- BSLWAC - mailman.xmission.com

RDA Conversion Services
by Nate Cothran 13 Jan '12

13 Jan '12

Greetings Everyone, Back in May 2009, Backstage was chosen as one of three vendors to participate in the national RDA testing phase. Born from that experience, as well as direct feedback from our clients, we focused our efforts on providing authority control options for your RDA bib records. We started with an easy option and assigned it as the default: 1. Treat all incoming bibs, whether encoded as AACR2, RDA, or something else as AACR2 This option was a starting point and allowed us to stretch our legs, and discover more solutions for our clients: 2. Ignore all incoming RDA bibs, separating them out for later runs (if desired) 3. Match AACR2 & RDA bib headings against their respective databases first; unmatched headings have the option to be searched against the other respective database next 4. Match AACR2 & RDA bib headings against AACR2 (but include 700 x4 as a matching point), flipping all potential matches to respective authority's 1XX heading; unmatched headings can then be searched against the RDA authority database only These options, in an early form, were made available in late October 2010, with an official announcement from us in January 2011. Since that time, there have been a few modifications made, especially in regards to simplifying the language used to describe each option. Also, we sought to make option #3 match the PCC standard for RDA authority control as closely as possible. Still, we continue to have minor variations on each of these for certain customers and fully anticipate needing to make additional adjustments in the months ahead. For the last several months, our team has been hard at work putting together options to process & validate your AACR2 or RDA bib records using new RDA standards. We are trying to tackle this from multiple angles: 1. Full RDA cataloging, utilizing the expertise of our experienced cataloging staff 2. Convert entire collection of (pre)AACR2 bib records to RDA formatting 3. Upgrade ongoing (pre)AACR2 bib records to RDA formatting 4. Upgrade / Validate existing RDA records as part of current cataloging efforts 5. Provide options for hybridizing your records (e.g., both AACR2 & RDA elements co-existing within same record) 6. Applying the same type of customized options you are used to with our Authority Control service 7. Providing opportunities to test the waters before taking the plunge Over the next several weeks & months, we plan to roll out this service and make all parts of it available for your perusal. We are still making changes based on feedback from a beta-test partner, as well as our own quality assurance checks. By the end of January, we will have available a new online profile dedicated to RDA processing options. Our customers will be able to choose to view either the existing Authority Control profile (which we have also revamped) or the new RDA profile and make changes as necessary. In addition, we have created an accompanying 70-page profile guide (pdf, printed, wiki) to assist you with your RDA processing options. Backstage is also celebrating its 25th Anniversary of serving libraries and librarians. In honor of that, we invite you to our dessert reception held in Dallas, ALA MidWinter a week from today (please see attached). More information will be forthcoming, so please stay tuned! Nate Cothran - nate(a)bslw.com <mailto:nate@bslw.com?subject=Automation%20Services%20-%20Query> Product Manager, Automation Backstage Library Works 533 E 1860 S, Provo UT 84606 (p) 801.342.5697 - (f) 801.356.8220 www.ac.bslw.com/community/blog <http://ac.bslw.com/community/blog/>

1 0

DACS Headings
by Nate Cothran 30 Sep '11

30 Sep '11

There has been some back and forth on OCLC-CAT recently with respect to DACS headings and authority control processing. DACS stands for Describing Archives: A Content Standard. These are a set of rules for describing archival materials designed to extend the rules in AACR2. An issue develops with family names, which are not allowed as creators (100 or 700) by LC standards, and can only be used as subject headings (6XX). What is happening is that the DACS rules allow more specific forms of a name to be used as an author heading, but are being flipped to the "official" LC form because it matches on one of the 4XX xrefs in the LC authority record. While RDA also allows family names in author (creator) fields, we have decided to address these DACS records only at this time. If your record contains 040 $e dacs your authority control processing will ignore the 1XX and 7XX headings within those records. It will also ignore the specific 6XX subject headings that have $2 dacs. Other "non-DACS" subject headings (6XX) will be controlled in the manner you have set up through your online profile. Of course, if you would prefer that we treat these records differently than we have stated above, please just let your project managers (Judy Archer <mailto:jarcher@bslw.com?subject=DACS%20Heading%20Processing%20Request> , Jeremy Myntti <mailto:jmyntti@bslw.com?subject=DACS%20Heading%20Processing%20Request> ) know and we will work with you to match our processing to your expectations. Nate Cothran - nate(a)bslw.com <mailto:nate@bslw.com?subject=Automation%20Services%20-%20Query> Product Manager, Automation Backstage Library Works 533 E 1860 S, Provo UT 84606 (p) 801.342.5697 - (f) 801.356.8220 www.ac.bslw.com/community/blog <http://ac.bslw.com/community/blog/>

