How Do You Solve a Problem Like Jayne Ann ... - DKD Consulting

How Do You Solve aProblem Like Jayne AnnKrentz?Dreama K. DeskinsForIowa Library AssociationOctober 11, 2013

2Outline• Concepts of Authority Control• Why Authority Control Matters• National Cooperative Authority ControlPrograms• Interpreting Authority Records• Creating Authority Records• Performing Authority Control Work• Authority Control Vendors

4Terminology• Authority control▫ Ideal state for the name, subject, and title/seriesheadings in a library catalog• Authority work▫ Activities that help to achieve authority control• Authority record▫ Place to record information about a heading(name, subject, series)• Authority file▫ Collection of authority records

5Authority Control• Each name, subject, or series in the catalog has aunique form of heading• Unique heading is recorded in an authorityMARC record (1xx field)• Cross references for forms not used (4xx fields)• Cross references for related headings (5xx fields)• Notes about the heading (6xx fields)

6Commonly-Used Subject Thesauri• Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH)• Library of Congress Children’s Subject Headings• Library of Congress Genre/Form Terms (LCGFT)• Sears List of Subject Headings• Guidelines on Subject Access to Individual Works ofFiction, Drama, Etc. (GSAFD)• Medical Subject Headings (MeSH)• Rare Books and Manuscripts ControlledVocabularies (RBMS)

Personal Name Authority Record7

Personal Name Authority Record8

Personal Name Authority Record (cont.)9

Corporate Name Authority Record10

Corporate Name Authority Record11

Subject Authority Record12

Series Authority Record13

15Why Is Authority Control Important?• Improved searching for patrons and staff▫ Only one search needed to retrieve all items by aparticular author, etc.▫ Cross references guide users to correct headings andshow related headings▫ Similar headings (representing different persons, etc.)are differentiated rather than lumped together

16Subject Browse Search ExampleWith Authority Control

17Author Browse Search ExampleNo Authority Control

18Series Browse Search ExampleWith No Authority Control

19Series Browse Search ExampleWith Authority Control

20Why Not Use Keyword Searching?• Many keywords needed for comprehensivesearch:▫ words in different languages▫ variant spellings (English vs. American)▫ synonyms▫ grammatical variations (singular vs. plural)• May be no obvious order to search results

21Authority Control Challenges• Authority work is▫ Time-consuming▫ Expensive• May not have resources to control all headings inthe catalog• May prioritize▫ What kind of authority work to pursue▫ Which headings will receive the most attention• May opt to automate some processes

22Authority Control Challenges (cont.)• Authority files are dynamic▫ New authority records are continually added▫ Old authority records are frequently revised• Libraries need ways to:▫ Get new and changed authority records▫ Do retrospective cleanup of existing headings

Where do authority records come from?23

24What is NACO?• Name Authority Cooperative Program• Overseen by Library of Congress• Part of Program for Cooperative Cataloging(PCC)• Allows catalogers to contribute authorityrecords to the national authority file• Authority records are shared by catalogersthroughout the world

25Before NACO• Only Library of Congress could create authorityrecords for national authority file• Libraries created authority records in their localcatalogs• No way of sharing authority records andeveryone used different forms of headings

26NACO Process• Libraries create NACO records in OCLC• OCLC sends them to the Library of Congress• LC distributes them widely on a weekly basis• Libraries can search LC Authorities, OCLCAuthorities, and/or receive authority records fortheir local systems through authority vendors

27What is SACO?• Subject Authority Cooperative Program• Part of Program for Cooperative Cataloging• Overseen by Library of Congress• Allows catalogers to propose new subjectheadings for LCSH (and changes to existingsubject authority records)• All proposals must be approved by LC

29MARC Authority FormatMARC TagMeaning000 Leader001 Authority Record Number005 Date Entered008 Fixed-Length Data Elements010 LC Control Number035 System Control Number040 Cataloging Source053 LC Classification Number1xx (100, 110, 111, 130, 150, 151, etc.) Established Heading

30MARC Authority Format (cont.)MARC TagMeaning4xxSee From Tracing5xxSee Also From Tracing643 Series Place and Publisher644 Series Analysis Practice645 Series Tracing Practice646 Series Classification Practice663 Complex See Also Reference667 Nonpublic General Note670 Source Data Found

32Sources of Authority Records• Import from:▫ Library of Congress▫ OCLC▫ Authority Vendor• Create in local system

Import from Library of Congress33

Import Into Follett Destiny34

Name Authority Record in Destiny35

Create Authority Record in Destiny36

Create Subject Authority37

39Types of Local Authority Work• Heading validation at point of cataloging• Importing of new and updated authorityrecords• Global change of bib headings• Manual change of bib headings• Manual updates of authority records• Deleting authority records that are no longerused

41Authority Vendors• Backstage Library Works▫ http://www.bslw.com• Library Technologies, Inc.▫ http://www.authoritycontrol.com• Marcive, Inc.▫ http://home.marcive.com

42What Does an Authority Control VendorDo?• Library sends to vendor▫ Entire bibliographic database▫ Bib records for new cataloging• Vendor▫ Corrects headings in bib records▫ Sends matching authority records▫ Sends updated authority records▫ Sends reports (many!) of problems that must becorrected manually

43Why Use a MARC Authority ControlVendor• To correct obsolete headings• To eliminate need for staff to import authorityrecords manually• To keep authority database current

44Learn More About It• ALA Authority Control Interest Group▫ http://wikis.ala.org/lita/index.php/Authority_Control_IG• LC Authorities▫ http://authorities.loc.gov/• OCLC Authorities Documentation▫ http://www.oclc.org/us/en/support/documentation/connexion/client/authorities/default.htm

45Thank You!Dreama K. DeskinsLibrary Consultanthttp://www.dkdconsulting.comdreama@dkdconsulting.com