This is the perfect opportunity to point out publicly a substantial
service the British Library performs for the bibliographic community.
They revise seven to ten thousand name authorities each fiscal year. A
substantial portion of these are non-unique name authority records from
which they delete an entity while creating a unique name authority
record for the same.
Anthony
>>> "Moore, Richard" <[log in to unmask]> 5/20/2008 3:50 AM >>>
Sorry - a correction:
In my second paragraph, I wrote:
"and can often create undifferentiated authorities from information in
our own databases"
but I meant to write:
"and can often create *differentiated* authorities from information in
our own databases"
a crucial difference ....
Regards
Richard
-----Original Message-----
From: Program for Cooperative Cataloging [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of Moore, Richard
Sent: 20 May 2008 08:46
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [PCCLIST] Non-unique headings and deleted ARs (Was:
Horrible record [going off on the tangent of Enc lvl])
Those of us attempting to maintain and extend the authority control of
our own catalogues find undifferentiated records a useful tool. If there
is no data to distinguish an author, the author is added to such a
record. When the name arises again, we can often tell from the record if
the author's works are already represented in our database. Otherwise we
would have to search the database and examine individual bibliographic
records, in every case. As a half-way house, undifferentiated records
improve the efficiency of the overall authority control process. I do
find it frustrating when we encounter a "Record covers additional
persons" note, indicating that it was created at a time when the number
of authors included was limited by policy.
As long as all authors are parked in an authority record somewhere,
they can be found. Whenever we use, or add to, an undifferentiated NAR,
we review all the identities within it, and can often create
undifferentiated authorities from information in our own databases.
Without the undifferentiated NAR, we wouldn't know there was a problem
to fix. These records should be a prompt to NACO participants,
indicating the need for research.
Admittedly, it's not helpful if authors are added to such records
through inadequate checking, or, as is sometimes the case, added despite
information being cited in the 670 that could have been added to the
heading.
I would certainly acknowledge that Chinese names are a special case,
given the relatively small number of traditional Chinese names that are
used by very many people.
Regards
Richard
_________________________
Richard Moore
Authority Control Team Manager
The British Library
Tel.: +44 (0)1937 546806
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
-----Original Message-----
From: Program for Cooperative Cataloging [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of lbxwang
Sent: 20 May 2008 08:31
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [PCCLIST] Non-unique headings and deleted ARs (Was:
Horrible record [going off on the tangent of Enc lvl])
Dear cataloging colleagues and policy makers,
I am glad to see this issue has been raised.
As a NACO member since 2000, our UST Library has been trying to do our
best to establish unique name headings, especially for Chinese personal
names. Before and during the process, it has been found that the so call
"undifferentiated name records" has been a burden for cataloging and
authority work. Here I would like to elaborate with a typical case.
I was trying to establish headings for "**, 1958-" (author of ****
*******) and "*, 1960-" (editor of *******).
Before I establish NAR for them, I need to check if they are already in
the undifferentiated name record. I have to check each lines in record n
82145370. Here is what I have found:
1001 Li, Ling
4001 Liling
670 [Author of Shu tzu wei po t*ung hsin chung ti wei po t*iao hsiang
ch*i] *********** / **, *** /[no Chinese scripts in LC and OCLC record.
Found in National Library of China catalog]/ 670 Author's Shu tzu wei
po t*ung hsin chung ti wei po t*iao hsiang ch*i, 1981: b t.p. (Li Ling)
670 [Joint author of Ho-pei sheng Ting hsien chih t*ien fu] /[Not able
to find out]/ 670 Feng, H. T. Ho-pei sheng Ting hsien chih t*ien fu,
1936 (a.e.) b t.p. (Li Ling) 670 [Author of Ch*i kuai ti mu pei] *****
: *** / **, **
670 His Ch*i kuai ti mu pei, 1981: b t.p. (Li Ling) 670 [Author of
Wai shang t*ou tzu ch*i yeh teng chi kuan li shih yung shou ts*e]
************/ *********
670 His Wai shang t*ou tzu ch*i yeh teng chi kuan li shih yung shou
ts*e, 1988: b t.p. (Li Ling) 670 [Author of Yang Hu-ch*eng ti mi
shih] ***** / ***.
