functional requirements and numbering of authority records

LIDA, FRBR and FRANAR Workshop, Mljet, 2003

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FUNCTIONAL REQUIREMENTS AND NUMBERING OF AUTHORITY RECORDS

A CONCEPTUAL MODEL

Work in Progress

Mirna Willer, [email protected]

National and University Library, Croatia


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CONTENT

- Background

- IFLA Working Group on FRANAR

- A conceptual model: work in progress

- Open issues

- References


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Background (1)

1. FRBR, 1998, p. 5:

The model “does not analyse the additional data that are normally recorded in an authority record, nor does it analyse the relationships between and among those entities that are generally reflected in the syndetic apparatus of the catalogue ... the study group recognizes the need to extend the model at some future date to cover authority data.”

< http://www.ifla.org/VII/s13/frbr/frbr.pdf >

http://www.ifla.org/VII/s13/frbr/frbr.pdf


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Background (2)

2. Work in the field of authority data

2.1. IFLA’s documents, etc.

- authority lists (e.g., Anonymous Classics)

- rules (e.g., Names of Persons)

- guidelines (e.g., GARR, GSAR)

- MARC format (i.e., UNIMARC/Authorities)

- studies/reports (e.g., Bourdon, Françoise. International Cooperation in the Field of Authority Data, 1993)

- conferences (e.g., IC on National Bibliographic Services, 1998)

- Working Group on Minimal Level Authority Records and the ISADN


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Background (3)

A shift in paradigm:

- UBC: establishment of uniform headings and exchange of authority data

- user-centred view: a (virtual) shared resource authority file (under the auspices of IFLA)

References:

- Plassard, Marie-France. IFLA and Authority Control. http://www.unifi.it/universita/biblioteche/ac/relazioni/plassard_eng.pdf

- Tillett, Barbara. Authority Control: State of the Art and New Perspectives. http://www.unifi.it/universita/biblioteche/ac/relazioni/tillett_eng.pdf

- Willer, Mirna. Authority Control and ISADN http://www.oclc.org/oclc/man/authconf/willer.htm

http://www.oclc.org/oclc/man/authconf/willer.htm











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Background (4)

2.2. International organisations standardising activities

- ISO/TC46 (e.g., International Standard Text Code: ISTC)

- ICA, Committee on Descriptive Standards (International Standard Archival Authority Record for Corporate Bodies, Persons, and Families: ISAAR(CPF))

2.3. International projects

- CERL

- <indecs> (interoperability of digital content identification systems and related rights metadata within multi-media e-commerce); INTERPARTY


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Background (5)

- MALVINE (manuscripts and letters)

- LEAF (linking & exchanging authority files)

- Dublin Core Agents WG

- MACS (multilingual access to subjects)

- AFNOR WG on Authority Metadata (French standardising body)

- VIAF (LC, DDB & OCLC: virtual international authority file)

- etc.


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IFLA WG on FRANAR (1)

IFLA Working Group on Functional Requirements and Numbering of Authority Records, 1999

Terms of reference:- to define functional requirements for authority records;

- to study the feasibility of an ISADN, to define possible use and users, to determine for what types of authority records such an ISADN is necessary, to examine the possible structure of the number and the type of management that would be necessary;

- to serve as the official IFLA liaison to and work with other interested groups concerning authority files.


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IFLA WG on FRANAR (2)

- work in progress: ToR (1) and (3)- Patton, Glenn E. FRANAR: A Conceptual Model for

Authority Data (International Conference Authority Control, Florence, February 2003)

http://www.unifi.it/universita/biblioteche/ac/relazioni/patton_eng.pdf

FRANAR Meeting, Zagreb, 22-24 May 2003- members: F. Bourdon (BnF), C. Hengel-Dittrich (DDB), O. Lavrenova (RSL),

A. McEwan (BL), E. Murtomaa (HUL-NLF), G. Patton, chair (OCLC), H. Snyder (UC Riverside), B. Tillett (LC), H. Walravens (ISBN), M. Willer (NSK)

- consultant: Tom Delsey (Canada)


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A conceptual model (1)

1. Purpose

The conceptual model has been designed to:

- provide a clearly defined, structured frame of reference for relating the data that are recorded in authority records to the needs of the users of those records;

- clarify the function of identifiers or standard numbers for authority data;

- assist in an assessment of the potential for international sharing and use of authority data both within the library sector and beyond.


