Profile Guide Step 3.17
Pseudonyms
The information in this section does not pertain directly to the profile questions, but is important to your understanding of MARS 2.0 Authority Control processing.
Prior to the adoption of AACR2r, each work was to be cataloged under the actual name of the author. All works written under the pseudonym, Mark Twain, for example, were to be cataloged under the author’s actual name, Samuel Langhorne Clemens. LC authority records were constructed in such a way that all Mark Twain headings would be flipped to Samuel Langhorne Clemens during Authority Control processing.
With the adoption of AACR2r in 1988 and its concept of bibliographic entities, works could be cataloged under the name the author chose to use. Prior to that time, works written under the pseudonym Mark Twain could not be cataloged under that name. Now, Mark Twain is an authorized heading and books penned by Mark Twain are cataloged under that name.
LC has steadily added new authority records for bibliographic entities (or pseudonyms), and changed the 4XX See From cross-references under the author’s actual name to 5XX See From Also cross-references. This effort has been essentially completed and there remain few, if any, LC name authority records that contain a pseudonym as a See From cross-reference.
Pseudonyms Not Converted
Therefore, the MARS 2.0 Authority Control process no longer requires a pseudonym file to prevent incorrect pseudonym flips. The name recorded in your bibliographic record, whether a main entry or added entry, is not converted from a pseudonym to an actual name form, unless by a match to an authority record.