670 His Yang Hu-ch*eng ti mi shih, 1989: b t.p. (Li Ling) 670 [Editor
of Chien ming Chung-kuo pai k*o ch*u*an shu] ******
/ ******* ; *** ; ****, **
670 Chien ming Chung-kuo pai k*o ch*u*an shu, 1989: b t.p. (Li Ling)
670 [Joint editor of T*u ti ching chi hsu*eh] **** / *** ;
**, ****.
670 T*u ti ching chi hsu*eh, 1991: b t.p. (Li Ling) 670 [Editor of
Chung-kuo ping shu ming chu chin i] ******** /
*** ; ***.
670 Chung-kuo ping shu ming chu chin i, 1992: b t.p. (Li Ling) 670
[Author of Fo jiao zao xiang liang du yu yi gui] *******
/ ***.
670 Fo jiao zao xiang liang du yu yi gui, 1998: b t.p. (Li Ling) 670
[Joint author of Liu guang yi cai] **** : *********
/ ** , ***.
670 Liu guan yi cai, 2001: b t.p. (li Ling) 670 [Author of Nu* jian
cha guan shou ji] **** : ****
*** / ***.
670 Nu* jian cha guan shou ji, 2003: b t.p. (Li Ling; Liling)
Please note the following:
1. This record covers 11 authors. More than 100 authors can be added
into this record. National Library of China catalog contains 31
authority records for **, one of the many forms of Li, Ling. If it is
impossible to cover all Li, Ling, why do we need a record to cover some
or all Li, Ling? What is the point of have such undifferentiated name
records?
2. It takes time to verify all citations in an undifferentiated name
record for various reasons.
a) Some bibliographical records disappear from catalog database.
b) Some early records do not contain non-roman scripts.
c) Possible typos.
......and many more other reasons.
The above may explain that why the line "670 Chung-kuo ping shu ming
chu chin i, 1992: b t.p. (Li Ling)" was not taken out and put into
record n 2005065494 (Li, Ling, 1948-), line "670 T*u ti ching chi
hsu*eh, 1991: b t.p. (Li Ling)" not included into record n 2003064363
(Li, Ling, 1964-). It just too time-consuming for a cataloging
librarian to check all citations in an undifferentiated name record
before establishing a new authority record. Imagine that when another
cataloging librarian have a chance to establish a record for Li, Ling,
he or she would have to check all those citations again! For this
reason I have to keep a file for the citations that I have checked.
Here is another example. When I was creating record for "Qiu, Liang,
1941-1997", I didn't stop checking when I spotted that the line "[Editor
of Hsiang-kang chao hsiang ts*e]" in undifferentiated name record for
"Qiu, Liang". After I checked all 4 citations, I found that "Qiu,
Liang, 1941-1997" is responsible for 3 of them.
040 DLC b eng c DLC d DLC d NcU d NIC d OCoLC
1001 Qiu, Liang
4001 Ch*iu, Liang w nne
4001 Leung, Yau
4001 Yau, Leung
670 [Author of Cheng Pan-ch*iao ...] 0****** / c ***.
670 His Cheng Pan-ch*iao ... 1977?: b t.p. (Ch*iu Liang) 670 [Author
of Lu feng ku shih] **** / [****].
670 His Lu feng ku shih, 1992: b colophon (Ch*iu Liang; photo.) 670
[Editor of Hsiang-kang chao hsiang ts*e] **** / ****
670 Hsiang-kang chao hsiang ts*e, 1996: b t.p. (Ch*iu Liang) 670
[Editor of Pai pien Hsiang-chiang]**** = City vibrance :Hong Kong
'40s-'90s / **.
670 Pai pien Hsiang-chiang, 1997-: b v. 1, table of contents (Yau
Leung)
It is easy to dump citations into an undifferentiated name record
without a thorough check.
My conclusion is that most undifferentiated name records are not being
helpful, for both cataloging and establishing authority records.
"If this would be easier if these were unique to begin with......"
The answer for us is also ABSOLUTELY!
In order to begin with uniqueness, we should not create name authority
record if no additional information, especially a qualifier, provided.
And we look forward to the international authority file that can
contain non-Latin script references.
Regards,
Xiaolei Wang
Cataloging Librarian
HKUST
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