Topic Areas
The unit explores the need for authority control, cross-references, authority records, and some of the tools used to maintain consistency in metadata.
Learning Objectives
- Explain how authority control affects collocation within information retrieval systems.
- Interpret authority records and define how cross-references are used to connect variant forms of names within a record.
- Use the Library of Congress Name Authority File (LCNAF) to search for and find authorized names for bibliographic entities.
Guiding Questions
- What is authority control?
- How does authority control affect collocation?
Required Readings
Joudrey, The Organization of Information, Chapter 10 (please read sections 10.1 to 10.2.4, then skim 10.2.5 to the end)
Billey, "Just Because We Can, Doesn't Mean We Should"
And please read at least one of the following:
Recommended Readings
- EAC-CPF, Encoded Archival Context
- Jeng, "What Authority? Why Control?"
- Johnson, "Where is Authority Control When We Need It?"
- Joudrey, Introduction to Cataloging & Classification, 11th ed., Chapter 10
- PCC Authority Control FAQ [in Moodle]
- Wisser, "Describing Entities and Identities: The Development and Structure of EAC-CPF"
Relevant Articles from The Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science
- Gatenby and Smith-Yoshimura, "Name Authority Control"
- Haak, "ORCID"