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MARC PROPOSAL NO. 2013-01

DATE: December 20, 2012
REVISED:

NAME: Identifying Titles Related to the Entity Represented by the Authority Record in the MARC 21 Authority Format

SOURCE: Program for Cooperative Cataloging

SUMMARY: This paper proposes new fields in the MARC 21 Authority Format for making titles related to the entity represented by the authority record machine-actionable.

KEYWORDS: Relation of title to entity (AD); Field 670 (AD); Field 672 (AD)

RELATED: 2012-DP01; 2012-02

STATUS/COMMENTS:
12/20/12 – Made available to the MARC community for discussion.

01/26/13 – Results of MARC Advisory Committee discussion: Approved with the following amendments: 1) In fields 672 and 673 change the caption for subfield $a to "Title proper" and for subfield $w to "Bibliographic record control number". 2) In the field definition and scope of both fields include the 111 tag. 3) In field 673 define subfield $f - Date (NR).

03/06/13 - Results of LC/LAC/BL review - Agreed with the MARBI decision.


Proposal No. 2013-01: Identifying Titles Related to the Entity Represented by the Authority Record

1. BACKGROUND

Field 670 (Source Data Found) in the MARC 21 Authority Format contains citations of sources in which information related to the entity represented by the authority record was found. The 670 field contains two principal segments: an identification of the source (subfield $a), and information found in the source (subfield $b).

670 ## $a The art of the table, 1962.
670 ## $a Wines of the Graves, 1988: $b t.p. (Pamela Vandyke Price)
670 ## $a Hertel, J. M. Concerto for trumpet ... [SR] p1976 (a.e.) $b labels (Bo Nilsson, trumpet) container (b. 1940, Stockholm)
670 ## $a Optimization and regulation for computational inverse problems and applications, c2011: $b t.p. (Anatoly G. Yagola) t.p. verso (Prof. Dr. Anatoly G. Yagola, Dept. of Physics, Lomonosov Moscow State Univ.)

The 670 field was designed as a holder for the raw information used in the construction of the authority record or of potential use to future users of the record. In recent years, application programs have begun to mine information in the 670 field for other purposes. For example, a program loading authority records may attempt cautiously to reassign headings in bibliographic records based on a comparison of titles in bibliographic records to titles in subfield $a of the 670 field. While this is made difficult because subfield $a of the 670 field can contain many kinds of information in addition to a title (such as: an identification of the author, the format of the resource, and the date of publication of the resource and/or the date of consultation of the resource), these efforts have seen substantial success, and in general the technique can be described as valid.

Among the pieces of information that may be carried in subfield $b of the 670 field is a listing of additional titles for which the entity represented by the authority record is responsible in some manner.

670 ## $a Phone call to pub., 2/23/88 $b (Ronald Fernandez, also author of Social psychology through literature)
670 ## $a E-mail from Dr. Martin, 2 Sept. 2011 $b (confirms authorship of various reports emanating from ETSU, TRRL, Financial Times, Dept. of Energy; also authored doctoral thesis "The mechanical behaviour of carbon fibre composites at high rates of loading")
670 ## $a Phone call to M.Johnstone, Routledge, 12-10-99 $b (John Andrew Forth; also wrote Pathways through unemployment, Rents and work incentives)

In some cases, the 670 may conversely identify items for which an entity has no responsibility:

670 ## $a BL AL recd., 11 June 2010 $b (Christine Routledge, born 2 Sept. 1965; is not the author of Kaleidoscope)

This information would be of significant use to a program attempting to reassign headings in bibliographic records, but because it is buried within a free-text field it is not easily made machine-actionable. If this additional information were isolated and so made machine-actionable, a program attempting to judge the headings in bibliographic records should be able to perform its work to even greater effect.

A Task Group of the PCC established to look into the matter considered whether a more elaborate scheme for the subfield coding of the 670 field would allow for titles embedded within the 670 to be identified, without requiring redundant data entry. If for no other reason than the ongoing difficulties that seem to be encountered in the application of even the current simple scheme for the 670 field, the Task Group rejected that idea in favor of a request for a new field, to contain an identification of the titles of items related to the entity represented by the authority record.

