Create Name Authority Records

Authorities: Create Name Authority Records

About creating authority records

How to create records

Create original authority records using any of four methods:

• Derive a record from an existing authority record (see "Create a name authority record from an existing record").
• Create a workform and enter data (see "Create a name authority record from a workform").
• Generate an authority record from a name heading (see "Generate an authority record from a name heading using an OCLC-supplied macro").
• Import records from your local system (see Authorities, Import Authority Records, "Import authority records").

Create records for the following formats:

• Conference Name
• Corporate Name
• Geogaphics
• Personal Name
• Series
• Uniform Title

Online or offline cataloging

You can create original records online or offline. If you are a NACO participant and add original records to the LC authority file, to create a name authority record from a workform when you are logged off, you must define a MARC organization code. When you create an authority record from a workform when logged on, the client uses the MARC organization code associated with your logon authorization.

Who can create name authority records?

• Catalogers with a Limited or higher OCLC authorization level can create name records using any method (complete a workform, generate a record from a name heading, or derive from an existing record)
• Only libraries participating in the Name Authority Cooperative Program (NACO) who have one of the following authorization levels can add new records to the LC authority file:
  • NACO Regular (NAR)
  • Enhance National (ENN)
  • CONSER National (CON)

About new name authority records

• Records added to the LC authority file are automatically transmitted to the Library of Congress for approval and distribution.
• The system assigns an OCLC authority record number (ARN) and a Library of Congress control number (LCCN) to each new record.
• For approved records, the Library of Congress supplies a date/time entered in field 005.
• Newly added master records remain locked in the LC authority file until approved by Library of Congress.
• OCLC Cataloging validation rules are applied to new LC authority file records.
• You cannot export a workform not yet added to the LC authority file. Only records with OCLC authority record control numbers (ARNs) can be exported.

When to create a name authority record

• When no authority record exists for a heading
• When you have sufficient information to create a complete and accurate authority record for the heading

Name versus subject authority records

The system supports creating or replacing name authority records only.

For subject authority records, the system allows you to:

• Edit an existing subject authority record
• Save a subject authority record in the online or local authority save file
• Export an existing subject authority record (modified or unmodified)

The system does not allow you to:

• Create a subject authority record from a workform
• Create a subject authority record by cloning an existing record or generating a record from a subject heading in a bibliographic record
• Add a subject authority record to the LC authority file
• Lock, edit, and replace a master subject authority record

Guidelines and standards

The following documents provide guidelines, input standards, and related information:

• OCLC Authorities User Guide, Third Edition at:
  http://www.oclc.org/support/documentation/worldcat/authorities/userguide/aug_3d.htm
• NACO Participants' Manual, Third Edition at:
  http://www.loc.gov/catdir/pcc/naco/npm3rd.pdf
  
  The Library of Congress provides NACO documentation at:
  http://www.loc.gov/catdir/pcc/naco/naco.html
• MARC21 Concise Format for Authorities, including latest updates, at:
  http://lcweb.loc.gov/marc/authority/ecadhome.html

Search the LC authority file for an existing record

Before creating a name authority record, search the LC authority file for the heading, including alternative forms of the heading. In addition, search WorldCat for bibliographic records that contain the heading or alternative forms of the heading. For more information about searching, see Search the LC authority file interactively" or "Enter LC authority file searches for batch processing."

Open MARC field Help

For assistance any time while you create a record, open the MARC field description for any field or fixed field element:

Action
On the Help menu, click MARC Field Help, or click , or press <Ctrl><F1>. A description of the specific field or fixed-field element where the cursor is located opens.

Use constant data, text strings, fixed field drop-down lists

Constant data

To save keystrokes when using a workform or deriving or generating records, create and apply constant data records, using the online or local constant data file. Constant data is a fast way to add notes and other data you use often when you create or edit records. You can:

See topics in Cataloging, Use Constant Data for more information.

Text strings

Another way to save keystrokes when you enter frequently used data is to create, assign, and insert custom text strings (use Tools > Text Strings or use the Text String quick tool on the toolbar). Use text strings to supplement constant data when you want to enter shorter data, diacritics or special characters, or several fields of data. Insert a text string from the Text Strings window: select a text string and click Assign. Or insert from the Text String quick tool: select a text string in the list. Or you can assign and use a keystroke or user tool to insert a text string.

For more information, see Basics, Set Options and Customize, "Create custom text strings."

Open LC authority history records

If you want to track the history or identify past changes for distributed authority records, you can open authority history record(s) from a displayed authority record using Authorities > Show > LC Superseded Versions. You can also search or browse the authority history file, for example, to check for headings you can no longer find in the LC authority file, using Authorities > Search > LC Names and Subjects History or Authorities > Browse > LC Names and Subjects History.

Authority history records are read-only. You can copy and paste or print only. Authority history file records date back to the mid-1980s.

See Authorities, Search Authority Files, "Open LC authority history records interactively" for details.

Fixed field drop-down lists

By default, when the fixed field display is set to Top or Bottom (not displayed as variable field), each fixed field element has a drop-down list of values valid for the MARC format of the record. You can select a value from the list or type over a value. Or you can hide the lists in Tools > Options > Record Display.

