Since my authority loader program started testing the contents of authority 37X fields that have a $2 code for NAF or LCSH, I've been dealing with reports of a lot of things that are out of whack. A few of these reports are the predictable outcome of the lack of proper tags and subfield codes (this category might be reduced by additional programming tricks), but most appear to arise from operator activity unrelated to the encoding scheme.
* Some stem from the failure to recognize the difference between an authority record and a reference record:
Guidebooks
* Some stem from the failure to recognize the difference between a 4XX field and a 1XX field:
Writing (Authorship)
Philosophy, Hindu
Sports journalists
College lecturers
SQA
Arbitration and award, International
* Some of them have no close parallel in LCSH:
Anti-corruption
* Some of them stem, perhaps, from reliance on memory rather than consulting the database:
Cities and towns--Studying and teaching
Calif., Northern
* Some of them stem from converting an LCSH heading from plural to singular, while leaving the $2 code in place:
Photographer
Biographer
Plant geneticist
College teacher
Mathematician
* The astounding ones are those that are wrong because they contain simple typographical errors, or are incomplete (no, I did not make any of these up):
Art museuems
Christianty
Service-oriented architecture
Producers and directors
Arrangers (Music)
Juridsprudence
Arists' models
Patent law and legislation
Consolidation and mergers of corporations
Music--unstruction and study
Artt
Women compsers
Vital Theater Company
For the last group, especially, I can only recommend more extensive use of the "copy and paste" technique, which will obviate all such errors. This simple but effective technique can also be of use in name/title records where the same name is needed in both the 1XX and one or more 4XX fields: get it right once, and then *copy* it wherever else it's needed. Saves time, and promotes consistency. Try it!
Gary L. Strawn, Authorities Librarian, etc.
Northwestern University Library, 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. BatchCat version: 2007.22.416
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