This matter was previously made the subject of MARC discussion paper 2012-DP01, discussed at the ALA 2012 Midwinter Meeting in Dallas. The majority of participants agreed upon several points (some of these were clarified in a subsequent e-mail exchange):

  1. A new field, probably in the 67X block, would be useful as a distinct place to record items related to the entity represented by the authority record.
  2. There should be no restrictions on the titles recorded.
  3. If both "by" and "about" titles are recorded in the field, there must be a way to show the distinction via an indicator or use of a code in a $4 subfield.
  4. Relationship between the authority 1XX and the title should be enabled but not mandatory.
  5. There is no implication that titles listed in this field must be those in which the authority 1XX is the main entry.
  6. Add a subfield for date, which often appears in such lists of titles.
  7. If the use of this field is permitted for undifferentiated name records, systems must allow the new field to be inserted among the 670 fields; systems should not re-order fields according to some rule.
  8. Provision for an explicit link (subfield $0) is needed.
  9. Give consideration to adding a subfield for note.
  10. Do not allow a blank in either indicator position.

The matter of including periodical citations was left unresolved; there was some discussion that DOI could fit into subfield $0. The input and maintenance of the field was controversial. It was hypothesized the catalogers would input the field manually with the help of their systems.

The following points were raised during discussion of Proposal 2012-02 at the 2012 ALA Summer Conference in Anaheim:

  1. Although it is possible to envision a use for the recording of uniform titles rather than whatever title might be given in a resource, the majority of attendees felt that simply recording whatever happened to be available was preferable.
  2. Similarly, the attendees felt overwhelmingly that provision for simple subfield encoding was better than elaborate subfield coding.
  3. After discussion of the occurrence of non-distinctive titles for which the inclusion of author information might be useful or even critical, the slight majority of attendees felt that the inclusion of a provision for identifying authors was again too complicated; titles that were seen as potential sources of problems could simply not be recorded.
  4. It is not important to record titles about the 1XX entity.
  5. The new field should be defined so that it is used when the 1XX entity can serve as creator of content (in the very largest sense) in some capacity. The field should for example not be used for authority records with 130, 150 or 18X fields.
  6. Add subfield $w for record control number.
  7. The description might mention that the data will also be of use by persons, and not just programs.
  8. Separate fields for titles associated with the 1XX entity, and titles not associated with the 1XX entity, were preferable. (672 and 673 were mentioned as possibilities.)
  9. The definition of two new fields (672 and 673) could eliminate the need for part of the 670 textural in some cases.
  10. Subfield $4 is not needed.

2. DISCUSSION

Define two new fields in the MARC21 Format for Authority Data. The tags of 672 and 673 are suggested here, but other available tags in the 671-674 block may be chosen instead.

2.1. Define Field 672:


FIELD DEFINITION AND SCOPE
This field may be used to list titles that are related in some way to the entity represented by the 100, 110 or 151 field in the authority record. Forms of the term relationship used here are intended to be as broad as possible; for example, there is no implication that the authority 1XX field will appear in the 1XX field of a bibliographic record containing the title.

This field is designed to assist programs and catalogers in selecting from amongst a set of candidate headings, and not to provide the final answer to questions of authorship. For example, the authority record for the William Shakespeare who lived from 1564 to 1616 could easily contain a 672 field containing the title Sir John Oldcastle (a play included in the Third Folio, but not by Shakespeare); such a field would help a program or cataloger determine the proper action when presented with a bibliographic record for some version of that work with a heading of just "Shakespeare, William" and no dates.

This field is designed primarily to capture in machine-actionable form any information regarding associated titles that is discovered during the normal course of research regarding the entity represented by the authority record. When a resource consulted indicates that the entity represented by the authority record is related to one or more titles, that information may be placed into the 672 field instead of (or in addition to) being included as part of subfield $b of the 670 field.

