Task Force on Authority Control Implications : Subgroup on Local Headings

Report 8/11/00

Membership

Phil Cronenwett, Dan Daily, John DeSantis (chair), Leslie Goat, Anne Ostendarp

Fields 690 and 691

The group met to discuss issues related to the authority control of local heading fields (69x, 79x, 89x).

1. The group examined the issue of 690 and 691 fields separately. It was acknowledged that the catalog contains a significant number of tagging errors, in which 690 and 691 are used in place of 650 and 651 respectively, especially in serial records. These records could be corrected prior to making a decision on the inclusion of 690 and 691 in the authority control process. The legitimate uses of 690 and 691 are limited to Special Collections cataloging (to allow for subject and geographical entries which do not conform to LC headings). Because the vocabulary in these headings is deemed important for our local users, the headings should be preserved in the form in which they exist.

Subsequently it was discovered that the number of Special Collections serial records containing 690 and 691 fields was less than 15. The decision was made to allow LTI to convert the 690 and 691 fields in all serial records, and then restore the data in the few Special Collections serial records at a later date.

Recommendation

Fields 690 and 691 in monograph records should be excluded from the authority control process.

Remaining 69x, 79x and 89x headings

2. In examining the remaining 69x, 79x and 89x headings, the group noted that many of the headings are in fact locally created Dartmouth College headings. We also noted the frequent changes in names of corporate bodies within local headings and the steps that have been taken in the past to include this information in the catalog. It was acknowledged that the local personal name and corporate body headings also occur in USMARC fields such as 700, 710, 711 (which will automatically go through authority control), and that the 69x, 79x, 89x fields should be converted to their corresponding USMARC tags in order to maintain uniformity of headings in the catalog. LTI will supply the marker indicating local use ($5 NhD) at the end of all 79x fields which have been converted. In addition, the LC authority records for these headings (which we will receive from the vendor) will supply our catalog with a cross-reference structure which facilitates the retrieval of name changes in corporate bodies, and which could have an impact on the descriptive aspect of manuscript cataloging.

Recommendation

Fields 696, 697, 698, 699, 796, 797, 798, 799, 896, 897, 898, 899 should be converted to 600, 610, 611, 630, 700, 710, 711, 730, 800, 810, 811, 830 and included in the authority control process.