Authority Control: What It Is and Why It Matters

1. Authority Control: What It Is and Why It Matters Rick J. Block Columbia University

2. NEW YORK: AN AUTHORITY CONTROL PROBLEM • City • County • Colony • State • State of Mind

3. WHAT CAN BE FOUND IN BOBCAT • Assignment for Introduction to Bibliographic Control • Illustrates importance of authority control and quality cataloging

12. HOUSTON, WE HAVE A PROBLEM • Three headings for same person • Pseudonym and real name not linked • Unauthorized heading used

13. AUTHORITY CONTROL IS: • the process of maintaining consistency in the verbal form used to represent an access point in a catalog • the further process of providing interconnections among names, works, and subjects which display any significant relationship

14. AUTHORITY CONTROL IS • the process of ensuring that every entry – name, uniform title, series, or subject – that is selected as an access point for the catalog is unique and does not conflict, by being identical, with any other entry that is already in the catalog or may be included at a later date.

15. Goals of Authority Control • Facilitate the identifying and collocating functions of the catalog • Users can assume that a consistent term or phrase will refer to a particular name, title or subject, and that variations will be brought together under the one form

17. A=blixen, karen • Blixen, Karen, 1885-1962 • Search also under • Dineson, Isak, 1885-1962

18. S=cody william f • Cody, William Frederick, 1846-1917 • Search under • Buffalo Bill, 1846-1917

19. What Needs to Be Controlled? • Subject terms • Personal names • Corporate names • Geographic places • Titles

20. Problems with Personal Names • Pseudonym or pen name • Initialized first name • Omitted first name • Non-roman alphabets • Married name vs. maiden name • Compound surname • Names with nobility • Changed names

21. Authority Control • Not so difficult: 66% of all authors write only one book in one edition. But the remaining 34% can be very difficult--changing names, variations, translations, different alphabets, etc.

22. Lin Yu-tang Ching-chun Hsieh Nelson Chou Jack Kai-tung Huang Nancy Ou-lan Hu Chou Surname first Surname last Chinese first name dropped English first name adopted without dropping Chinese first name Woman’s married name with English first name Patterns of Chinese Names

23. Married name vs. Maiden Name • Good example: • Elizabeth Taylor

25. PETER BROWN IN CLIO • 29 headings • 9 cross-references • 18 different people • 73 titles • 3 incorrect (two on order records)

26. Brown, Peter, 1925- Brown, Peter, 1948- Brown, Peter Hume, 1849-1918 Brown, Robert Lamont Brown, 1935- Book of Kells, Chaucer Medieval manuscripts, Chaucer Medieval church, early Scotland St. Augustine, Roman Church, women in early Christianity The Many Faces of Peter Brown

27. Authority Control Purposes • Uniformity • Verification • Linkage

28. Authority Work • Includes the research work and intellectual effort involved in creating and updating authority records • Determines if a relationship exists between names or subject heading terms • Establishes and links the names that could refer to the same person • Establishes relationships between subject heading terms • Includes recording the authority data of preferred form, variants, history, scope, and links to other authority records

29. Steps of Authority Work • Researching for variants • Choosing one among many • Analyzing parts of the term • Adding, omitting or modifying the term • Handling special language cases • Linking the used and the unused • Document the process

30. Rec stat: c Entered: 19820305 Type: z Upd status: a Enc lvl: n Source: Roman: Ref status: a Mod rec: Name use: a Govt agn: Auth status: a Subj: a Subj use: a Series: n Auth/ref: a Geo subd: n Ser use: b Ser num: n Name: a Subdiv tp: n Rules: c 1 010 n 82029644 2 040 DLC $c DLC $d DLC $d DGPO $d DLC $d OU 3 005 19980505051956.0 4 100 1 Clinton, Bill, $d 1946- 5 400 1 Clinton, William J. $q (William Jefferson), $d 1946- 6 400 1 Blythe, William Jefferson, $d 1946- 7 400 1 Klintåun, Båil, $d 1946- 8 400 1 òKlinòton, Bil, $d 1946- 9 510 1 Arkansas. $b Governor (1979-1981 : Clinton) 10 510 1 Arkansas. $b Governor (1983-1992 : Clinton) 11 510 1 United States. $b President (1993- : Clinton)

31. Type: z Upd status: a Enc lvl: n Source: Roman: Ref status: a Mod rec: Name use: a Govt agn: Auth status: a Subj: a Subj use: a Series: n Auth/ref: a Geo subd: n Ser use: b Ser num: n Name: a Subdiv tp: n Rules: c 1 010 n 94092144 2 040 DLC $c DLC 3 005 19940923163739.0 4 100 1 Cellucci, Argeo Paul, $d 1948- 5 510 1 Massachusetts. $b Lieutenant Governor (1991- : Cellucci) 6 670 The Weld-Cellucci emergency plan for fiscal recovery ... 1991: $b cover t.p. (Cellucci; Commonwealth of Massachusetts) 7 670 WW in Am. pol., 1991-1992 $b (Cellucci, Argeo Paul; b. 04-24-1948; J.D., 1973, Boston College; lieut. gov. Massachusetts, 1991- )

