Colleagues, 

If further examples are needed (they shouldn't be), 
there's a book on my home reference shelf by a Christopher who was female. 

A reason not to draw merely probable inference about gender 
(or, indeed, for other new fields) that hasn't been mentioned yet 
is that the Name Authority File is used by innumerable institutions 
that are not NACO members. Catalogers there cannot easily correct errors 
in the records if they have better information.  
The NACO file is enhanced by iterative improvements 
as data accumulates; but not everyone can play.  

I would urge as a best practice: code everything of which 
you are certain, if you believe it is useful and you have time. 
Code nothing that is guesswork, if the field is optional. 
Even if it's confident guesswork. 

Christopher H. Walker 
Serials Cataloging Librarian 
Penn State's representative to the CONSER Operations Committee
Member, Justin Winsor Prize Committee, 2012/2013 
126 Paterno Library 
The Pennsylvania State University 
University Park, PA 16802-1812 
(814) 865-4212 
[log in to unmask]
The Winsor Prize application deadline is Jan. 31, 2013. 


----- Original Message -----
From: "Jennifer Sweda" <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Thursday, October 18, 2012 1:38:57 PM
Subject: Re: [PCCLIST] terms for sex in 375

I would argue that to some, the name "Jimmie" isn't ambiguous (and in 
this case, assuming the name is unambiguously male would be wrong). Same 
thing with Robin, if you have a British author vs. Robin if you have an 
American author. I'm not sure I'm always comfortable with inference, 
especially that of others.

While I do understand the value of providing data for mining projects 
(but will enough RDA authority records ever exist to mine any genuinely 
valuable data about gender?), my current focus is creating a unique 
authority record for an individual. If someone else assumes Robin is an 
unambiguously female name and encodes that "fact" into an authority 
record without needing to cite a source (e.g., "his" or "hers" in a 
resource), and I'm the next person to come across a Robin I know is male 
(based on something I find in a resource), then I'm going to assume that 
I have a different Robin and create a new record for the same person.


Jennifer (female)
Social Sciences Cataloging Librarian
UPenn

On 10/18/2012 12:50 PM, Linda Dausch wrote:
> I agree. I'm not sure how valid the results of possible data mining projects will be if there is a lot of variability in the elements we choose to encode.
>
> Linda S. Dausch
> Electronic Resources & Serials Librarian
> NACO Program/Authorities Liaison
> Chicago Public Library
> Technical Services/Catalog Unit
> 400 S. State St., 3S-12
> Chicago, IL 60605
> tel. 312-747-4652
> [log in to unmask]
> www.chipublib.org
>   
>   
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Program for Cooperative Cataloging [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Robert Maxwell
> Sent: Thursday, October 18, 2012 11:32 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: [PCCLIST] terms for sex in 375
>
> This is one of the elements that we can infer. You don't need to find a statement somewhere stating "John Smith is male". Certainly you shouldn't make wild guesses, especially when a name is ambiguous like "Jimmie". But if the name is pretty clearly of one gender or another I encourage you to record the information. As Richard pointed out, it's very useful to have this information in the records even if it seems obvious to a human reader. It isn't obvious to a machine and it is going to be very useful to be able to sort or limit by gender for our users who want to produce works by groups like "Argentine women poets".
>
> Bob
>
> Robert L. Maxwell
> Special Collections and Ancient Languages Catalog Librarian Genre/Form Authorities Librarian
> 6728 Harold B. Lee Library
> Brigham Young University
> Provo, UT 84602
> (801)422-5568
>
> "We should set an example for all the world, rather than confine ourselves to the course which has been heretofore pursued"--Eliza R. Snow, 1842.
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Program for Cooperative Cataloging [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Hall, Jack
> Sent: Thursday, October 18, 2012 7:40 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: terms for sex in 375
>
> A new question: how do we determine the sex of a person. May we infer from the forename if we assume it is (usually?) used for one sex or the other? Do we need further evidence, and what might that be? I hesitate to email someone asking: What sex are you?
>
>
>
> Jack Hall
> Manager of Cataloging Services
> Linguistics Librarian
> University of Houston Libraries
> Houston, TX 77204-2000
> phone: 713 743 9687
> fax: 713 743 9748
> email: [log in to unmask]