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2. Scope

- at a high level, the model encompasses authority records of all types:- name (personal, family, corporate, geographic, trademark)

- title (uniform titles and collective uniform titles)

- name-title

- subject (subject headings, thesaurus terms, classification schedules)

- identifiers (code lists, etc.)

- the detailed analysis focuses on library authority records for - name headings associated with persons, families, corporate bodies

- name-title and title headings associated with works, expressions, manifestations, and items


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- users of authority records: - librarians

- library patrons

- database management and applications software

- user tasks:- resource discovery: find; identify, control, relate

- data management: process, sort, display, integrate


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3. Authority files in a library contextThree broad, interrelated stages in the cataloguing process:

(1) creation of bibliographic description

(2) formulation of headings and references: the choice and form of headings

(3) registration of headings and references: order and form in which headings and their associated reference structures are to be presented in an authority record, and what additional information to record

Stages (1) and (2) incorporated into bibliographic file

Stage (3) incorporated into authority file: serves as a vehicle for recording the form that has been established for individual headings used in the catalogue and the reference structure associated with each heading

The primary function of the authority file: to control the access points used in the bibliographic file


14Figure 1: The Cataloguing Process


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4. Entity-Relationship Diagrams and DefinitionsThe model is focused on the “library universe;” the “hooks” to link the model to

the “real world,” i.e., entities defined in other communities (e.g., archives, rights management: <indecs> entities), will be dealt with in the next phase.

- Figure 2: Entity Names and Identifiers; entities (FRBR entities & family) associated with the names and identifiers that are registered in authority files

- Figure 3: Access Points and Authority Records; formal or structural entities a name or identifier is used to formulate an access point access point is registered in an authority file as an authorized/variant heading in an authority/reference record or explanatory heading in a general explanatory record; entities rules and agency determine the form and content of authority records


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Figure 2: Entity Names and Identifiers


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Figure 3: Access Points and Authority Records


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5. Attributes- defined at a “logical level,” i.e., as characteristics of the

entities to which they pertain, not as specifically defined data elements

- definitions derived from: FRBR, UNIMARC/Authorities, MLAR (Mandatory Data Elements for Internationally Shared Resource Authority Records), ISAAR(CPF)

- e.g.; Attributes of a Person:- dates of person, title of person, other designation associated with

the person, gender, place of birth, place of death, citizenship, place of residence, affiliation, address, language of person, field of activity, profession/occupation, biography/history


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6. Relationships

6.1 Relationships Depicted in the High-Level Diagrams

Figure 2:

- associations between “bibliographic” entities and the names by which those entities are known (in the “library universe”) and the identifiers assigned to those names “known by” & “identified by”

- generic relationships between FRBR entities: e.g., a person associated with a work (author), expression (translator), manifestation (printer), item (owner) “associated with”


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Figure 3:

- functional associations between names and identifiers and access points, authorized/variant/explanatory headings, authority/reference/explanatory records, rules that govern them and the agencies that create, transcribe, modify and issue them “basis for,” “registered as,” “referenced from,” “registered in,” “registered as,” “governed by,” “applied by,” & “created/transcribed/modified/issued by”

- e.g., a name is a basis for an access point which is registered as an authorized heading, which as such is registered in an authority record; the creation of an authorized heading is governed by rules which are applied by an agency; that agency creates etc. authority records


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6.2 Reference Structure Relationships

Relationships within authority files:

- relationships between specific instances of entities of the same type:- person to person: pseudonymous, attributive and collaborative

relationships

- corporate body to corporate body: predecessor/successor, separation, amalgamation, subordinate, sequential, other relationships

- family to family: genealogical relationships

- work to work: whole/part, adaptation, other types of relationships


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- relationships between a specific instance of an entity type and a specific instance of a different entity type:- person to family: membership relationship

