strengthening knowledge connections: authority control in library catalogs, present and future...

Strengthening Knowledge Connections:

Authority Control in Library Catalogs, Present and Future

Jennifer A. LissSpencer M. Anspach

Aaron K. Smith

Indiana Library Federation 2015 Annual Conference17 November 2015

Who’s here?

What is authority control?•Where description and access meet•Requires cooperative discernment

•KDL What’s Next•MCPL Juvenile series and sequels

•Establishing a single access point where various forms of a given name or idea have been used in description

Constituting Headings:Personal Names•The name of the creator as found in his published

works.• If more than one name, choose the latest.• If more than one form, choose that found most

often most recently.• If all else fails, choose the fullest form.•Add dates and middle names to resolve conflicts.

Richard P. Smiraglia

Palmer School of Library and Information Science, College of Information and Computer Sciences

Long Island University FRBR/CRM Harmonisation Meeting #10

20th century•Physical collocation of materials•Collocation of local library metadata

• Card environment• Database environment

•Focus on names and subjects (subject thesauri: Sears, LCSH, LC annotated card, etc.), lesser focus on other descriptive aspects

•Gradually increasing need for connectivity between multiple institutions, leading to NACO, SACO, ultimately toward VIAF

21st century•Collocation of materials and concepts, both virtual and physical

•Collocation of increasingly universal metadata, involving all information sources and handlers

•Expansion to include a maximum number of descriptive and access elements of metadata

•Application of ordered triples•subject-predicate-object structures•RDF/XML (Resource Description Framework)

Liabilities and challenges •Language•Precedent and inertia of local practice•Service population and user need

•Literacy•Infrastructure•Administrative will

•Resources and awareness

When it works as it should …

… not so much

Discovery layers and authority•Relevance vs. return•Comprehensive or scattershot results?•Fuzzy search: gift and curse•Need for authority interface in discovery layer applications

Really, what can I do?

But I’m not an expert!

I work in a small library…

What difference can I make?

Why? (and: Why me?)

Jennifer A. LissIndiana University

@cursedstorm

The semantic web.

WHY?

Image: Elco van Staveren linked data

n 2013004339

McGinnis, Mindy

Not a drop to drink, 2013: ǂb ECIP t.p. (Mindy McGinnis)

n 2013004339

McGinnis, Mindy

Ohio

Young adult fiction

Otterbein University

Librarians ; Authors

female

Not a drop to drink, 2013: ǂb ECIP t.p. (Mindy McGinnis)

Author's website, 6 Nov. 2015 ǂb (Mindy McGinnis; asst. YA librarian; lives in OH; BA in English lit. and religion from Otterbein Univ.) ǂu http://www.mindymcginnis.com/

RDA 9.15

RDA 29.1.3

RDA 9.16

RDA 9.7

RDA 9.8

BEFORE 2010 Update AFTER 2010 Update

“Richer authority data”? MARC21 Format for Authority Data

“But none of our discovery systems *use* authority data…”

Social Networks and Archival Context (SNAC)

Bibliographic data is a discovery dataset.

Bibliographic data is a discovery dataset.

Authority data

Want to know more about SNAC? Start here:

SNAC Prototype. Retrieved from http://socialarchive.iath.virginia.edu/snac/search

Pitti, D., Hu, R., Larson, R., Tingle, B. & Turner, A. (2014). Social Networks and Archival Context: From project to cooperative archive program. Journal of Archival Organization 12(1-2), 77-97.

Pitti, D. & Tingle, B. (2015). Social Networks and Archival Context Project: from R&D to cooperative program. Coalition for Networked Information Spring 2015 Membership Meeting, April 13-14, 2015. Retrieved from https://vimeo.com/127296716

THANK YOU!

Aaron K. Smith asmith@acpl.lib.in.usCataloger/Assistant Manager, The Genealogy CenterAllen County Public Library

Spencer M. Anspach sanspach@indiana.edu Head, Database Management & Library Systems Analyst/ProgrammerIndiana University

Jennifer A. Liss jaliss@indiana.edu Head, Monographic Image Cataloging & Metadata LibrarianIndiana University