Outsourcing Authorities Processing and RDA Conversion

1. Outsourcing Authorities Processing and RDA Conversion

2. Why authority control in a keyword environment? • Present consistent access to the treasure of the library—your collections • Impose structure and consistency on diverse resources • Find and correct errors automatically • Keep up with continually changing vocabulary • Help user with cross references and additional keywords • Allow patrons to search more effectively • Allows data to play with the wider linked data world—through the LCCN to VIAF, ISNI, Wikipedia, etc.

3. How else is authority control useful? The staff needs it: • Reduce unwanted acquisition of duplicates • Facilitate exhaustive searches • Streamline processing • Reduce costs spent on staff manual labor

4. We have a discovery layer—AP not needed? • Discovery layers ( AquaBrowser, Bibliocommons, Blacklight, EDS, Encore, Endeca, Enterprise, Primo Summon, VuFind, etc.) are based on keyword searching • Most use authority files primarily in a unique enough form to enable accurate collocation through hyperlinks • During research find items of proven interest then using the provided name or subject headings to link to other materials on same subject or by same author • If no authority control, have to dredge through a lot more results to find what you need. Forced to cast a wider net of potential forms of name.

5. Discovery layer w/o use of authority files • Without authority control, a patron would be forced to search for “Smith, William, “Smith, W.C.”, “Smith, Bill,” etc. to find all the materials by this author. • Once you determine which Smith is wanted in a catalog with authority control, you are pretty much guaranteed that you will find all the materials by or about that particular William Smith.

6. Authority control provides disambiguation

7. Rest of Wikipedia article for one “William Smith”

8. LC name authority record for “William Smith”

9. Authority record (continued)

10. Linked data matters! • When trying to win administrative support for authority control, remind them that authority data are the library’s “linked data.” • Not only helps in disambiguating names & terms, but enables your data to play with the wider linked data world. • Even if they don’t know what it is or does, they all know it’s an important tool for libraries • Having data in linkable form can be strategically important when considering the move from MARC to BIBFRAME, or whatever the next format may be

11. What else does authorities processing do? • Lots of seemingly small but important fixes to aid in searching • Matching authority records to create the “see” and “see also” structure

12. MARCIVE authorities processing includes • Expansion of commonly used abbreviations to full wording • Correction of general LC subject subdivisions • Removal of invalid LC subject subdivisions • Correction of obsolete abbreviations • Automatic subject heading generation • Validation of name/title series entries • Automatic correction to appropriate MARC tagging • Correction of non-filing indicators • Update of obsolete MARC content designation • Moving of content from obsolete MARC tags to current MARC tags • Change of obsolete subfield codes to current subfielding • Convert direct geographic subdivisions to their indirect form • Perform chronological conversions • Deletion of obsolete data • Correct spelling, capitalization, and punctuation when a match occurs • Correction of $x to $v, where appropriate—and more

13. Earth—See Earth (Planet) Earth (Planet)—13 Related Subjects Earth (Planet) 117 Earth (Planet)—Figure—Mathematical models 5 Earth (Planet)—Mantle 76 Subjects: Before & after authorities processing Earth 116 Earth—Figure—Mathematical models 2 Earth—Mantle 67 Earth (Planet) 1 Earth (Planet)—Figure—Mathematical models 3 Earth (Planet)—Mantle 9 Catalog BEFORE Catalog AFTER See ref to correct term See also refs Old forms and the new form of a subject heading separate the collection. Authority control brings your holdings together. Consolidates

14. Names: Before & after authorities processing SHARE Working Conference, 2nd, Montréal, Québec, 1976 1 Sharp, Alan, 1934- 1 Smith, Henry Atterbury, b. 1872 1 Sharp, William, fl. 1766-1767 1 Smith, Hobart Muir, 1912- 11 Smith, Hobart M. (Hobart Muir), 1912-2013 1 SHARE Working Conference (2nd : 1976 : Montréal, Québec) 1 Sharp, Alan, 1934-2013 1 Sharp, William, active 1766-1767 1 Smith, Henry Atterbury, 1872- 1 Smith, Hobart Muir, 1912- —See Smith, Hobart M. (Hobart Muir), 1912-2013 Smith, Hobart M. (Hobart Muir), 1912-2013 12 Catalog BEFORE Catalog AFTER Reformats Updates to LC Consolidates Old forms and the new form of a name heading separate the collection. Authority control brings your holdings together.