- person to corporate body: membership relationship

- relationships may be made explicit by means of information notes, instruction phrases or coded data that is used to generate display constants


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EX 1: Person to Person: pseudonymous relationshipAuthorized heading:

Metz, BarbaraInformation notes/see also references:

Barbara Metz also writes under the pseudonyms Barbara Michaels and Elizabeth Peters. For works written under those pseudonyms, search under:>> Michaels, Barbara, 1927->> Peters, Elizabeth

See also reference tracings:<< Michaels, Barbara, 1927-<< Peters, Elizabeth


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EX 2: Person to Family: membership relationship

Authorized heading:

Wulz, Wanda (1903-1984)

Information note:

Photographe italienne née et morte à Trieste

See also references/reference tracings:

>><< Wulz (famille)


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6.3 Linking Structure Relationships

Relationships that are reflected in the linking structures between specific records and between specific fields in records:

Type of heading relationships

- authorized heading to authorized heading; variant heading to variant heading; explanatory heading to explanatory heading parallel language, alternate script, different rules relationships

Type of record relationships

- Authority record to authority record; reference record to reference record; explanatory record to explanatory record parallel language, alternate script, different rules relationships


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EX 1: Authorized heading to Authorized heading: parallel language relationshipAuthorized heading:

National Library of CanadaParallel heading:

= Bibliothèque nationale du CanadaEX 2: Authority record to Authority record: parallel language relationshipAuthority record in English:

National Library of Canada= Bibliothèque nationale du CanadaNLC/BNC ; AACR2, 1984-08-160001-D-5331E

Parallel authority record in French:Bibliothèque nationale du Canada

= National Library of Canada NLC/BNC ; AACR2, 1984-08-160001-D-5331F


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7. User tasks

- users of authority records:- librarians: cataloguers and reference librarians- library patrons: use authority information either

through direct access to authority files or indirectly through the headings and references in library catalogues, national bibliographies, etc.

- database management and applications software: support creation, maintenance, search, retrieval and display of data contained in bibliographic and authority files


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- user tasks associated with- resource discovery:

- find: find an entity corresponding to stated criteria- identify: identify an entity- control: control the form of heading used for entries in the catalogue,

bibliography, etc.- relate: establish or clarify the relationship between one entity and

another

- data management:- process: a record/heading by means of standard computer operations- sort: a record/heading for purposes of alphabetic or numeric

arrangement- display: entry, heading or data field- integrate: a record, entry or heading in an existing authority file


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Open issues

- the consolidation of the model

- the feasibility of an ISADN:- the need for a standard number to help in the exchange process

(e.g., IS292929 in Vilnius, 1994; IC NBS, Copenhagen, 1998; CERL)

- IFLA WG on MLAR and the ISADN: the link with publishing and rights management sectors

- FRANAR: not create a new number but look into existing numbers automatically assigned by library systems or adopt ISO standard numbers (ISAN, ISWC, ISRC)?

- the question: what exactly are we attempting to number?- an entity, a heading or a record?


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References

FRANAR: references

1. Functional requirements for bibliographic records : final report / IFLA Study group on the

Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records. München : K.G. Saur, 1998.

2. Guidelines for authority records and references / revised by the Working Group on GARE

Revision. 2nd ed. München : K.G. Saur, 2001.

3. UNIMARC manual : authorities format. 2nd revised and enlarged ed. München : K.G.

Saur, 2001.

4. Mandatory data elements for internationally shared resource authority records : report of the IFLA UBCIM Working Group on Minimal Level Authority Records and ISADN. Frankfurt am Main, 1998. < http://www.ifla.inist.fr/VI/3/p1996-2/mlar.htm >

5. International standard archival authority record for corporate bodies, persons and families.

Ottawa : Secretariat of the ICA Commission on Descriptive Standards, 1996.

functional requirements and numbering of authority records

Documents

authority control

authority recordsto

types of authority

franar workshop

field of authority data2

international organisations

international cooperation

working group