FEATURE: Authority lookup

In scope: Revised February 2024

• Build a baseline data graph inclusive of authority files from MARC Authority records (LCNAF, LCSH, etc.)

  • Hub entities are not included as MARC Authority records and are out of scope (See UXPROD-4608)

• Build ongoing stream with MARC Authority records to keep data graph current and in synch

  • Newly added authorities → automatically create new resources in the data graph

  • Changes to existing authorities → automatically update existing resources in the data graph

    • For example, updating a name authority to include death date: Kissinger, Henry, 1923-2023

• Index authority values to support lookup

  • Catalogers will search the data graph to validate existing authority entries, OR

  • Identify and select entries when conducting original cataloging

  • NOTE: The ability to create or edit authorities from within the Linked Data Editor application is out of scope

• When changes are made to an existing Authority resource, automatically generate MARC derived records reflecting these changes for all Works/Instances tied to the updated Authority resource; send to FOLIO SRS

• Ability to assign an authority resource to a bibliographic resource description

  • When there is an exact match between the MARC record and an authority resource, assign link

  • When there is a partial match between the MARC record and an authority resource (TBD), assign link

  • When there is no match between the MARC record and an authority resource, create new resource

• Develop a new ‘confidence level’ property associated with these use cases

  • The confidence level helps curate the data graph

  • Confidence level will be displayed in the Linked Data Editor interface (TBD)to provide context for catalogers and to help catalogers identify links that should / can be validated

REFER UTILITY DATABASES

Purpose / Objective

As a cataloger, I need the ability to access external repositories of entity data (e.g. name authorities) in order to make cataloging decisions for completing changes made to a BIBFRAME resource

Current state / Problem statement

• The Linked Data Editor integrates with name authority files (e.g. LCNAF), allowing the cataloger to select values for the resource being described

• Other resources and applications mentioned by catalogers include ClassWeb and OCLC Connexion

In scope

• Embedding access to online controlled vocabulary resources into the linked data-b ased cataloging workflow, including:

  • Creator of the Work  (Library of Congress Name Authority File - LCNAF)

  • Other Contributors  (LCNAF)

  • Form / Genre   (Library of Congress Genre / Forms Terms - LCGFT)

  • Subject of the Work   (Library of Congress Subject Heading)

• Controlled drop down lists

•  

  • Place of Origin

  • Notes about the Work

  • Content Type

  • Language Code

  • Illustrative Content

  • Color Content

  • Supplementary Content 

• Pulling up other resources through a browser and how this function is presented to the cataloger

Screenshots

  LCNAF - Library of Congress Name Authority File

{*}{*}

  LCGFT - Library of Congress Genre / Form Terms

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    LCSH - Library of Congress Subject Headings

   Place of Origin of the Work

    *

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   Intended Audience

   *

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   Notes about the Work

   *

*

   Content Type

    *

*

   Language Code

   *

*

   Illustrative Content

   *

*

   Color Content

   *

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   Supplementary Content

   *

*

Out of scope

• Creating new authority resources

• Related to 'Search'

• Related to 'Edit'

Considerations / Questions

When MARC records from FOLIO SRS are automatically transformed and added as new resource descriptions, values for lookup components will be included as literals and not with the actual links themselves. 

Catalogers will be able to manually add the corresponding link into the resource description through the Linked Data Editor. 

For resource descriptions not edited by catalogers, discuss the impact of exporting resource descriptions for the purpose of loading into id.loc.gov.