{"id":72,"date":"2009-08-18T13:19:04","date_gmt":"2009-08-18T20:19:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ac.bslw.com\/community\/blog\/?p=72"},"modified":"2009-08-18T13:20:36","modified_gmt":"2009-08-18T20:20:36","slug":"anatomy-of-an-authority-record","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ac.bslw.com\/community\/blog\/2009\/08\/anatomy-of-an-authority-record\/","title":{"rendered":"Anatomy of an Authority Record"},"content":{"rendered":"

Those of us in the Authority side of library sciences (the dark side?) talk a lot about Authority records, but while most librarians understand bibliographic records, understanding authority records requires a whole different understanding. To help cover that, we had one of our Project Managers explain exactly what an authority record is, and whats in it.<\/em><\/p>\n

One of the reasons Authority Control was developed was to keep headings consistent.\u00a0 Just think how much fun it would be trying to sort out whose published work was whose, if there wasn\u2019t some way to consistently clarify each author or subject or series.\u00a0 For example, if you have 5 books written by 5 John Smiths, unless there is a standard for each John Smith (one is Smith, John, Jr.<\/em>, one is Smith, John,$d1957- <\/em>, one is Smith, John$q<\/strong>(Johnathan<\/em>), etc.) it could get crazy.<\/p>\n

For all libraries who participate (and that\u2019s most of them) a standard is established for every single heading created (called the \u201cauthorized form\u201d).\u00a0 Whenever a heading is used on a bib record, that<\/span> authorized form should<\/span> be the one a library uses.\u00a0 That\u2019s why you may enter a heading on a bib record but if we do authority control on it you might see it flipped to something else.\u00a0 Currently the Library of Congress gives final approval for that standard and an authority record is created for every<\/span> single<\/span> heading<\/span>.\u00a0 What we do in the Authority Control department is help libraries manage their authority data.<\/p>\n

All headings fall under 4 categories:\u00a0 (1) NAMES; (2) NAME\/TITLE COMBOS; (3) UNIFORM TITLES\/SERIES<\/em>; and (4) SUBJECTS<\/em>.\u00a0 There are also genre authorities and these come from different databases.<\/p>\n

In the bibliographic record you have 1XX\u2019s, 4XX\u2019s, 6XX\u2019s, 7XX\u2019s and 8XX\u2019s as the tags under authority control.\u00a0 On an authority record, the authorized headings are in the 1XX of the authority record.\u00a0 The \u201csee-references\u201d and \u201csee-also\u201d references are found in the 4XX and 5XX of the authority record.\u00a0 Here\u2019s an example of how the headings sync up:<\/p>\n

Your Bib:<\/em> 100 1_ $a<\/strong>Rowling, J. K.<\/p>\n

Authority Record:<\/em> 100 1_<\/strong> $a<\/strong>Rowling, J. K.<\/p>\n

Your Bib:<\/em> 100 1_ $a<\/strong>Rowling, J. K.<\/p>\n

240 10 $a<\/strong>Harry Potter and the prisoner of Azkaban<\/p>\n

Authority Record:<\/em> 100 1<\/strong>_ $a<\/strong>Rowling, J. K.$t<\/strong>Harry Potter and the prisoner of Azkaban<\/p>\n

Your Bib<\/em>:\u00a0 440_0 $a<\/strong>Harry Potter and the prisoner of Azkaban (Motion picture)<\/p>\n

Authority Record:<\/em> 130_0<\/strong> $aHarry Potter and the prisoner of Azkaban (Motion picture)<\/p>\n

(ditto if this were an 830)<\/em><\/p>\n

Your Bib<\/em>:\u00a0 650 _0 $a<\/strong>Potter, Harry (Fictitious character)<\/p>\n

Authority Record<\/em>:\u00a0 150 _0 $a<\/strong>Potter, Harry (Fictitious character)<\/p>\n

Your Bib: <\/em>651 _0 $a<\/strong>London (England)<\/p>\n

Authority Record:<\/em> 151 _0 $a<\/strong>London (England)<\/p>\n

Your Bib<\/em>:\u00a0 710 2_ $a<\/strong>Warner Bros.<\/p>\n

Authority Record:<\/em> 110 2_<\/strong> $a<\/strong>Warner Bros.<\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

So \u2026what are<\/span> the parts of an Authority Record<\/strong>?\u00a0 They are:<\/p>\n

0XX<\/span><\/strong> =\u00a0 These are standard numbers, classification numbers, codes, etc.\u00a0 (Mostly you\u2019ll see 001, 003, 005, 008, 010, 035, 040, 043).\u00a0 A few comments about the usual ones:<\/p>\n

