LS 500 Authority Control...

Gorman, M. (2003). Authority Control in the Context of Bibliographic Control in the Electronic Environment. Paper presented at the International Conference on Authority Control, Florence, Italy. February 10-12, 2003.

Michael Gorman begins the article by stating that bibliographic control is impossible without authority control. “Cataloging cannot exist with standardized access points and authority control is the mechanism by which we achieve the necessary degree of standardization.”

Gorman examines the fundamentals of cataloging and the three parts that make up a catalog record:

1. Access Point
2. Bibliographic Description
3. Location or the Document Itself

Authority Records

Gorman then examines the five components of an authority record and even adds a sixth component that he feels it is lacking:

1. To record the standardized form of each access point
2. To ensure the gathering together of all records with the same access point
3. To enable standardized catalogue records
4. To document the decisions taken, and sources of, the access point
5. To record all forms of the access point other than the one chosen as the normative form
6. To record precedents and other uses of the standardized access point for the guidance of catalogers *This was Gorman’s addition*

From whence does the content of authority records come?

Gorman lists *some* of the sources that have to be taken into consideration when constructing a catalog record:

• Existing national and local authority files
• Applicable cataloging code, subject heading list, etc…
• Document being cataloged
• Reference sources

Metadata and authority control

Gorman discusses his dislike for OCLC’s Dublin Core at length and gives his definition of metadata, which is as follows:

Metadata – literally “data about data” which arose from the wishes of non-librarians to improve the retrievability of web pages and other internet documents. Metadata’s basic concept is the sufficient recall and precision in searching databases without the time consuming and expensive processes of standardized cataloging.

Authority control and the content of bibliographic records

Gorman states the Dublin Core cannot succeed in databases of any size as their random subject, name, title and series denotations are not held up to any kind of standardization or vocabulary control. Gorman states this will lead to *inchoate* results as the databases grow and that eventually the results will be no better than using a free text search on the internet.

*Inchoate* from www.Merriamwebster.com

:being only partly in existence or operation : incipient; especially : imperfectly formed or formulated : formless, incoherent inchoate suspicions that all is not well with the nation — J. M. Perry>

Precision and recall

Gorman explains all retrieval systems depend on two things – Precision and Recall. In the perfect system all records retrieved would relate 100% to the search terms and all relevant records would be retrieved 100%.

Solutions

Gorman proposes two options to fix the problems that currently exist and will only get worse as the information increases in the future.

One – Abandon the whole idea of metadata as something that will be useful to librarians and library patrons.

Or

Two – Invest metadata schemes with the attributes of traditional bibliographic records.

Gorman fires bullet after bullet as to what is wrong and what will happen if we don’t fix it:

• The use of people without the skill and experience of catalogers to complete metadata templates will lead to incoherent, unusable databases.
• REAL cataloging is inevitably time consuming and complicated.
• The world of recorded knowledge and information is complicated and the number of complications tends to be indefinite.
• It is impossible to conceive of a system that allows for consistent retrieval of relevant information while lacking any guidelines whatsoever.

Conclusion

In his conclusion Gorman holds nothing back and states that Authority Control and Cataloging are what enable the library to pursue its central missions of service and free and open access to all recorded knowledge and information. Gorman states, “We cannot have real library service without a bibliographic architecture and we cannot have that bibliographic architecture without authority control. It is as simple and as profound as that.”

Critical Reflection

I do believe with what Gorman states through out his article. I am a firm believer in the motto – “If you are going to do something, Do It Right.” As my grandfather would most likely say don’t do it half hearted (o.k. grandpa would have used more colorful language, but you get the gist).

The more that I learn about metadata the more I learn that it can be a fabulous thing if done properly. I also believe that I was using metadata or trying to create it before I knew what it was. In a former position I was in charge of the creation of a database. I found it very difficult to explain at least to some of my coworker’s satisfaction why it was so imperative that the data be entered so carefully. There was more than one that just wanted the information loaded willy~nilly so that the database would be up and running as soon as possible. This previous example was more than 10 years ago – ah the 90’s (cue your own flashback here).

Most recently I found a website that deals with the music tracks and metadata that they contain www.musicbrainz.org So it seems to me that metadata is here to stay, as Gorman said we may or may not choose to use it – so I guess part of the future is unwritten, only time will tell the true tale of whether metadata is to be or not to be.