Name Authorities: General Procedures

Optional Fields

For the optional fields in a name authority record, include or add these fields whenever the information is readily available in the resource being cataloged, and can quickly be added. No significant research should be done, and no extra sources need be consulted, to find values for the optional attributes in a name authority record.

Research in OCLC

Personal Names

• When creating a personal name authority record (NAR), search the OCLC bibliographic file in addition to the Name Authority File (NAF):
   
  • Keyword search using terms from the work cat
     
    • e.g., "robert b miller" "american institutes for research"
       
  • Browse search by personal name
    • e.g., miller, robert b

Citing Catalog Sources in Authority Records

• Add a 670 NAR citation for any transcribed names (“usage”) and unauthorized access points found in the OCLC bibliographic file (“catalog”) when both of the following conditions are met:
   
  • Results retrieved in the OCLC bibliographic file are clearly for the person represented by the NAR
     
  • Retrieved bibliographic records (“catalog sources”) provide biographical information not already present in the NAR’s 670 citations

Citing Non-Catalog Sources in Authority Records

• Whenever possible, use non-catalog sources to verify biographical details that appear in catalog sources.
   
• Whenever possible, provide 670 citations from non-catalog sources to justify additions to names in authorized access points.

Using Data from Catalog Sources in Access Points

• Under rare circumstances, authorized access points for persons may be formed using information from unauthorized access points found in existing bibliographic records (that is, from access points created by catalogers but not established in the NAF).
   
• Although these biographical details cannot be verified by GPO, their use in an authorized access point is permitted by the NACO Participants’ Manual, pages 21-22.
   
• Generally, for access points found in the OCLC bibliographic file which have not become a person’s authorized access point, add a variant access point (MARC 400 field) to the person’s NAR.

   

  • Reminder: Check the NAF to ensure none of the added variants conflict with an authorized access point (MARC 1XX field).

Bibliographic File Maintenance

• When establishing a NAR for a person who already exists in the OCLC bibliographic file, maintenance may be needed for the Library of Congress (LC) catalog. For information about when and how to report records to LC, see Guidelines for reporting NACO BFM.

Corporate/Conference Names

Before adding a new corporate name to the authority file, always search the OCLC authority file to see if the name is already established. If no record for the name is found, additionally search the OCLC authority file for any possible earlier (predecessor) names. One way to do this, is to conduct a keyword search using the parent body (should one exist), plus only one (at a time) of the following significant keywords. For example, when establishing: "United States. Environmental Protection Agency. Management Information Systems Division," enter the keywords: "Environmental Protection Agency Management." Conduct two additional searches: "Environmental Protection Agency Information," and: "Environmental Protection Agency System*." Use wildcards as needed to retrieve differing forms of a keyword.

If you find a similar name to the one you are creating, you must determine the relationship between the two names through research. For example: consult the publication in hand (the resource being cataloged), the Internet (including uncataloged publications found there), back issues of Carroll's Federal Directory, and of course, make phone calls or send emails. If you identify the existing authority record as the immediate predecessor, link the two records using properly coded reciprocal 510 or 511 fields. Only link immediately consecutive names; do not link names that are "twice removed." If a different type of relationship is found between your name and the existing name, and you feel it is important to bring out, you may add that information, reciprocally, to both records in the appropriate fields. Sometimes, it is helpful to add a 667 note such as: "cannot link directly to: [insert other name]," or "not same as: [insert other name]."

How Much Research Should Be Performed … ?

Perform the following research:

1. Quickly check the work cataloged and the agency Web site, to see if either contains a history section, which may include the very information you are seeking.

2. Search Carroll's Federal Directory for the name you are establishing (or updating). Use the year of Carroll's that matches the resource cataloged (or the closest year available). Next, search Carroll's Federal Directory for the similar, pre-existing name you found in OCLC. For this name, start with the same issue of Carroll's used to search for the name you are establishing, but if not found, search the next issue of Carroll's that matches (or comes closest to) the year cited in a 670 field of the OCLC record for the similar, pre-existing name. If both names are found, work your way through the intervening years of Carroll's (you may sample every few years), in order to identify name changes. This research may prove to be either conclusive or inconclusive.

