Authority Control: What It Is and Why It Matters

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Authority Control What It Is and Why It Matters

• Rick J. Block
• Columbia University

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NEW YORK AN AUTHORITY CONTROL PROBLEM

• City
• County
• Colony
• State
• State of Mind

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WHAT CAN BE FOUND IN BOBCAT

• Assignment for Introduction to Bibliographic
  Control
• Illustrates importance of authority control and
  quality cataloging

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HOUSTON, WE HAVE A PROBLEM

• Three headings for same person
• Pseudonym and real name not linked
• Unauthorized heading used

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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

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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.

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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

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Ablixen, karen

• Blixen, Karen, 1885-1962
• Search also under
• Dineson, Isak, 1885-1962

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Scody william f

• Cody, William Frederick, 1846-1917
• Search under
• Buffalo Bill, 1846-1917

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What Needs to Be Controlled?

• Subject terms
• Personal names
• Corporate names
• Geographic places
• Titles

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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

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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.

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Patterns of Chinese Names

• 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
• Womans married name with English first name

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Married name vs. Maiden Name

• Good example
• Elizabeth Taylor

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PETER BROWN IN CLIO

• 29 headings
• 9 cross-references
• 18 different people
• 73 titles
• 3 incorrect (two on order records)

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The Many Faces of Peter Brown

• 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

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Authority Control Purposes

• Uniformity
• Verification
• Linkage

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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

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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

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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)
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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- )
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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

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How would you search following in catalog?

• Heinrich von Kleist
• Ephraim Ben Baruch
• Jose Martinez Ortiz
• Elizabeth Sutherland Martinez
• National Archives and Records Administration

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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Problems with Corporate Names

• Name change
• Names in different languages
• Variant names
• Brief form of names
• Subordinate and related bodies

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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.
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Problems with Subject Terms

• 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

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Subject Terms What Is This

• Car
• Auto
• Automobile
• Motor car

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Scars

• Cars (Automobiles)
• Search under
• Automobiles
• Cars (Musical group)

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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
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Titles

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

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tparadise 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 Miltons Paradise lost / edited by James H.
  Hanford

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tparadise lost

• Milton John, 1608-1674
  Paradise lost
  An authoritative
  text and criticism of Paradise lost
• Milton, John, 1608-1674
  Paradise lost
  John Miltons Paradise lost
• Milton, John, 1608-1674
  Paradise lost
  Paradise lost and paradise
  regained with a biographical profile of John
  Milton

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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-?
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HOW DO YOU WRITE A DATE

• November 1, 1999
• 11/01/1999
• 11/1/99
• 1999 November 1
• 1Nov99
• 110199
• 011199

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AUTHORITY CONTROL AND PUBLIC SERVICES

• Increase quality of catalog
• Catalog searching with syndetic structure
• Answer some reference questions

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Authority Control and Networks

• Avoids duplicate records
• Matches records from various sources
• Shared authority file

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Cooperative Authority Control

• PCC
• BIBCO/CONSER
• NACO
• NACO funnel projects
• SACO
• SACO funnel Projects

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A Rose is a Rose, But a Madonna is not always a
Madonna

• tlike a virgin
• UTCAT

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When a Prince is a Symbol

• aartist formerly known as prince
• Not part of ALA character set

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Authority Control is Not Magic

• Authority control is not achieved without the
  requisite authority work carried out by
  catalogers
• Without authority control, a file cannot be
  considered a catalog

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Capital of the World

• New York (N.Y.)
• Manhattan (New York, N.Y.)
• New York (State)
• New York County (N.Y.)
• Berkshires South
• Bostons Biggest Suburb

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Rick J. Block

• Head, Original and Special Materials Cataloging
• Columbia University, 102A Butler Library
• 535 W. 114th St., MC 1111
• New York, NY 10027
• Voice [phone]
• FAX [phone]
• E-mail blockr_at_columbia.edu