tags:AAT, Authority Control, Authority Records
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