What does authority processing do when a copy of the WYLD database is sent to SirsiDynix?
Updates are made to MARC fields, subfields, indicators, and fixed field codes whenever possible. Obsolete tags such as 400 and 440 are converted to 490/8xx tags.
Obsolete subfields and subdivisions are removed.
Examples: subfield “w” is removed from headings.
Subdivision “Addresses, essays, lectures” is removed from headings.
RDA heading updates:
Abbreviations are expanded in headings as appropriate to reflect RDA changes.
Example: Gt. Brit. becomes Great Britain.
Dept. becomes Department depending on where it appears in the bib record.
Not all abbreviations are expanded. Because Library of Congress has excluded making some changes to subject headings, the abbreviations “fl.”and “ca.” are not expanded when those abbreviations appear in subfields ’a’ or ‘y’ in subject headings. This is to make the SirsiDynix headings compatible with Library of Congress headings and with LC authority records.
RDA descriptive fields updates:
In the 260/264 tags, “[s.l.]” is replaced with “Place of publication not identified” when [s.l.] appears in the subfield “a”
Multiple subfields enclosed in square brackets (as in the 260 tag where “[S.l. :|bs.n.]” appear), are now entered with each subfield having its own complete set of square brackets:
“[Place of publication not identified] :|b[Publisher not identified]”
GMDs and RDA tags:
GMDs in the subfield h of the 245 tag are removed and replaced with the three basic RDA tags: 336, 337, 338.
Any expanded RDA tags we use in WYLD, we have to add manually. We, all libraries in WYLD, are responsible for adding these additional tags to create the display under Material Type in the Workflows hitlist. Those enhanced tags that catalogers should add are on pages 1-12 of the Cataloging Technote on Elements for RDA Tags
These examples in the technote are sorted by type of record being cataloged and include, among others: board book, large print, Blu-ray, DVD video, Playaway audio, Board game, CD audio.
Any terms in square brackets in the 245 tag that look like GMDs are not removed if they are not in a subfield “h”. Those terms will have to be removed manually unless they are specific to our database. Example: “[book club kit]” is not removed.
Sorting of tags:
Tags are re-sorted so that tags in a group will appear before tags in the next group.
Example: all 0xx tags are sorted to appear before all 1xx tags. 1xx tags will appear before 2xx tags which will appear before 3xx tags, and so on.
Relator terms in headings:
These terms in personal name headings (100 and 700) are now spelled out instead of abbreviated: “editor”, “compiler”, “performer”, “illustrator”
Local subject headings:
Local 690/690 tags are not removed. They will remain as 69x tags as entered in the bibliographic record.
Authority Records:
New Library of Congress authority records will be imported for:
Personal names (with updated birth and death dates)
Corporate names (corporations and conferences)
Titles and Series
Subjects (topical and geographic)
Authority records are received based on headings in our bibliographic records. We won’t receive authority records for names not in our bibliographic records.
Standard Authority Processing Tags:
These are the tags normally verified during authority processing:
100, 110, 111, 130, 240, 490, 700, 710, 711, 730, 800, 810, 811, 830
Headings in these tags in bibliographic records are matched against the new authority file, and entries in the bib records are updated to match the authority records.
As an example for a topical subject heading, all titles that are large print will have the correct subject heading of Large type books and not the incorrect heading of “Large print books”.
Duplicate headings on individual records will be removed. Example: Stories in rhyme. This heading has appeared on a record as many as 6 times depending on what thesaurus it comes from as defined in the subfield 2 of the subject tag.
Whenever possible subject terms in 6xx tags with a subfield 2 will be updated to a Library of Congress heading (650 tag with indicator 0 or 1), and the tag with the subfield 2 will be deleted so there won’t be multiple instances of the same heading on a bibliographic record. If no match to an LC heading is available, the subject heading with the subfield 2 will be retained. Because authority processing uses the subfield 2 in subject headings to remove duplicate headings, it is important that catalogers do not strip out the subfield 2 and the code it displays. Examples: |2fst |2ram |2gsafd |2sears
Unauthorized headings:
If a new bibliographic record in WYLD has headings that do not exactly match the heading in the authority file, the incorrect/invalid entry in the bibliographic record will display with “UNAUTHORIZED” following that entry. For each entry that appears as “unauthorized”, we need to validate that heading against the authority file to make the entry correct on the bibliographic record. If there is no authority record in WYLD for the heading, it will continue to display in the bibliographic record as “UNAUTHORIZED”.
Authority processing standardizes entries for existing tags but does not add new tags for headings not already in the bibliographic record. It will not add new subject tags nor will it add new series statements.