We’ve discussed the importance of authority control in the past and how it acts as a principal access point into your catalog. How does it work? What steps have to take place in order to perform authority work and maintain it in a catalog?
Types of Processing
At Backstage, we break up the process into one of three categories: basefile, gap, and ongoing maintenance. Each of these procedures represents a different stage of authority control processing at a library.
- A basefile service is necessary for authority control because it establishes a foundation for the authority database. This process covers clean-up and leaves the catalog refreshed.
- Gap processing is used to ‘fill the gap’ for a library that has been a client and has had to either pause authority processing or has recently acquired a new collection.
- Ongoing authority control comes in several varieties. In the most common scenario, new bibliographic records get cleaned up so that they are consistent with the remainder of the catalog and match headings within your authority file, and the timeline is customizable. Additionally, the authority file is updated on a weekly, monthly, quarterly, semi-annual, or annual basis with updates getting pushed into the authority file only for those records that have changed.
Basefile processing is the first, major step into organizing a catalog so that its authority file integrates seamlessly. From there, ongoing processing is what keeps a catalog up-to-date and consistent.
Profiling: Matching, Clean-up, & Sampling
Prior to processing a basefile, gap, or first ongoing procedure, libraries create their own customized profile. Through the selections made, the decisions on what is matched, how it’s matched, and how ancillary fields are handled remain constant until changed.
Some field cleaning is necessary for matching; making certain that subfield breaks are where they should be, subdivisions are split appropriately (for example, changing a single geographic $z into 2 where necessary) and access points follow RDA formatting are all steps that increase the accuracy and efficacy of matching. However, libraries have the option to straighten up other fields in their catalog. This can include RDA enrichments, too. “Automated catalog clean-up” is a phrase that can give many systems librarians pause; global changes to a bibliographic database must be done cautiously, and initial profiling and sampling is the best method to assure that the end result will have the intended results.
Why adjust other fields? Because the process is automated, there’s no added charge in adjusting periphery fields. The purpose of authority control is to aid in discovery; by administering a wholistic approach, we can improve discoverability and also address common misspellings and typographical errors in other fields. This allows records to be in the best condition they can be for searching, especially when a library is ingesting records from other organizations and distributors. That additional layer of standardization becomes a free improvement to catalog access.
At Backstage, when systems librarians finish filling out a processing profile, we review a couple of samples to make sure adjustments and matching are turning out as planned. Once sampling is complete, final processing may take as few as a couple of days to complete
Where does DEI processing fit in?
The implementation of additional thesauri is completed during basefile processing projects, or as a separate project. We accomplish this in-house by creating records within a library’s local authority database that utilize the LC file as a ‘base’. When implementing our list for Indigenous peoples or incorporating the Homosaurus crosswalk, Backstage’s practice is to shift the LC 1XX to a 4XX, which means the originating term is still present in the record. The display term, however, will represent the revised version.
Questions?
Have more questions about how Backstage handles authority control? Call us at 1.800.288.1265, visit us online at www.bslw.com, or send an email to info@bslw.com.
