-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Scope of controlling software and 781 fields
Date: Tue, 15 Jul 2008 09:21:31 -0400
From: Weitz,Jay <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Cross-posted to multiple lists; apologies in advance for duplication.
===================================================
At the ALA Annual Conference in Anaheim, a question arose regarding the
controlling of geographic subdivisions in cases where an authority
record for a geographic heading does not have field 781. In some cases,
the form of the established heading in the 151 field differs from the
correct indirect subdivision form. The concern was raised as to why
Connexion's controlling functionality enabled the ability to control the
heading containing an incorrectly formatting geographic subdivision.
The following information is to provide a reminder regarding the scope
of the controlling software, as well as information regarding ongoing
efforts to add 781 fields to authority records. Field 781 documents the
correct form of a geographic heading when it is used as a geographic
subdivision. The presence of field 781 also makes that correct form
available to the software that controls headings.
The function of the Connexion controlling functionality is to enable
authorized users to associate headings in bibliographic records with
authorized authority records. That function is supported by normalizing
headings and matching them against authority records. When a match is
made, tags, indicators, and text of the heading are taken from the
authority record, and inserted into the bibliographic record. Also,
using information encoded in the bibliographic record (e.g., geographic
subdivision), the controlling software can assist in the placement and
coding of *some* elements in a subject heading.
The controlling software is not 'validation' software--so while it can
identify (using elements in the fixed field) if a heading can be
geographically subdivided, it cannot determine if a heading is correctly
constructed. To be more specific, the controlling functionality DOES NOT:
a) validate the construction of a heading--so the controlling software
can correctly control elements in a poorly or incorrectly constructed
heading,
b) validate the assignment of a heading--again, the controlling software
is only doing matching, so it is currently beyond the software's
capability to determine if a free-floating subdivision can be used with
a main heading, or if the correct 'Smith, John' has been assigned,
c) perform any data manipulation to identify 'close' matches as part of
the controlling process--the software is doing exact matching based on
the elements in to-be-controlled heading (e.g., apple vs. apples ; wigs
vs. pigs ; woman vs. women)
Similar to using the 'generate' functionality when creating authority
records, the cataloger's knowledge is needed to review the results
ensure the controlling tool is applied correctly.
In regards to the 781 fields, several years ago, OCLC programmatically
added 781 fields to about 80,000 authority records for geographic
headings and is planning to repeat the processing in early 2009 to pick
up more recently created records.
For additional information and/or assistance regarding the controlling
functionality, please contact OCLC's Customer Support staff at:
[log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>.
If you come across an authority record that lacks but should have field
781, please report it to [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>,
directly to Robert Bremer ([log in to unmask]
<mailto:[log in to unmask]>) or OCLC Customer Support
([log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>).
Regards,
--Becky Dean and Jay Weitz
OCLC
6565 Kilgour Place
Dublin, OH 43017
[log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
1-800-848-5878, ext. 5144
[log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
1-800-848-5878, ext. 6156
|
