Glenn Patton recently released a statement on several listservs about the publication called “Online Catalogs: What End Users and Librarians Want“. Granted this research might be a little dated, the publication is from 2009, but Glenn Patton makes one very interesting remark in his statement. Namely, he states that “library staff who use WorldCat ranked the need for increased accuracy in name and subject headings as a highly desired improvement.” This is a trend that I’ve noticed here at my own library. What is even more striking is that I’ve heard this request not just in relation to our online catalog but also to our digital collections. In fact, we have one librarian who is extremely vocal when it comes to our online collections. I believe that this trend for greater name and subject heading accuracy in digital collections is becoming more of a trend and an issue to examine. As I’ve mentioned in other posts, there is a new registry called ORCID or Open Researcher and Contributer ID where users (librarians or other people) create profiles that all have unique identifiers. ORCID has entered Phase I of its development. Phase I is the first code release and the mock API Web Application, which is already to download and run. A number of institutions like Cornell or Harvard that have been dealing with name and subject heading accuracy in digital collections are active members of the ORCID project. Harvard also released Profiles Research Networking Software. This open source software allows users to create profiles for themselves and their works in addition to networking to colleagues. Besides these large projects, you see an increasingly large number of universities whose cataloging and metadata departments are stressing metadata services including authority control and data maintenance. In the end, I think that name and subject heading accuracy is not just a desired improvement of library staff but also our users who benefit from more accurate searches and name disambiguation in all of our catalogs whether it is our online catalog or our digital collections.
Here’s the blurb from Glenn Patton:
In the research that led to the publication of Online Catalogs: What End Users and Librarians Want (http://www.oclc.org/us/en/reports/onlinecatalogs/default.htm) library staff who use WorldCat ranked the need for increased accuracy in name and subject headings as a highly desired improvement. The report on WorldCat quality issued in September 2011 (http://www.oclc.org/us/en/reports/worldcatquality/default.htm) identified a project to control more headings in WorldCat as a priority during OCLC’s fiscal year 2012. The following describes this new controlling effort which will provide benefit to all users of WorldCat, regardless of which interface they use.
Current controlling functionality in Connexion. The controlling functionality currently available in the Connexion applications enables users to link authority records to headings in master WorldCat bibliographic records. Cataloger-initiated controlling functions facilitate automatic updating of headings in bibliographic records.
- Connexion users initiate matching headings in bibliographic records to established authority records.
- The system normalizes the headings in bibliographic records, matches them with authority records, and inserts the linked heading in the bibliographic record.
New stand-alone controlling software. OCLC is extending the Control All functionality by developing a stand-alone batch service that runs independently. The software evaluates all bibliographic records in WorldCat and controls headings as detailed below.
Records evaluated for processing. The software will evaluate the following bibliographic records in WorldCat for processing according to different time schedules:
- Master bibliographic records newly added to WorldCat contributed either through online applications or through batchload will be evaluated daily.
- Master bibliographic records changed and replaced in WorldCat will be evaluated on a pre-determined schedule.
- Existing master bibliographic records in WorldCat will be evaluated on a to-be-determined schedule and as capacity allows.
OCLC has begun processing records selected from among new and replaced records and will gradually increase the number of records processed each day over the next few weeks. We will announce when we begin processing existing records and will report periodically on progress.
Criteria for record selection. The software will select candidate bibliographic records for processing that contain the following:
- An 040 field with no ‡b present and at least one of the following controllable fields:
- An 040 field with ‡b present containing the value eng and at least one of the following controllable fields:
- An 040 field with ‡b present but containing a value not equal to eng and at least one of the following controllable fields:
- A partially or fully controlled heading.
- 100, 110, 111, 130
- 600, 610, 611, 630, 650, 651, second indicator 0
- 655, second indicator 7, ‡2 lcgft
- 700, 710, 711, 730
- 800, 810, 811, 830
- 100, 110, 111, 130
- 600, 610, 611, 630, 650, 651, second indicator 0
- 655, second indicator 7, ‡2 lcgft
- 700, 710, 711, 730
- 800, 810, 811, 830
- 600, 610, 611, 630, 650, 651, second indicator 0
- 655, second indicator 7, ‡2 lcgft
How the software works.
The software will not:
- Attempt to control unqualified personal names (personal name only that does not include ‡b, ‡c, ‡d, and/or ‡q).
- Control a heading to an undifferentiated authority record.
- Cause automated tag flips of any type.
The software will:
- Automatically expand dates for candidate personal name headings.
- Partially control series fields and automatically append ‡v.
- Control linked non-Latin script headings for candidate personal name headings.
The software will also make the following adjustments as needed:
- Apply any appropriate punctuation changes.
- Attempt to control partially controlled headings.
- Uncontrol descriptive heading fields (1XX, 7XX and 8XX) if the value in field 040 in the bibliographic record is not equal to eng.
- Delete a geographic subdivision from a subject heading if the heading can be completely controlled and no element of the heading can be subdivided geographically.
The symbol “OCLCO” will be appended in ‡d of the 040 field in bibliographic records that are modified by the software.
If a bibliographic record is locked, the software will skip it and reevaluate it when the lock has been removed.
The new software supplements individual cataloging activity. As with the “Control All” headings function in Connexion, some circumstances prevent the software from controlling all headings in WorldCat records. The software cannot do the manual “Single Control” headings functions that catalogers can do in Connexion. The software cannot control non-qualified personal names, headings that have no exact match or that match only partially, headings that are mis-tagged, headings that contain typographical errors or other errors that require correction.
OCLC encourages catalogers working in WorldCat to continue using the control headings functions in Connexion when adding or upgrading records as you continue to share your cataloging expertise with the cooperative.
