RDA conversion of the LC/NACO Authority file, Phase 3
Gary Strawn posted the following announcement concerning plans for phase 3 of the LC/NACO Authority files via several e-mail lists. Permission for re-posting to other lists without prior approval was given. The RDA phase 3 documents available via the link in Strawn's e-mail provide further detail as to how some of these tasks might be accomplished. Enrichment of authority records using data mined from the textual 670 fields is an interesting possibility.
Following the successful completion of phases 1 and 2 of
the conversion of the LC/NACO Authority File for use under RDA, the Program for
Cooperative Cataloging has appointed a task group to consider additional
changes to the file. This work is to constitute "Phase 3" of the
preparation of the LC/NACO Authority File. This task group's final report is
due by March 15, 2015; the report is to propose a schedule for performing the
work. After receiving this report, PCC will decide how to proceed.
The most important single task to be achieved during
Phase 3 is the re-coding as RDA of those AACR2 authority records that bear no
indication that the 1XX cannot be used under RDA. The task group is considering
other changes that can be made to records in the authority file at the same
time. Some of these changes will be related directly to the adoption of RDA; but
this is not necessarily the case. Because millions of records will need to be
re-issued to achieve the main goal, other clean-up projects that affect a large
number of records can be considered.
The task group has so far investigated the following additional
tasks (in some cases the investigation is still very much in progress):
* Enhanced generation of the 046 field in authority
records for personal names
* Re-formulating older occurrences of the 678 field as
670
* Programmatic switching of terms for relationships,
following on changes made to RDA earlier this year
* Programmatic switching of standard terms for music
medium of performance, also following changes made to RDA earlier this year;
corresponding generation of the 372 field
* Adding ISNIs in the 024 field
* Re-categorize texts used in subfield $c of personal
names
* Regularizing the recording of names in the 370 field
Not all of this work will necessarily be held until the
primary job of Phase 3 is undertaken. For example, several thousand records
with 678 fields have already been adjusted; and changes to music medium of
performance will probably be undertaken as soon as the specifications have been
approved.
The task group is preparing documents that describe in
detail each aspect of its work. Three of these documents (corresponding to the
first three bullet points in the above list) are now available for comment.
These documents, and the group's charge (including a list of members), can be
found at this site:
The group invites discussion on the PCC and/or RDA lists
of these documents. The group also actively encourages suggestions for
additional automated manipulations that might be made to the LC/NACO authority
file as part of this project.
Additional documents will be posted to this site as they
are prepared, and discussion of them invited as well. The group has created a
Twitter account that will be used to broadcast notifications of new and revised
documents: rdaphase3. Interested parties are encouraged to follow that Twitter
account, to be up-to-date on the group's activities.
In its work, the task group has uncovered, and expects to
continue to uncover, a number of categories of problems that cannot be handled
by a program, but could be cleared up by a group of dedicated volunteers. For
example, the program that made a preliminary examination of the 370 field
identified a large number of fields with subfield $2 reading "naf" or
"lcsh" for which no corresponding authority record could be found.
Each of these must be reviewed, and an appropriate action taken; but there is
far more work to do than the task group can achieve on its own. All NACO participants--at either the
individual or institution level--will be encouraged to assist in the work. Other likely projects include: authority
records for personal names for which the conversion program could not generate
an 046 field for one reason or another, but which appear to contain date-shaped
information; records whose 100 has only a birth date but whose 670 fields
contain a death date. There will no doubt be many more such projects. The task
group will announce each clean-up project as it prepares the unnecessarily
underlying problem reports and suitable instructions.
RDA toolkit technical committee formed
James Hennelly, Managing editor of ALA Digital References recently announced the formation of an RDA Toolkit Technical Committee via several e-mail lists. The purpose of the committee is to address "open technical issues related to the application of RDA, RDA Toolkit and the RDA registry. The full text of the announcement and a membership list for the committee are available via the RDA Toolkit blog.
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