32. SYNDETIC STRUCTURE • Means “Connective” and is derived from classical Greek • Conceived by Charles Cutter who defined syndetic catalog as “that kind of dictionary catalog which binds its entries together by means of cross-references so as to form a whole.” • Great cocktail party term

33. How would you search following in catalog? • Heinrich von Kleist • Ephraim Ben Baruch • Jose Martinez Ortiz • Elizabeth Sutherland Martinez • National Archives and Records Administration

34. Authority Record • Result of authority work • A record which shows a heading in the form established for use in the catalog • Lists cross-references to be made to and from the heading • Cites the sources consulted in establishing the heading

37. Authority File • Set of authority records • Lists the names, series and subject headings that have been established and used in a catalog and provides links to related subject headings, titles and names

38. Authority Files • Needed for efficient cataloging and searching in library networks • Reduce effort involved in entering headings • Avoid duplication of work • Improve the quality of catalogs

39. Four Functions of Authority Files • Authority function: support consistency of headings • Finding function: provide links from variants and other authorized headings • Information function: show usage and scope of headings • Maintenance function: support manual and automatic error detection and correction

40. Advantages of Authority Control • Collecting, recording and maintaining authoritative forms of headings • Linking variant forms of headings together • Providing consistency and verification upon creating bibliographic records • Automatic verification • Global change and correction • Shared authority files • Linkage between authority files and bibliographic records

41. Problems with Corporate Names • Name change • Names in different languages • Variant names • Brief form of names • Subordinate and related bodies

42. ARN: 1337258 Rec stat: c Entered: 19850529 Type: z Upd status: a Enc lvl: n Source: Roman: Ref status: a Mod rec: Name use: a Govt agn: Auth status: a Subj: a Subj use: a Series: n Auth/ref: a Geo subd: n Ser use: b Ser num: n Name: n Subdiv tp: n Rules: c 1 010 n 85001184 $z n 85033455 2 040 MH $c DLC $d DLC b 3 005 19860602134130.8 b 4 110 2 NELINET (Library information network) 5 410 2 New England Library Information Network 6 670 The NELINET liaison, May 1, 1979: $b t.p. (NELINET; Wellesley, MA) 7 670 nuc85-59041: An Online catalog project, 1982 $b (hdg. on RPB rept.: New England Library Information Network; usage: Nelinet; Nelinet, Inc.

43. Specific vs. general Synonyms Word form Singular or plural Homographs Direct vs. Inverted Popular vs Technical Cats or Siamese cats Attire, Dress, Clothing Armament, Disarmament Apple or Apples Bridge, Plant, Mercury Surgery, Plastic or Plastic surgery Stamp collecting or Philately Problems with Subject Terms

44. Subject Terms: What Is This • Car • Auto • Automobile • Motor car

45. S=cars • Cars (Automobiles) • Search under: • Automobiles • Cars (Musical group)

46. Rec stat: c Entered: 19860211 Type: z Upd status: a Enc lvl: n Source: Roman: Ref status: a Mod rec: Name use: b Govt agn: Auth status: a Subj: a Subj use: a Series: n Auth/ref: a Geo subd: i Ser use: b Ser num: n Name: n Subdiv tp: n Rules: n 1 010 sh 85010201 2 040 DLC $c DLC $d DLC 3 005 19961219164352.3 4 053 TL1 $b TL296.5 5 150 Automobiles 6 360 $i headings beginning with the word $a Automobile 7 450 Autos (Automobiles) 8 450 Cars (Automobiles) 9 450 Gasoline automobiles 10 450 Motorcars (Automobiles) 11 550 Motor vehicles $w g 12 550 Transportation, Automotive $w g

47. Titles • Series • Individual works • Collective works (e.g. Bible) • Title chosen as access point when work has appeared under varying titles

48. t=paradise lost • Elledge, Scott Paradise lost and Paradise regained; with a biographical profile of John Milton • Hanford, James H. An authoritative text and criticism of Paradise lost • John Milton’s Paradise lost / edited by James H. Hanford

49. t=paradise lost • Milton John, 1608-1674 [Paradise lost] An authoritative text and criticism of Paradise lost • Milton, John, 1608-1674 [Paradise lost] John Milton’s Paradise lost • Milton, John, 1608-1674 [Paradise lost] Paradise lost and paradise regained; with a biographical profile of John Milton

50. ARN: 1425321 Rec stat: c Entered: 19851018 Type: z Upd status: a Enc lvl: n Source: Roman: Ref status: a Mod rec: Name use: a Govt agn: Auth status: a Subj: a Subj use: a Series: n Auth/ref: a Geo subd: n Ser use: b Ser num: n Name: a Subdiv tp: n Rules: c 1 010 n 85227530 2 040 DLC $c DLC $d DLC 3 005 19910917142617.9 4 100 1 Milton, John, $d 1608-1674. $t Paradise lost 5 400 1 Milton, John, $d 1608-1674. $t Milton's Paradise lost 6 670 His Milton's Paradise lost, 188-?