Adam, Thanks for your well-worded explanation. My concern is that the frequency of this occurring is too high. In other words, there obviously needs to be more training and perhaps more emphasis on the importance of having rules and performing the work needed to facilitate automated management of data.
The problem of establishing Name authority records instead of Subject authority records is fairly common. Indicating a problem with understanding when which is needed (more training) and it also means there is a need to at minimum instruct libraries on both the importance of and how to submit SACO terms when their name authority record is deemed not appropriate for NACO. Even if LC staff don't inform them, they probably get the delete record when it is distributed so know something is up. Perhaps there should be a mechanism to automatically submit these cancelled NACO terms as SACO proposals when that is the reason for their deletion. When NACO geographic terms (151) are cancelled and the control number added to the established SACO heading there is no problem, or need to add a note as to why the NAR was deleted. It is when someone has done a lot of work and all that work is lost that I see a problem. Mary L. Mastraccio, MLS Cataloging & Authorities Librarian MARCIVE, Inc. San Antonio Texas 78265 1-800-531-7678 ma...@marcive.com www.marcive.com > -----Original Message----- > From: Resource Description and Access / Resource Description > and Access [mailto:RDA-L@LISTSERV.LAC-BAC.GC.CA] On Behalf Of > Adam L. Schiff > Sent: Tuesday, April 26, 2011 11:49 AM > To: RDA-L@LISTSERV.LAC-BAC.GC.CA > Subject: Re: [RDA-L] Warning about authority record numbers > and headings - they DO change > > Mary, > > I can't explain the second of your examples, but the first > was deleted because it was established as a name heading but > is in fact a subject entity (a bay, not a jurisdiction). The > creating library (Brown > University) should have submitted it as a SACO proposal. I > don't know if libraries that create name headings like this > that get cancelled get notified that their name authority was > invalid and that they should submit it through SACO. I > suspect that LC staff don't have the time for that though. > > Adam > > ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ > Adam L. Schiff > Principal Cataloger > University of Washington Libraries > Box 352900 > Seattle, WA 98195-2900 > (206) 543-8409 > (206) 685-8782 fax > asch...@u.washington.edu > http://faculty.washington.edu/~aschiff > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > > On Tue, 26 Apr 2011, Mary Mastraccio wrote: > > > AMEN! > > > > I'm glad to hear this discussion because the problem is far > too common. Fortunately PCC/NACO/SACO people are on this list > because this needs to be addressed by the people creating > rules & guidelines and training the participants. > > > > Related to the issue of re-assigning numbers (I love Karen > Coyle's comment about re-using ISBNs) is the problem of > deleting terms and giving no explanation of why, or not > providing the deleted number in 010$z of the correct record. > I regularly find unauthorized bib headings that exactly match > a deleted authority record. There is no note in the authority > record for why the record was deleted and often no > duplicate/alternate record is available, sometimes the > obvious replacement record does not have the deleted control > number in 010$z so a computer cannot automatically retain the > link. When terms are canceled, and the record deleted, it > would be very helpful for other catalogers/authority > librarians if there were an explanation of why a record was > deleted--and the delete record retained as sort of a > Reference record. Most of the time, I'm for not deleting a > record/canceling a term unless it is replaced by another > record. Many of these terms are just as valid/important as the! > > "Validation records" created to support pre-coordinated > subject strings. > > > > 000 00559dz