15. Sacred works: Before & after authorities processing Bible. Genesis—Criticism, interpretation, etc. 1 Bible. Mark—Criticism, interpretation, etc. 2 Bible. N.T. Mark—Criticism, interpretation, etc. 49 Bible. N.T.—Criticism, interpretation, etc. 153 Bible. New Testament—Criticism, interpretation, etc. 1 Bible. O.T. Genesis—Criticism, interpretation, etc. 57 Bible. O.T.—Criticism, interpretation, etc. 307 Bible. Old Testament—Criticism, interpretation, etc. 1 Koran--Criticism, interpretation, etc. 37 Qur’an--Criticism, interpretation, etc. 1 Bible. Genesis—Criticism, interpretation, etc. 58 Bible. Mark—Criticism, interpretation, etc. 52 Bible. New Testament—Criticism, interpretation, etc. 154 Bible. Old Testament—Criticism, interpretation, etc. 308 Qur’an--Criticism, interpretation, etc. 38 Catalog BEFORE Catalog AFTER Updates to LC Consolidates If RDA Conversion Service (RDACS) is selected, even non-authorized headings are reformatted.

16. What about local data? Only certain fields are examined and changed, so notes, call numbers, etc. are not examined or changed Any headings marked as local (e.g. 69X or headings with second indicator of anything other than 0, 1, or 2) are not examined and remain as is If you have a short list of local headings not marked as local that you feel would match LC authority records, supply them and we will not examine or change them

17. Conversion to RDA MARCIVE authorities processing also includes Resource Description & Access (RDA) Conversion. For free, both for backfile and ongoing processing. Since we consider RDACS linked to authority control, it’s not offered as a stand-alone service.

18. Education for RDA Readiness • Read and learn about RDA • Training program for staff • Free training materials on LC website • Study your library’s ILS and how it works with a discovery layer • Loading • Indexing • Display • Observe how various programs react to new records with 3XX fields and no 245 $h

19. Is your system –and staff -- ready for RDA? • Keeping up-to-date is necessary, but expensive without automation • Complete authorities run is recommended • Hybrid records are acceptable. Different cataloging rules such as AACR2 and RDA can exist side by side. • But split indexes are not acceptable. AACR2 forms and RDA forms of access points may differ. Good authority control will fix most of these differences. • MARCIVE’s RDA Conversion Service, which includes authorities processing, offers a more comprehensive and cost-effective approach

20. RDA Conversion Service (RDACS) includes • Title field (245) • Supply parallel title in 246 fields if none exists • Move specified terms from end of subfield $a or $b to subfield $c when $c has “by” • Other options with this field • Edition statement (250) • Change select abbreviations to spelled out version, such as “ed.” to “edition.” Includes some foreign languages. • Publication imprint (260) to 264 field(s) • Supply separate brackets for each subfield when multiple subfields are bracketed. • Physical description (300) • Abbreviations are spelled out.

21. General Material Designation (GMD) GMD 245$h replaced by 336, 337, 338 fields Content Media Carrier (CMC) • 336: Content type. What does it contain? • e.g., notated music, spoken word, text, 2D moving images • 337: Media type. What device needed to use it? • e.g., audio, computer, microform, projected, video. If none needed except your eyes, it’s unmediated • 338: Carrier type. What kind of object carries it? • e.g., Audiocassette, online resource, microfiche, filmstrip

22. Example of standard CMC creation • $a cartographic image $b cri $2 rdacontent • $a unmediated $b n $2 rdamedia • $a sheet $b nb $2 rdacarrier

23. RDACS includes (continued) • Change volume/sequential designation abbreviations (490 $v) and (830 $v) • Authorized access points All 6XX fields must be coded as LCSH (2nd IND=0) or LCCYA (2nd IND=1) for changes to the authorized access points to be applied • Change “Dept.” to “Department” • Uniform title for sacred works • Change title “Selections” to “Works. Selections” • Generate Content-Media-Carrier (CMC) • And more

24. What about the GMD? Do you still want the GMD? We can • keep it, • delete it or • move it to another field.

25. Customized CMC fields

26. What about hybrid records? A bibliographic record created under one set of rules, then modified with an element from a subsequent set of rules. Even before the introduction of Resource Description and Access, libraries had hybrid records. For example, pre-AACR2 records that had been modified with AACR2 elements.

27. MARC Record Originally Created According to RDA 040 Cataloging Source is coded |e rda to show that it was created in RDA 250 Edition Statement and 300 Physical Description words are spelled out 264 New Production, etc. field instead of 260 Publication field 336, 337, and 338 New Content, Media, and Carrier fields were created 700 Added Entry Personal Name includes the relationship designator of “editor”

28. Sources of hybrid records Your catalog. Headings in an AACR2 bib record may be modified to match the current RDA authority record. OCLC. Catalogers may add some RDA elements to existing non-RDA records without re-cataloging the entire record according to RDA. Examples: Adding relator terms to access points Spelling out non-transcribed abbreviations Adding complete statements of responsibility in 245 Adding 336/337/338 fields Automated processing. Authority and RDA processing by a provider such as MARCIVE adds RDA elements without manually re-cataloging the record.

