Are you saying that catalogers have been unneccessarily adding death dates
all along? I'm shocked. SHOCKED!
>I have been enjoying this discussion of the proposed policy, and intend to
>weigh in with my own overwrought opinion before the deadline. I thought
>some numbers might be of interest.
>
>The most recent LC names weekly file processed here (lcname05.25) contains
>8830 authority records, of which 5642 represent simple personal name
>headings (tag 100; subfield $t is not present). Of those 5642 simple
>personal name headings:
> New record, subfield $d code not present: 2670
> New record, subfield $d code present: 979
> Delete record, subfield $d code not present: 52
> Delete record, subfield $d code present: 18
> Replacement record, subfield $d code not present in incoming
> heading: 1279
> Replacement record, subfield $d code present in incoming heading: 644
>
>The previous version of the heading in 29 of the 644 replacement records
>did not contain the subfield $d code: these 29 records appear to have been
>changed to add a date. Of these 29 headings, in 3 cases the earlier
>headings actually contained dates, but mistakenly lacked the subfield $d
>code itself; in 3 other cases headings were changed in other ways at the
>same time the date was added. Of the 23 personal name headings in this file
>that differ only in the addition of subfield $d and dates, a strict
>definition of what constitutes a "conflict" (and searching only in the
>authority file itself) leads me to label 6 headings as having been changed
>as the result of a conflict, and 17 to have been changed in the absence of
>a conflict. Here are two examples of each:
>
> n 79044092: Jensen, Eric, $d 1950-
> Date added to existing heading to make way for new heading without
> date
>
> n 84113305: Murphy, Peter E., $d 1942-
> Date added to existing heading to make way for new heading without
> date
>
> no 2005007464: Manistina, Elena, $d 1973-
> Date added to non-conflicting heading
>
> no 2005053962: Wallace, Patricia H., $d 1947-
> Date added to non-conflicting heading
>
>Although numbers are small, there does appear to be at least one
>sub-category of headings that might be recognized among the 17 headings
>changed without evidence of conflict. The reconstruction of events for
>these might be one of the following: 1) the institution that established
>the heading missed a date of birth that appeared somewhere in the
>publication, the date was found by another institution handling the same
>item and the second institution changed the 670 and the heading; 2) the
>heading was established from CIP information, a date of birth arrived with
>the full publication and the 670 and heading were changed. I do not believe
>that any such are included in the above examples.
>
>I searched a 10% sample of the 979 new records for simple personal names
>with $d (97 headings examined), in the authority file. Using a looser
>definition of conflict than used above for changed headings (allowing the
>addition of dates to a new heading if not strictly required to break a
>conflict, when similar headings exist), I determined that 21 of the
>headings (22%) contained $d because it was needed to break a conflict or
>made a set of headings easier to understand; and 76 (78%) contained $d
>because it was available but was not required or particularly useful. Here
>are two examples of each:
>
> n 2005043497: Feenie, Rob, $d 1965-
> No other 'Feenie, Rob' in authority file
>
> n 2005043541: Sikora, Ruzhena, $d 1918-
> No other 'Sikora, Ruzhena' in authority file
>
> n 2005044002: Rosen, David, $d 1971-
> Date required: 'Rosen, David' with no date already established
>
> n 2005044208: Coleman, Brian, $d 1970-
> Date required: 'Coleman, David' with no date already established
>
>Gary L. Strawn, Authorities Librarian, etc.
>Northwestern University, 1970 Campus Drive, Evanston IL 60208-2300
>e-mail: [log in to unmask] voice: 847/491-2788 fax: 847/491-8306
>Forsan et haec olim meminisse iuvabit.
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