Quoting Tom Morris <tfmor...@gmail.com>: > Thanks for the quick reply, Karen. Are you saying that the > OpenLibrary policy is to follow what's dictated in the Library of > Congress authority file? There would seem to be at least some > divergence in that they use a different name order, include > birth/death years (sometimes), etc.
No, I'm not saying that OL follows LCNA -- you asked for a source to make decisions and the only ones I know of in the area of books are library name authority files. Those files are based on some sensible rules (IMO) so they might be usable as guidance. At the same time, they do some ugly things, like put names in last,first order, which looks very artificial. > > The nice thing about computers is that they're not limited to having a > single name at the top of the 3x5 card. If the record has both Samuel > Clemens and Mark Twain, the computer can find it under either one. If > they are two separate records, there needs to be a way to link the two > (which I don't think OpenLibrary has, does it?). Any author record can have alternate names, and many do. However, OL doesn't currently replicate the "see also" structure that is in library authority data. I suspect it would be easy enough to add the structure, a bit more tricky to fill in the data. If it is added, it would be nice to see it displayed as: "Also writes as..." and have the relationship recorded in both/all related records. > > If the policies aren't set in stone yet though, I'd personally argue > for something that's a little more approachable and common sense > based. There are two schools of thought on that: 1) some rules are good 2) rules make participation more difficult. Some of us like having rules, some find them constraining. I think this will be a constant struggle. > > Tom > > p.s. I don't think VIAF is really usable for OpenLibrary because it > doesn't enforce a non-commercial restriction like the OCLC license > requires to protect their monopoly. I've heard said that VIAF is hosted at OCLC but does not belong to OCLC. However, the VIAF site page points to the usual legaleze about OCLC research projects that includes the "no commercial use" bit. That worries me. There is an entry for VIAF on the CKAN Open Bibliographic Data site that quotes Thom Hickey saying that they (the VIAF collective) have not yet decided on license terms: http://ckan.net/package/viaf Unfortunately, that post is now one year old. At the same time, VIAF is designed as linked data -- and if it isn't open for linking, that makes little sense. Of course, the OCLC restrictions don't make sense, either. kc > > On Sat, Feb 12, 2011 at 8:48 PM, Karen Coyle <kco...@kcoyle.net> wrote: >> The only "canonical form" that I know of is to follow what is in a >> library name authority file, such as the Library of Congress name >> file. You can find it at: >> >> http://authorities.loc.gov/ >> >> If you search on "Adobe" you see a long list that includes Adobe >> Creative Team, Adobe Systems, and others. If you look in the left-hand >> column there you will see a red button that says either: Authorized >> heading, or References. A "reference" is a heading that is not >> preferred, but would instead lead to the Authorized heading: >> >> Adobe Systems Inc. --> see: Adobe Systems >> >> The format of the data isn't ideal, so it can be difficult sometimes >> figuring out what goes with what. >> >> This database will probably also answer your other question about >> pseudonyms. Currently, the Anglo-American libraries (US, Canada, UK, >> Australia) follow a set of rules that record "real" names and >> pseudonyms as separate entries. The idea is that each name represents >> a "persona" and that most of the time people who are looking for >> things are aware of the persona (Mark Twain, Lewis Carroll) so this is >> what they are likely to look for. They may not know the person's real >> name. >> >> If you want to check a wider range of name databases, there is a >> combined database called the Virtual International Authority File >> (VIAF) at >> http://viaf.org >> >> Many national libraries contribute to that, and you may find names >> that aren't available from the Library of Congress. You will also see >> that in some countries different choices are made about how to record >> a name. VIAF brings them all together -- and gives them a VIAF >> identifier which I hope we will be able to use in the future to make >> the catalog more global. >> >> If you don't find what you are looking for in these databases (I >> didn't find Adobe Development Team) then you have to make a decision >> on your own. The entries in the database may serve to give you a >> pattern to follow. >> >> Note that there are other communities creating name files, in >> particular there are some academic projects connecting names from >> academic article databases to actual persons. I don't have these at my >> fingertips, but they probably cover the OL books as well as the >> library name databases do. >> >> kc >> >> Quoting Tom Morris <tfmor...@gmail.com>: >> >>> Below are some examples of potential merges for corporate authors. Is >>> there any place that describes whether or not these should be merged >>> and what the canonical form should be? If there's no standard, do >>> folks want to weigh in on what they think the right thing to do is? >>> >>> Tom >>> >>> Adobe Systems Inc. >>> Adobe Development Team >>> Adobe Creative Team >>> >>> U.S. Government >>> USGPO [ie. US Government Printing Office] >>> >>> Rand McNally and Company. >>> Rand McNally Staff >>> >>> IEEE Vehicular Technology Society >>> IEEE Vehicular Technology Conference >>> Ontario) IEEE Vehicular Technology Conference (48th : 1998 : Ottawa >>> >>> Delorme Publishing Company >>> DeLorme Mapping Company >>> [Corporate name change] >>> >>> Texas Instruments >>> Texas Instruments Engineering >>> >>> Dorling Kindersley Inc. >>> Dorling Kindersley Ltd >>> DK Publishing >>> [Combination of different subsidiaries, plus a name change over time] >>> _______________________________________________ >>> Ol-discuss mailing list >>> Ol-discuss@archive.org >>> http://mail.archive.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/ol-discuss >>> To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send email to >>> ol-discuss-unsubscr...@archive.org >>> >> >> >> >> -- >> Karen Coyle >> kco...@kcoyle.net http://kcoyle.net >> ph: 1-510-540-7596 >> m: 1-510-435-8234 >> skype: kcoylenet >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Ol-discuss mailing list >> Ol-discuss@archive.org >> http://mail.archive.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/ol-discuss >> To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send email to >> ol-discuss-unsubscr...@archive.org >> > _______________________________________________ > Ol-discuss mailing list > Ol-discuss@archive.org > http://mail.archive.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/ol-discuss > To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send email to > ol-discuss-unsubscr...@archive.org > -- Karen Coyle kco...@kcoyle.net http://kcoyle.net ph: 1-510-540-7596 m: 1-510-435-8234 skype: kcoylenet _______________________________________________ Ol-discuss mailing list Ol-discuss@archive.org http://mail.archive.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/ol-discuss To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send email to ol-discuss-unsubscr...@archive.org
