Authority training v12.2
ALEPH 500
Authority Control Training
McGill University
Table of contents
Table of contents
Authority Control
The Authority Database
The Authority Record
Authority Database Headings
BIB-AUT Links
Enrichment of the BIBliographic Headings Files
Update of Bibliographic Records
Update of Authority Records
The COR Field
Sub-Divisions
Authority Control Tables
Authority Control Processes
Authority Control Reports
List Headings Having Multiple Document Records (p_auth_04)
List Unauthorized Headings (p_auth_03)
Print catalog records with "SEEF" (Non-preferred) Headings (p_print_05)
Authority Control
The Authority Database
Authority records are a means of achieving consistency of the forms of headings, notably authors, subjects and series titles. The authority records are held in an xxx10 database but can be searched for in the OPAC and updated through the Cataloguing module.
The Authority database can be searched as an independent database but it but its main importance is how it can be used by the Bibliographic database:
•Consult and copy during cataloging
•Enrichment of BIB headings and words indexes with cross-references and multi-lingual synonyms
•Update of BIB records
•Enrichment of BIB display
•Display of linked authority records from a BIB heading
The Authority Record
The authority record is cataloged using the USMARC Authority format. The main fields are:
Leader
008 The appropriate codes are important:
pos.14 - Is the heading appropriate for use as main/added entries?
pos.15 - Is the heading appropriate use as subject entries?
pos.16 - Is the heading appropriate use as series entries
a = yes
b = no
008 L 821204n|-acannaab------|a-aaa-eng--
1XXthe preferred heading
4XXnon-preferred headings
5XXrelated terms
UPDthe UPD is a special ALEPH field that determines whether the authority record is used to automatically update bibliographic records.
Y= automatically update the bibliographic record
N=do not update the bibliographic record
If there is no UPD field the default is UPD=Y
Authority Database Headings
Heading, similar to the bibliographic databases’ headings, are created from authority records. Headings are created for all preferred (1XX) and non-preferred (4XX) terms.
BIB-AUT Links
Bibliographic records, and the headings created from them, are linked to the authority database by finding a match between the BIBliographic heading and an AUThority heading. When a match is found, the system uses the linked authority record to enrich the bibliographic headings file and optionally update the bibliographic record.
A special process called ue_08 performs this function. This process should be working in the background whenever new and updated records are inserted in the bibliographic database.
Enrichment of the BIBliographic Headings Files
We have the following authority record for American Bible Society
The user will find all cross-references in the bibliographic headings (and word files) even though they are not in the records themselves:
Update of Bibliographic Records
Depending on the UPD field in the authority record the system may also update bibliographic record if they have a non-preferred term. In the example above, if the authority record for ‘American Bible Society’ is Y and a record has:
710$$aA.B.S
The system will replace this field with the preferred term when the record is sent to the server:
710 $$aAmerican Bible Society
Update of Authority Records
When authority records are updated the system will send a message to the bibliographic database so that these updates will be reflected in the bibliographic heading files and records. New and/or updated cross-references will be inserted and if the preferred term is changed, the system will change the linked bibliographic heading and bibliographic record (if the UPD of the authority record is Y)
There is a special process – ue_11 – that manages the messages from the authority database to the bibliographic database.
The COR Field
When the preferred term of the authority record is changed the system will automatically create a COR field with the original term. This is necessary so that the link with bibliographic records (that have the original preferred term) is retained.
Sub-Divisions
USMARC authorities can have standard sub-divisions:
$v - Form subdivision
$x - General subdivision
$y - Chronological subdivision
$z - Geographic subdivision
When records are cataloged in the bibliographic database, these sub-divisions can be added to the main authority term. This means that the headings in the bibliographic database may not match those in the authority database. When the system does not find a match it will strip each sub-division and search for a match without it.
When an authority record is updated, the system will update the matching headings and record in the bibliographic database even if they have sub-divisions.
Authority Control Tables
The tables control the authority-bibliographic links are:
Tab_aut (UTIL G-1-d). This table defines which headings files will be linked to an authority database and which authority database will be searched.
Tab20 (UTIL G-1-20). This table defines which fields from the authority record will be used to enrich the bibliographic database’s headings – i.e. which fields will be taken as cross-references.
Tab01 (UTIL G-1-01) This table defines which heading file will be used to update the bibliographic record. This enables you to update LC subjects from the LC subjects (650#0) and MESH subjects from the MESH headings.
D 650-0 00 0000 STP 650 LSubject-Topical-LC B1
D 650-2 00 0000 SUM 650 LSubject-MeSH
Tab_expand (UTIL G-1-a). This table enables you to expand cross-references to the WORD files (or to display of bibliographic record if desired):
WORD expand_doc_bib_accref
Tab11 (UTIL G-11-1). Tab11 is used in both the authority and bibliographic databases to define the fields from which headings are created. Tab11 is also used in the bibliographic database to define to which heading file the system will create a hypertext links when the authority record is displayed in the OPAC (from the bibliographic database headings).
In addition to these tables, the various formatting tables are used to define the display of authority records.
Authority Control Processes
There are several background processes that should be run:
In authority library – ue_01, ue_11 (UTIL E-1, E-11)
In the bibliographic library – ue_01, ue_08 and ue_11 (UTIL E-1, E-8, E-11)
Authority Control Reports
List Headings Having Multiple Document Records (p_auth_04)
This is a report of headings that are linked to more than one authority record. It is designed to “uncover” ambiguous headings. The report is only meaningful when run on the authority library.
List Unauthorized Headings (p_auth_03)
This report lists headings that have not been authorized - meaning there is no match in the designated authority library. To be meaningful the report should only be run on headings that have authority control (i.e. are defined in tab_aut). The report can be run with date and ACC code parameters to limit output.
Print catalog records with "SEEF" (Non-preferred) Headings (p_print_05)
This report checks the bibliographic library for records that use the non-preferred form instead of the preferred form of a heading
Ex Libris Ltd 1999 / Page 1