29. Your catalog already has hybrid records When you change access points to conform to RDA-formatted headings, but do not change the descriptive elements of the record, you are creating a hybrid record.

30. OCLC has hybrid records, and will have more

31. Are hybrid records coded as RDA? No. PCC Guidelines as of April 2013 state that hybrid records should not be coded 040 $e rda. www.loc.gov/aba/pcc/rda/PCC RDA guidelines/Post-RDA-Implementation-Guidelines.html

32. No 040 $e rda in hybrid records The 040 in a hybrid record does not contain a |e rda.

33. Creating or manipulating a non-RDA record When you have the piece in hand, you can make intellectual changes as well as mechanical changes to a non-RDA record to make it conform to RDA. Add relator terms Add more access points Replace [et al.] with all of the contributors to a work Create very specific 336, 337, 338 fields Change data in free text fields such as notes

34. Machine manipulation of a non-RDA record Tasks that can be safely performed by programming Identify an obsolete form in an access point and replace with new RDA form based on an LC authority record Expand existing relator codes Replace certain abbreviations in access points, such as “fl.” with “active” Replace “et al.” with [and others] Spell out certain abbreviations in fields in which cataloging has been predictable, such as “p.” to “pages” in the Publication Data field 300 Create 264 fields from 260 fields Generate 336, 337, and 338 fields based on information in fixed and variable fields

35. Machine manipulation is amazing However it cannot do the following tasks: Add relator terms. Information to do this is absent. Add more access points. Information to do this is absent. Replace [et al.] with all of the contributors to a work. Information to do this is absent. Create very specific 336, 337, 338 fields. Standard processing can create good 336, 337, and 338 fields. If the library’s holdings field contains more specific information, it can be used. However, there are some situations in which only having the piece in hand will provide the desired information. Change data in free text fields such as notes. Some changes can be made, such as expanding “p.” to “pages” in a bibliography note. Generally however, it is not safe to expand data in notes.

36. Common questions about RDACS Q: Why don’t you add relator fields? A: The bib record does not have the data to do this reliably. Q: Why do some of my records have a |e rda in the 040 and some do not? A: Some records were created in RDA and therefore have the |e. Hybrid records should not have the |e. Q: We are leery of having hybrid records in our catalog. How will we know which records to recatalog? A: It is not necessary to re-catalog hybrid records. Any record, hybrid or not, that prevents retrieval would be a good candidate for re-cataloging.

37. Authorities + RDACS = Best Value Combine authorities processing with RDA implementation for the best value • Improve everything all at once, rather than piecemeal • Reduce or eliminate manual effort in making descriptive elements consistent • Reduce time spent batch loading • Provide a better user experience using consistent cataloging as well as up-to-date headings

38. Value-added services At the same time as authorities processing, we can perform other tasks: • Database-specific customization • Customized CMC fields built from holdings data • MARC record enrichment, including TOC, summaries, fiction/biography data

39. Timelines for implementation • Complete/sign the profile • We’ll review and provide a summary of costs for PO creation • The statistical report and first 2 reports of any kind are free • You FTP bib files to us in chunks of 50K records • We create a test file in about 7-10 days, consisting of— • File of cleaned up bib records • File(s) of matching authority records • Heading Activity report showing data before & after processing • Statistical report • Any requested extra cost reports

40. Next steps • Load both the bib & authority records into the ILS • Review the loader tables to make sure records overlay • Bib overlay point is the system control number • Use the reports to evaluate results • Ask questions. If we are asked to change a major specification, we may perform a second test • Approve the test in writing • Backfile processing is completed in 7-10 days • Notification Service begins immediately • Begin sending new records for upgrade through Overnight Authorities Service

41. After backfile processing Ideally, the library should delete the existing authority file instead of overlaying records with the ones we provide Locally created authority records should not have ARNs so there will be no point of overlay We retain a copy of the authority records to create a “history file” against which all future work is compared Unmatched headings are also retained for future matching through the NewMatch option

42. Ongoing maintenance Immediately begin tracking changes to history file through Authorities Notification Service Records are produced around the 20th of each month Includes new, changed, deleted authority records Also includes newly matched authority records provided through NewMatch option Send newly cataloged records through Overnight Authorities Send changes to history file so we will keep it current

43. Why MARCIVE?? • Sophisticated processing at an economical cost • Extensive experience with libraries of all types • Free RDA conversion • Flexibility for library-specific requests • Seamless method to keep both bibliographic and authority files up-to-date • Automatic update on previously unmatched headings • Free authorities processing on GPO records • Discounted processing on large purchased sets of bib records • Excellent customer service

44. Conclusion With decreased staffing and dwindling budgets, let us help with your database needs, whether it be: • stand-alone backfile authorities processing • authorities processing for ongoing work only • or a combination of RDA Conversion Service (RDACS) and authorities processing Questions? Contact me at jchapa@marcive.com