Examples of a conclusive relationship:

Negative evidence may also be considered conclusive. Examples:

3. Now, you should search OCLC's bibliographic file for the intervening corporate body. If not found, you are done. However, if you do find the name in even one bibliographic record in OCLC, you may create an authority record for this name, with the caveat that the name is transcribed in the descriptive portion of the record. If the name is only found in access points (1XX, 6XX, 7XX) but not in the description (245, 260, 264, 5XX), do not create an authority record for it. If the name is found in the description, create an authority record for this intervening corporate body, formatting the first 670 in accordance with Name Authorities: 67X Citation Fields, OCLC Database. Be selective. You may list multiple usages that seem to be accurate transcriptions, and multiple headings that adhere to the rules under which the record was created. Once you create the authority record for the intervening corporate body, link it to its predecessor and successor records, and remove any preliminary 667 notes and "[no publications in OCLC database]" phrases. [Note: the procedure just described is somewhat out of sequence. This paragraph, which begins with "Now, you should search OCLC's bibliographic file," should logically occur after the third sentence in the paragraph just above this, after "no relationship is recorded." This somewhat illogical sequence is offered as a time-saver, since: (1) the information recorded from Carroll's provides a convenient place-holder, and (2), this information usually remains in the record since publications are not usually found in OCLC.]

Examples of an inconclusive relationship:

If searching Carroll's is inconclusive, contact the agency via phone call or email, asking if a direct relationship can be identified between the two names. If not, your research is completed, and you may establish the new corporate body without recording any relationship.

While the above research may seem excessive when similarly named corporate bodies are only cited in publications that may be 35 or more years old, surprises have come up, when the earlier name has persisted, and only recently changed to the name that is being established. It is worth a couple of hours of research to identify or dismiss such relationships, in order to expand user access to successors and predecessors.

When to Consult Additional Sources

If research in OCLC does not result in any possible related names, it is usually not necessary to consult any additional sources beyond the resource cataloged. However, if the resource cataloged is not issued by the entity whose name you are establishing in the authority file, do consult at least one additional source. This guidance would apply to all names, corporate or personal, that are needed as subjects for the resource cataloged (unless said name also issued the work). For a corporate body, it will usually suffice to consult its Web site, in addition to the resource cataloged. For a personal name, a few searches on the Internet will usually suffice to determine the preferred name. GPO's local policy is based on its experience that publications issued by an entity tend to be more accurate in rendering their name than publications not issued by them.

Therefore, for corporate bodies, GPO prefers the name found in items issued by that body. When a resource is not issued by a corporate body, consult an additional source such as its Web site, which is issued by that body. If the name on the Web site or other source issued by the body differs from the name in the resource cataloged, use the name on the Web site as the preferred name, and the name on the resource cataloged as the variant name. Use the resource cataloged as the first 670, even though the name cited therein was not chosen for the 1XX. Use the Web site (or other source issued by the body) as the second 670. Many USGS reports (in various series) exemplify this situation.

What if the Web site contains the same exact name as the item—should the Web site still be cited even though it contains no additional information? In this situation, when the item is not issued by the body, go ahead and cite the Web site in an additional 670, even though the name found is redundant. Thus:

When searching the Internet for names, in the situations described above, generally avoid citing Wikipedia. This instruction applies to names, not to subjects. For the Wikipedia policy on subjects, see Subject Cataloging: Subject Heading Proposals, Background and Tips. For names, use sources other than Wikipedia whenever possible.

Tips for contacting agencies

• Take time to identify knowledgeable contacts. Use the agency's Web site, or Carroll's Federal Directory.
• Do your homework first so you can determine, identify, and develop your questions.
• Begin with: "Hello, I'm calling/emailing from the U.S. Government Publishing Office."
• Explain what we do, why, and what your questions have to do with this.
• Use layperson language, not cataloger language. Instead of using the term "corporate body," which might connote "corporations," speak in terms of "government authors and issuing bodies of publications," for which we provide "access points" for searching.
• Explain what you found, and what you don't know.
• Ask open-ended questions.