a2200157n 4500 > > 001 no2006039307 > > 003 DLC > > 005 20090401173240.0 > > 008 060405n| acannaabn a ana c > > 010 |ano2006039307 > > 035 |a(OCoLC)oca06913814 > > 040 |aRPB-NP|beng|cRPB-NP|dOCoLC > > 151 |aGloucester Harbor (Mass.) > > 451 |aCape Ann Harbor (Mass.) > > 670 |aGloucester Harbor, Massachusetts, 1851:|bmap > recto (Gloucester Harbor) > > 670 |aGNIS, Mar. 20, 2006|b(Gloucester Harbor, bay, > Massachusetts, 42?36'57"N, 70?40'08"W; variants, Cape Ann Harbor) > > > > 000 00351dz a2200133n 4500 > > 001 no2003003518 > > 003 DLC > > 005 20100309075750.0 > > 008 030113n| acannaabn |n ana c > > 010 |ano2003003518 > > 035 |a(OCoLC)oca05949364 > > 040 |aCU-RivAV|beng|cCU-RivAV > > 110 2 |aFilm Iva?st > > 670 |aDancer in the dark, c2001:|bcontainer (Film Iva?st) > > > > An illustration of why it is important to give others a > clue of why a term is cancelled is "Stilton, Geronimo". Four > times different catalogers created a name authority record > for "Stilton, Geronimo", all of which were deleted. It was > deleted with no explanation as to why and sure enough someone > comes behind and creates it again, etc. I'm sure many think > it is obvious why they were deleted, but apparently not. Then > there is the issue of whether the rule that this should not > be a heading needs to change. Four people obviously think so. > > > > n 2005053414 d 100 Stilton, Geronimo > > nb2009013864 d 100 Stilton, Geronimo > > nb2005018265 d 100 Stilton, Geronimo > > no 00041084 d 100 Stilton, Gero??nimo > > > > sh2005002661 n 150 Stilton, Geronimo (Fictitious character) > > [Note: the Topical term does not provide any links to the > deleted Name > > terms and none of the Name ARs supplied a RT to the Topical term, > > which would be the least one would expect of a valid NAR.] > > > > Mary L. Mastraccio, MLS > > Cataloging & Authorities Librarian > > MARCIVE, Inc. > > San Antonio Texas 78265 > > 1-800-531-7678 > > ma...@marcive.com > > www.marcive.com > > > >> -----Original Message----- > >> From: Resource Description and Access / Resource Description and > >> Access [mailto:RDA-L@LISTSERV.LAC-BAC.GC.CA] On Behalf Of > Karen Coyle > >> Sent: Tuesday, April 26, 2011 10:25 AM > >> To: RDA-L@LISTSERV.LAC-BAC.GC.CA > >> Subject: Re: [RDA-L] Warning about authority record numbers and > >> headings - they DO change > >> > >> Quoting "Gary L. Strawn" <mrsm...@northwestern.edu>: > >> > >>> > >>> Something different is seen when an institution > >> accidentally creates a > >>> record for an entity already represented by an existing authority > >>> record. Sometimes the institution creates identical records one > >>> after the other, sometimes the duplication is harder to explain. > >>> But when the institution realizes the error, instead of > >> reporting the > >>> duplicate for deletion it changes the second record to > >> represent some > >>> completely different entity. In this case the linking > >> number is the > >>> same but the entity it represents is different. > >> > >> You know how we hate it when publishers re-use ISBNs and therefore > >> make a mess for us? This is the same thing. It's very > important that > >> we teach people some basic concepts that will help them > avoid these > >> kinds of mistakes. If nothing else, this shows us that our library > >> education (formal or > >> informal) is lacking. We teach people the details of the > cataloging > >> code but not much (definitely not enough) about data > management, and > >> the latter is part of our job today. > >> > >> kc > >> > >>> > >>> > >>> Gary L. Strawn, Authorities Librarian, etc. > >>> Northwestern University Library, 1970 Campus Drive, > >> Evanston IL 60208-2300 > >>> e-mail: mrsm...@northwestern.edu voice: 847/491-2788<--now even > >>> newer! fax: 847/491-8306 > >>> Forsan et haec olim meminisse iuvabit. BatchCat > >> version: 2007.22.416 > >>> > >> > >> > >> > >> -- > >> Karen Coyle > >> kco...@kcoyle.net http://kcoyle.net > >> ph: 1-510-540-7596 > >> m: 1-510-435-8234 > >> skype: kcoylenet > >>
