changing world of authority control presentation by barbara b. tillett, ph.d. chief, policy and...
TRANSCRIPT
Changing World of Authority Control
Presentation by
Barbara B. Tillett, Ph.D.Chief, Policy and Standards Division
Library of CongressJuly 11, 2009
ExLibris panel, ALA, Chicago
Authority Control Virtues
“Precision” in searching Syndetic structure of references to help
navigate (the variant forms of name/title/ subject/etc.) – to get from a user’s term to the controlled term (show pathways when multiple possibilities)
Displays to collocate works (resources) Connecting various forms of names used in
different contexts Links to related entities
Earlier than 1889
LC Rules on cards – Consistency/Collocation Determine if the name has been used before What form of name Establish new ones following a standard Document variant forms of name and
relationships to other names
Connect the users to the controlled forms of the name
1984 - ALA LITA call for interest groups ACIG
RTSD/CCS discussion group (Authority Control Interest Group)
Opinion poll (LRTS (June 1985), p. 171-178)Demand for more complete, up-to-date online
resource authority filesAutomatic maintenance when changed at the
national level
What was/is Authority Control? Process for maintaining consistency Single, unique authorized form of name for
each entity Variant forms used as references Sources where variations were found
To control the headings used in a library catalog
IFLA UBC Authority Principles - Old
Each country responsible for authority headings for its own personal and corporate authors
National authority records available for everyone to use
Same form and structure used worldwide
“New” View of UBC
User perspective - to display script/language(s) of one’s own country/preference
Bibliographic agencies still responsible for control in their own countries (or region/cataloguing rules/etc.)
Link forms and identifiers established in “national” or “regional” authority files to create a virtual international authority file
Different Entities – Same name
Winston Churchill
Different Names – Same Entity
Different forms of names for same entity
Barbara Ann Barnett Tillett
Barbara Ann Barnett
Barbara B. Tillett
Babs Barnett
Babs
Dr. Tillett Tillett, Barbara B.
600649103226
Different Bibliographic Identities 李滉
Yi Hwang (McCune-Reischauer) I Hwang (Revised romanization)
퇴계 ; 退溪 T’oegye (Pen name)
경호 ; 景浩 Gyeongho (Courtesy name)
이황 Hangul 李滉 Hanja
If all forms are possible…
Need to explain relationships of various names to end-user to avoid confusion (explain pseudonyms, abbreviations, etc.)
Lewis Carroll
Dodgson, Charles Lutwidge, 1832-1898
What is an Entity? Cataloging Rule and Community Variations Crosswalks and Mappings
- Entities are not always 1 to 1 Differences among cataloguing rules
Ships Events Meetings of corporate bodies Undifferentiated names
Differences among communities Libraries, archives, museums, A&I, publishers,
rights management agencies, etc.
RDA Elements (e.g., Person) Identifiers Preferred name and variant forms of name Dates associated with a person (birth, death,
period of activity) Title (King, Pope, etc.) Other designations (Saint, Spirit, etc.) Gender Places associated with a person (birth, death,
country associated with the person, places of residence)
Affiliations Language of the person Field of activity, Profession or occupation
Same Entity/Variant Scripts
Japanese
japanisch
Switching for Displays
• Library default• User-selected preferences
Client set-up, “cookies,” profile, or future methodLanguageScriptCulture (country)/spelling
Labor vs. Labour
Local System - User View
User’s profile specifies Cyrillic/Russian preferred.
Чайковский, Петр Ильич
Virtual International Authority File (VIAF)
VIAF ProjectBNF/DNB/LC/OCLC (2005)
LCNAF Names
7,092,554
BNF Names3,664,124
DNB Names
3,025,933
Matching algorithms
Enhancing the Authorities
Enhanced
Authority
BibliographicRecord
AuthorityRecord
Derived Authority
viaf.org
Mark Twain
Current Status - VIAF
Personal name files from 12 libraries (15 files) loaded, plus test records from several other applicants
Over10.4 million names 8.5 million clusters Identifiers assigned:
http://viaf.org/viaf/77390479 Preliminary work done on geographic names Unicode throughout UNIMARC and MARC-21 supported
VIAF (Beta)
Library of Congress Deutsche
Nationalbibliothek Bibliothèque nationale
de France OCLC
National Library of Sweden
National Library of the Czech Republic
National Library of Israel Bibliotheca Alexandrina
(Egypt) Vatican Library National Library of
Portugal National Library of Spain National Library of
Australia ICCU (Italy)
LCSH SKOS (id.loc.gov)
To encourage Web applications Provide “elements” and rules for how to string
together to help machine creation/validation and help humans
Future: Social cataloging to continue to build the LCSH vocabulary Easy ways to submit proposed pre-coordinated
strings Easier ways to submit proposals for new and
changed terms
End-user
“Ontologies”
Web search engines
Digital world
Semantic Web Building BlocksLinked Data
Where are we headed? Global sharing
Reduce costs Service to users
Script/language Clusters of data
Various names/ synonyms and identifiers: default or user chooses preferred form
New links