2 2

Alexander Street, Chadwyk
by Ted Waller 22 Jul '11

22 Jul '11

We just had authority work done on 3 years of bib records, and Alexander Street Press and Chadwyck are responsible for 90% of our cleanup work. We had downloaded several collections of bib records from these two (e.g., Classical Music Library, out of copyright poetry collections) and the headings were atrocious. This is not a problem originating from Backstage, of course. I don't know where these publishers got their marc records, but they must be exceedingly old. Ted Waller Carlyle Campbell Library Meredith College 919 760 8381

3 5

Free Floater Subdivision Validation (18X)
by Nate Cothran 11 Jul '11

11 Jul '11

Greetings everyone, Earlier this year (2011), our Authority Control team put our heads together to see whether there was a way to provide validation using the free-floating subdivision records. The Policy & Standards Division over at Library of Congress had mentioned previously that one of their goals was to provide links between the 15X authority records and the 18X authority records. In the 15X authorities, the 072 $a would reflect the Subject Headings Manual <http://www.loc.gov/cds/PDFdownloads/shm/index.html> (SHM) H reference codes with a corresponding link found in the 073 $a of the 18X authorities. So whenever an 072 was found in a 15X authority, it would link up with corresponding 073 fields in various 18X authorities. Why would this be something worth exploring in the first place? When a heading is attempting to find a match against Library of Congress (LC) authority records, typically only portions of the heading matches. As there are many different instances of headings with variable free-floating subdivisions, usually only the main part of the heading ($a) matches an existing LC authority. As any of our clients that have perused the R06-Partially Matched Headings Report <http://ac.bslw.com/community/wiki/index.php5/Profile_Guide_Chapter_5#MARS_2 .0_Bib_Reports_List> can attest to, there are a vast number of headings listed where only the $a has been authorized, leaving many free-floating subdivisions just sitting there in the report. For instance, the heading 600 10 $a Smith, John might have different subdivisions following the main heading: 600 10 $a Smith, John $v Blogs 600 10 $a Smith, John $v By-laws 600 10 $a Smith, John $v Catalogs LC, however, has only authorized the main heading: n 86851637 100 1_ $a Smith, John So this heading, as well as many others like it, end up on our partially matched headings report. We began thinking: what if there was a way we could provide validation within the actual reports for these partially matched headings? Would our clients find this useful as they navigate through the reports, essentially being able to-at a glance-dismiss or include headings that would normally take them many more hours to check manually? What if our solution is not quite perfect at first, is it still worth exploring and refining later? Out of the 3,603 authorities that comprise the free-floating subdivision records (18X), there are 3,600 (99.9%) which contain an SHM ID in the 073 $a. For example, H1095 is the SHM ID that contains valid subdivisions for use with 600 fields in bib records. H1095 examples include: blogs, by-laws, and catalogs. We considered this a great start. On June 20, 2011, we looked at all 8,575,658 authorities in our LC master file (which LC updates weekly). We wanted to discover how many existing authorities had an 072 field that we could utilize in conjunction with the free-floating subdivision record's 073 field. We found one record that has an 072 field (0.0000001%): sh2010014519 072 $a H1149 150 $a Cyclohexylamine That put a damper on our ambitions, but didn't derail us. While it was obvious we could no longer mine the links between 15X and 18X authorities via 072/073 fields, we realized we still were able to exploit the 18X authorities. Each 18X authority starts with either $x or $v followed by the valid subdivision: sh2003007727 073 $a H1095 $z lcsh 073 $a H1100 073 $a H1103 073 $a H1110 185 $v Blogs 485 $v Weblogs . H1095 is a general catch-all list of subdivisions valid for use on all 6XX fields . H1100 is valid for Classes of persons on 600 fields . H1103 is valid for Ethnic groups on 650 fields . H1110 is valid for Names of persons on 600 fields We instructed our system to first check the 073 $a SHM ID. Based on the ID found, our system would then check specific 6XX fields (or all, depending on the SHM ID) against the list of subdivisions that are determined to be valid for that SHM ID. Our earlier example: 600 10 $a Smith, John $v Blogs The authority n 86851637 will be returned. With the validation on 18X authorities in place, it would also find the $v Blogs free-floating subdivision authority sh20030007727, since H1095, H1100, and H1110 are all valid to be used in 600 fields. We have modified our existing R06 report (which is part of our standard distribution if requested) to color-code valid, invalid, and partially valid free-floating subdivisions: . Valid - valid subdivisions will be green and underlined . Invalid - invalid subdivisions will be red and underlined . Partially valid - partially valid subdivisions will be orange and underlined. An example would be $x Blogs where the valid subdivision is actually $v Blogs For now, these are our default actions: . Validate free-floating subdivisions against the 18X authorities only in the partially matched headings report . Do not deliver matching validation authorities (unless requested) . Do not update client's master authority file by adding validation authorities (unless requested) This report should now be included (upon request if you're not already receiving it) with the validation and able to be viewed with your next Current Cataloging <http://ac.bslw.com/community/wiki/index.php5/Profile_Guide_Chapter_6#Curren t_Cataloging_Service> service. We also altered our CSS files in the report so that if you print out R06, the validation settings will be printed differently than how they are displayed onscreen-since color-coded headings in black & white all become varying (indecipherable) shades of gray. We know further refinement will be needed, but we think this is a good start and hope you find it useful. As always, we welcome any feedback you may have and, as a team, we will attempt to answer your questions concerning this enhancement. If you've made it this far, we might as well end with a table showing the SHM ID codes, a general description for those IDs, as well as the bib fields we have set for validation: H H1095 free floating subdivisions 6xx H1155 legislative bodies 610 H H1100 classes of persons 600 H1155.2 groups of literary authors 650 H H1103 ethnic groups 650 H1155.6 literary works entered under author 600 H H1105 corporate bodies 610 H1155.8 literary works entered under title 630 H H1110 names of persons 600 H1156 literatures 650 H H1120 names of families 600 3x H1158 materials 650 H H1140 geographic names 651 H1159 military services 650 H H1145.5 bodies of water 651 H1160 musical compositions 630 H H1147 animals 650 H1161 musical instruments 650 H H1148 art 650 H1164 organs and regions of the body 650 H H1149 chemicals 650 H1180 plants and crops 650 H H1149.5 colonies 651 H1185 religions 650 H H1150 diseases 650 H1186 religious and monastic orders 610 H H1151 education institutions 610 H1187 christian denominations 610 H H1151.5 types of educational institutions 650 H1188 sacred works 630 H H1153 industries 650 H1195 land vehicles 650 H H1154 languages 650 H1200 wars 650 H H1154.5 legal topics 650 Nate Cothran - nate(a)bslw.com <mailto:nate@bslw.com?subject=Automation%20Services%20-%20Query> Product Manager, Automation Backstage Library Works 533 E 1860 S, Provo UT 84606 (p) 801.342.5697 - (f) 801.356.8220 www.ac.bslw.com/community/blog <http://ac.bslw.com/community/blog/>