See "Edit authority records" for more information.

Add record to the LC authority file, save to online or local file, or submit for peer review

After creating a record, NACO participants can add it to the LC authority file, or you (NACO or non-NACO catalogers) can save it for further editing or for peer review.To add a record to the LC authority file,

To save a record you create:

In the following situations, submit new authority records for review before adding to the LC authority file:

• You are a newly authorized NACO participant required to do so.
• Although not required to submit for review, you have a question about a name authority record you created.

See Authorities, Edit Authority Records, "Edit authority records" and Authorities, Take Actions on Authority Records, "Exchange records for peer review" for more information.

Create a name authority record from an existing record

When to derive a name authority record from an existing record

Derive a new name authority records from an existing record if you have searched the LC authority file and find that:

• No authority record exists for the heading you want to use.
• An authority record exists for a related or similar heading.

Create a record from an existing record

You can derive a new record online or offline.

Content transferred to a derived record

When you derive a name authority record, the system:

• Replaces the ARN with NEW.
• Fixed-field values do not transfer from the original record. Instead, the client replaces fixed-field data with default values based on the blank workform.
• Transfers variable fields 1xx through 7xx.
• Deletes variable fields and data in fields with tags less than 100 (except field 040).

The system does not transfer:

• MARC field 040: Subfields a and c containing the your OCLC institution code and a blank subfield b.
  
  Note: If you are online, the client supplies the institution symbol from your logon authorization. If you are offline, the symbol is supplied from client options in Tools > Options > General tab (required).
• Contents of the MARC fixed field defaults to values appropriate for the type of record
• Default variable fields based on your cataloging profile:
  • Empty call number field appropriate for your profiled classification scheme. One of the following fields is inserted: 055, 070, 080, 086, 090, 092, or 096.
  • Field 049 containing you default holding library code.
    
    Note: If you are online, the client supplies the holding library code from your logon authorization. If you are offline, the code is supplied from client options in Tools > Options > General tab (required).

Connexion does not transfer:

• Field 005: Date/time entered.
• Field 010: Library of Congress control number (LCCN).

Create an authority record from a workform

When to use a name authority workform

Use a workform if you:

• Are a NACO participant
• Have searched the LC authority file thoroughly and find that:
  • No authority record exists for the heading you want to use.
  • No authority record exists for a related or similar heading.
  • The heading is not used in a bibliographic record that meets NACO criteria for a source record.

Create a record from a workform

You can open a workform while you are logged on or offline.

Generate an authority record from a name heading using an OCLC-supplied macro

When to generate a new record from a name heading

• No authority record exists for the heading you want to use.
• No authority record exists for a related or similar heading.
• The heading for which you want to create an authority record is used in a bibliographic record that meets NACO criteria for a source record.

Generate a new record from a name heading

OCLC supplies a macro called GenerateAuthorityRecord in a macro book named OCLC to perform this function.

Tips:

• For ease of use, assign a keystroke shortcut or assign a user tool to run the GenerateAuthorityRecord macro. If you assign it, skip steps 2 through 4 in the procedure below and, instead, press the assigned keys or click the assigned user tool button, keystroke, or command.
• Use bibliographic records from your local system. Set up a Z39.50 connection to your local system and retrieve a bibliographic record that has a heading for which you want to create an authority record. When you retrieve a local system record, the client automatically imports it into the client, and you can use the GenerateAuthorityRecord macro on a heading in the record.
  
  See "Retrieve local system records using a Z39.50 connection" in Cataloging, Export or Import Bibliographic Records.

You can generate a new record when you are working online or offline. To run the macro to generate a record from a name heading:

Fields mapped to workform

When you run the GenerateAuthorityRecord macro to create an authority workform based on a name heading in a bibliographic record, the selected heading field is mapped to the authority workform as shown in the following table, subject to modifications which are listed following the table:

Modifications to mapped fields in the workform

• The completed authority workform retains heading text and subfield codes from the bibliographic record. The workform also retains first indicators, with the exceptions noted above.
• For all selected headings, any occurrences of subfields ‡4, ‡e, ‡o, or ‡u are deleted.
• If 111, 611, or 711 is selected, contains subfield ‡n, and does not contain subfield ‡t, subfield ‡n and all successive subfields are deleted.
• If 240 is selected, based on the assumption that a corresponding 1xx field is also in the bibliographic record, the text of field 240 subfield ‡a is appended to the corresponding 1xx heading as subfield ‡t followed by any successive field 240 subfields.
• If 440 is selected and contains an initial article (that is, the second indicator is a value other than 0) the initial characters are removed based on the indicator value, and the first character of the remaining heading is made uppercase.
• If 440 is selected and contains subfield ‡x, subfield ‡x is deleted.
• If 440, 800, 810, 811, or 830 is selected and contains subfield ‡v, subfield ‡v is deleted.
• If 600, 610, 611, 630, or 651 is selected, only the name, name-title, or uniformtitle portions of the 6xx field are retained. Subfields ‡v, ‡x, ‡y, or ‡z are deleted.
• When unnecessary subfields are deleted, any succeeding punctuation in the remaining heading is also removed. A period is retained if the final character of the heading is an initial or is one of the following abbreviations: