Native Americans who participated in oral history projects conducted by college students.Musical groups with materials at Smithsonian Folkways.I developed better research methods for confirming information, and understanding of how to apply the rules of Recourse Description and Access (RDA).īetween the requests from other units and materials in Smithsonian Library holdings, names covered a wide variety of topics. This increased the number and variety of records on which I worked. I asked colleagues to select 10 to 20 names from their collections that needed new or edited records (many thanks to the colleagues who reviewed the records and contributed names!). With departmental support, I began working with colleagues from units including Smithsonian Institution Archives and the Freer Sackler Art Galleries who use VIAF records that result from the LCNAF/VIAF relationship. I found opportunities through my regular cataloging, but thought I could increase the number of names in the File and help Smithsonian units that use the records but do not have the ability to add or edit them. Many institutions across the country use these records, but not many have the staff time to dedicate to the month long training or the membership requirements for the cooperative program.Īfter completing the training, the best way to solidify my knowledge was to do a large number of records in a short period. Last year I had the opportunity to complete the training provided by the Name Authority Cooperative Program to learn how to edit and create records in Library of Congress’s Name Authority File. The cooperative cataloging program that manages the name Authority File has relationships with organizations like the Virtual International Authority File (VIAF) that is used in the semantic web, and International Standard Name Identifier (ISNI), which is used by artists and songwriters, and was recently adopted for use on YouTube. When a record for a name exists, the link increases the chance that a researcher will find the collection and related materials in other institutions. A library catalog uses the record to collocate the materials, and the variant names enable a researcher to find her materials through any of the variant names. The Name Authority record contains the variations, and documentation that they all represent the same person. Loudon was an author in the 19 th century she published under several versions of her name: Mrs. This might not sound that impressive, until you consider someone like Jane C. The records assure that materials by or about the same entity can be grouped in the library catalog, even if an entity has used different names. Most people don’t know what the Library of Congress Name Authority File (LCNAF) is, but if you ever search for works by your favorite author or research an individual in a library catalog, you have used its records.
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