4 4

lcgft records
by Carras, Darla Black 03 Jun '11

03 Jun '11

I'm curious as to how people (Voyager libraries in particular) are handling the new and deleted genre authority records. We're struggling with it here. The new authority records don't match up with our old bibs, since they're coded as "other", not as LC. Will this be discussed at the ALA users meeting? Darla Carras Head, Catalog Management Unit University Library System University of Pittsburgh 412-244-7541 dcarras(a)pitt.edu

2 1

Russian Ligatures - MARC-8 Records
by Nate Cothran 01 Apr '11

01 Apr '11

Our programmer has pointed out that anyone on MARC-8 only has the option of Russian half-ligatures. There should not be any issues (that we are aware of) with using the half ligatures in MARC-8 format. Nate Cothran Backstage Library Works

1 0

MARS Authority Control Updates - Jan, Feb, Mar - 2011
by Nate Cothran 01 Apr '11

01 Apr '11

We invite you to take a closer look at what we have accomplished for this First Quarter in 2011 <http://ac.bslw.com/community/blog/2011/03/mars-authority-control-updates/> . Clicking on each link below will bring up a separate blog entry with more information. Reinstate Authority Deletes <http://ac.bslw.com/community/blog/2011/03/mars-authority-control-updates/#r einstatedels> Deletes that you have sent in used to be final, meaning you wouldn't see them again even if you had a new bib heading to reinstate them. Well that's all been fixed now, right in time with what we hoped. You should see reinstated authorities this week. Streamline Change Reports <http://ac.bslw.com/community/blog/2011/03/mars-authority-control-updates/#s treamlinereports> We still have the bold in place, but now each changed field is highlighted in the background too. Also, there's another option for displaying specific fields, read more to find out. Title (245), First Indicators <http://ac.bslw.com/community/blog/2011/03/mars-authority-control-updates/#t itleindicators> In hindsight, an obvious addition to our BARE rules, about what the first indicator value should be based on the 1XX field. BARE rules? Read the blog to understand more. RDA Property in BARE <http://ac.bslw.com/community/blog/2011/03/mars-authority-control-updates/#r dabare> You've read about our 6 options for RDA, so what does this one mean? This is a simple fix on our side but has far-reaching effects. No matter what direction you decide to go with RDA, we want to make sure you have that option with our processing. Russian Ligatures <http://ac.bslw.com/community/blog/2011/03/mars-authority-control-updates/#r ussianligatures> Whether you're a single- or double-half ligature kind of institution, we've got you covered! Just let us know what kind you would prefer. E-book Promotion <http://ac.bslw.com/community/blog/2011/03/mars-authority-control-updates/#e book> No time like the present to send us your e-book collection that you might have been holding off for authority control processing. More details inside the blog post. I promised our team that I would cut back on my long-windedness and reserve that for the blog posts instead. Of course, if you have any questions about these or other parts of your service, please just let us know at anytime. Thanks, Nate Nate Cothran - nate(a)bslw.com <mailto:nate@bslw.com?subject=Automation%20Services%20-%20Query> Product Manager, Automation Backstage Library Works 533 E 1860 S, Provo UT 84606 (p) 801.342.5697 - (f) 801.356.8220 www.ac.bslw.com/community/blog <http://ac.bslw.com/community/blog/>