001<\/strong> =\u00a0 In bib records this is a bib ID number (wln, oclc, etc.) \u2013 in authorities it\u2019s the owning agency, typically the Library of Congress\u2019, control number.\u00a0 On a bib record this LCCN is found in the 010.\u00a0 On the LC authority record it is the 001.<\/p>\n

005<\/strong> =\u00a0 This is a date\/time stamp \u2013 it will show the last time an authority record was updated.\u00a0 Example:\u00a0 20030808<\/strong>053519.0.\u00a0 2003 is the year, 08 is the month, 08 is the day, and then the rest of the numbers equate down to the minute and second.<\/p>\n

008<\/strong> =\u00a0 A fixed field \u2013 this field is very similar to a bib record in that it provides info on how an authority can and cannot be used (example:\u00a0 it can<\/span> be used as a name and\/or subject heading, it can\u2019t<\/span> be used as a serial).<\/p>\n

010<\/strong> =\u00a0 This is a repeat of the 001 control number.\u00a0 Past control numbers appear here too:<\/p>\n

010\u00a0 $a<\/strong>n\u00a0 79065753 $z<\/strong>no 92031869<\/em><\/p>\n

1XX<\/span><\/strong> =\u00a0 Your main heading (whoo-hoo!) = see above explanation for how they match up with bib headings.\u00a0 You will see:\u00a0 100, 110, 111, 130, 150, 151, 155 and 185.\u00a0 The 155 is for genres (which show up on bibs as 655_0 or 655_7 with a $2) and the 185 is for subject subfields (for instance, the $x in a 650 tag).<\/p>\n

2XX<\/span><\/strong> =\u00a0 Complex see-references.<\/p>\n

3XX<\/span><\/strong> =\u00a0 Complex see-also references.<\/p>\n

4XX<\/span><\/strong> =\u00a0 See-from references = These lead a user from an older, not authorized heading to the current valid heading (1XX).\u00a0 In the authority record the tag structure typically reflects that of the 1XX:\u00a0 400, 410, 411, 430, 450, 451, 455, 485.<\/p>\n

5XX<\/span><\/strong> =\u00a0 See-also references = These lead a user from one valid heading to another related valid heading.\u00a0 In the authority record the tag structure typically reflects that of the 1XX:\u00a0 500, 510, 511, 530, 550, 551, etc.<\/p>\n

When a patron wants to look something up in an authority file on their ILS system, their findings will reflect what is found on an authority record.\u00a0 For example, The authority Record below:<\/p>\n

100 1_ $a<\/strong>Twain, Mark,$d<\/strong>1835-1910<\/p>\n

400 1_ $a<\/strong>Conte, Louis de,$d<\/strong>1835-1910<\/p>\n

500 1_ $a<\/strong>Clemens, Samuel Langhorne,$d<\/strong>1835-1910<\/p>\n

Would Display as follows on your typical ILS System:<\/p>\n

Twain, Mark, 1835-1910<\/p>\n

See also: \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Clements, Samuel Langhorne, 1835-1910<\/p>\n

Clements, Samuel Langhorne, 1835-1910<\/p>\n

See also:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Twain, Mark, 1835-1910<\/p>\n

Conte, Louis de, 1835-1910<\/p>\n

See:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Twain, Mark, 1835-1910<\/p>\n

6XX<\/span><\/strong> =\u00a0 Notes.\u00a0 These are used to explain various aspects of the authority record or to justify the heading.\u00a0 The most common ones you see are 667 and 670.<\/p>\n

7XX<\/span><\/strong> =\u00a0 Heading Linking entries.\u00a0 The most common one is the 781 field, which may show you how a geographic subdivision should be used.\u00a0 Example:\u00a0 781 $z<\/strong>Ireland$z<\/strong>Dublin<\/em>.<\/p>\n

8XX<\/span><\/strong> =\u00a0 Alternative graphics.<\/p>\n

9XX<\/span><\/strong> =\u00a0 Library of Congress local tags.<\/p>\n

By Judy Archer<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Those of us in the Authority side of library sciences (the dark side?) talk a lot about Authority records, but while most librarians understand bibliographic records, understanding authority records requires a whole different understanding. To help cover that, we had one of our Project Managers explain exactly what an authority record is, and whats in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[8],"tags":[23,27],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ac.bslw.com\/community\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ac.bslw.com\/community\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ac.bslw.com\/community\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ac.bslw.com\/community\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ac.bslw.com\/community\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/ac.bslw.com\/community\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":75,"href":"https:\/\/ac.bslw.com\/community\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72\/revisions\/75"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ac.bslw.com\/community\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ac.bslw.com\/community\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ac.bslw.com\/community\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}