1 0

LC Genre/Form (LCGFT) - Authority Records
by Nate Cothran 17 Mar '11

17 Mar '11

Our Authority Control librarian, Karen Anderson kanderson(a)bslw.com, put together some information about the new LC genre/form records that will be heading our way later this year. Based on feedback we have received, it appears that these new terms are still at least 6 weeks away from officially being released. We have received several inquiries about how we will be handling the new LC Genre/form records (lcgft) and 655 headings in bibliographic records. Our default policy will be to follow the LC/PCC guidelines. These can be found on the LC Policy and Standards Division Genre/form web page: http://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/genreformgeneral.html Here is what this means for Backstage Authority Control: 655 headings in bibliographic records with 2nd indicator 7 and $2 lcgft will be matched against the LCGFT file. If a match is found, the heading will be corrected if needed (if it matched on a 4xx in the authority record). If no match is found, the heading will be reported on the Unmatched Genre/form heading report. 655 headings in bibliographic records with a 2nd indicator 0 will first be matched against the LCGFT file. If a match is found, the heading will be corrected if needed (if it matched on a 4xx in the authority record), the second indicator will be changed to 7 and a $2 lcgft will be added to the end of the field. Those headings that are not matched in the LCGFT will then be matched against the LCSH file. If matched here, the heading will be corrected if needed and the indicators will remain unchanged. Headings that are not matched in either file will be reported on the Unmatched Genre/form heading report. Both LCGFT and LCSH authority records for matched headings will be delivered unless otherwise specified. LCGFT records will be identified by the lccn prefix 'gf'. Also 008/11 will be coded 'z' (Other) and the 040 will have $f lcgft added. 655 headings with other 2nd indicator and $2 subfield values will be processed as they are currently per client profile. We are exploring other possible options at this time. We welcome any feedback or suggestions. Nate Cothran - nate(a)bslw.com <mailto:nate@bslw.com?subject=Automation%20Services%20-%20Query> Product Manager, Automation Backstage Library Works 533 E 1860 S, Provo UT 84606 (p) 801.342.5697 - (f) 801.356.8220 www.ac.bslw.com/community/blog <http://ac.bslw.com/community/blog/>

3 5

Handling Deletes...
by Bill Kelm 16 Mar '11

16 Mar '11

I just have a processing question for libraries that use Backstage. Do you send your authority deletes to them? We are pondering not doing it, after we have learned that by sending them in and letting them know they are deletes they are appropriately marked as deleted on the Backstage end. However, they do not really delete them on their end, they get a special almost "ghost" like status. So they never get unmarked as deleted should we acquire a bib that needs the heading. Has anyone else found a way to deal with this problem? Thanks, Bill Kelm -- Bill G. Kelm - Systems Librarian Willamette University Library 900 State Street - Salem, OR 97301 Phone: 503-375-5332 Fax: 503-370-6141

5 8

name authorities change?
by Ted Waller 31 Jan '11

31 Jan '11

Hello, In the latest batch of name authority updates there are a number of records with a change I don't understand. The new records have a new 700 14 field that is the same as the 100 field. Our III system interprets this 700 as a See also reference. What is the purpose of this field? Examples: n 79141239 100 1 Housman, A. E.|q(Alfred Edward),|d1859-1936 700 1 4 Housman, A. E.|q(Alfred Edward),|d1859-1936 n 50030817 100 1 Hornung, E. W.|q(Ernest William),|d1866-1921 700 1 4 Hornung, E. W.|q(Ernest William),|d1866-1921 n 79117186 100 1 Von Sternberg, Josef,|d1894-1969 700 1 4 Von Sternberg, Josef,|d1894-1969 Ted Waller Meredith College

4 3