The list of titles provided in 672 fields is not intended to be exhaustive, but simply to reflect those titles encountered during the course of other research. No effort should be put into determining whether a given title represents a work, an expression or a manifestation; the 672 field should contain whatever title is given in the source of information. This field is not intended to be populated by automated mining of existing bibliographic data; titles cited in this field should be those for which some authority may reasonably be asserted. The date may be included in subfield $f when it is available in a resource being consulted, but should not be the subject of secondary research.

GUIDELINES FOR APPLYING CONTENT DESIGNATION

• Indicators

Second indicator - Nonfiling characters
Number of character positions associated with a definite or indefinite article (e.g., Le, An) at the beginning of a title that are disregarded in sorting and filing processes.

0 - No Nonfiling characters
No initial article character positions are disregarded. Diacritical marks or special characters at the beginning of a title field that does not begin with an initial article are not counted as nonfiling characters. An initial definite or indefinite article may be deleted in the formulation of the title field. If the initial article is retained but is not to be disregarded in sorting filing processes, value 0 is used.

1-9 - Number of nonfiling characters
Title begins with a definite or indefinite article that is disregarded in sorting and filing processes. Any diacritical mark, space or mark of punctuation associated with the article and any space or mark of punctuation preceding the first filing character after the article is included in the count of nonfiling characters. Any diacritic, however, associated with the first filing character is not included in the count of nonfiling characters.

• Subfield codes

$w - Bibliographic record control number
System control number of the related record preceded by the MARC code, enclosed in parentheses, for the agency to which the control number applies. See MARC Code List for Organizations for a listing of sources used in MARC 21 records.

672 #0 $aTechniques of biochemical and biophysical morphology$w(DLC) ###72000153#$w(OCoLC)1021945

$0 - Authority record control number or standard number
See description of this subfield in Appendix A: Control Subfields.

$6 - Linkage
See description of this subfield in Appendix A: Control Subfields.

$8 - Field link and sequence number
See description of this subfield in Appendix A: Control Subfields.

• Examples

670 ## $a BerkeleyResearch web site, April 14, 2012 $b (David Stern, emeritus professor of education, University of California, Berkeley; joined faculty in 1976; research focused on relationship between education and work, and resource allocation in schools)
672 #0 $a International perspectives on the school-to-work transition $f 1999
672 #0 $a Active learning for students and teachers $f 1997
672 #0 $a School to work $b research on programs in the United States $f 1995
672 #0 $a School-based enterprise $b productive learning in American high schools $f 1994
672 #0 $a Career academies $b partnerships for reconstructing American high schools $f 1992
672 #0 $a Market failure in training $f 1991
672 #0 $a Adolescence and work $b influences of social structure, labor markets and culture $f 1989
[In this example, the source of the titles listed in the 672 fields (the web site) is not identified.]

670 ## $a Phone call to pub., 2/23/88 $b (Ronald Fernandez, also author of Social psychology through literature)
672 #0 $a Social psychology through literature
[In this example, the 670 field shows the source of the 672 field.]

670 ## $a Phone call to M.Johnstone, Routledge, 12-10-99 $b (John Andrew Forth; also wrote Pathways through unemployment, Rents and work incentives)
672 #0 $a Pathways through unemployment
672 #0 $a Rents and work incentives
672 #4 $a The business case for Equal Opportunities
672 #0 $a Family-friendly working arrangements in Britain 1996
[In this example, the 670 field shows the source of some of the 672 fields.]

110 2# $a Students Publishing Company (Northwestern University)
670 ## $a Northwestern University video yearbook 1990-1991: $b credits (Students Publishing Company, Inc.)
670 ## $a Daily Northwestern web site, Mar. 29, 2012 $b (Students Publishing Company, publisher of the Daily Northwestern, the student newspaper of Northwestern University)
672 #0 $a Daily Northwestern
[This example serves mainly to indicate that the 672 field can be used with 110 and other fields.]

2.2. Define Field 673


FIELD DEFINITION AND SCOPE
This field may be used to list titles that are not related in any way to the entity represented by the 100, 110 or 151 field in the authority record. The term relationship used here is intended to be as broad as possible; for example, there is no implication that the authority 1XX field will appear in the 1XX field of a bibliographic record containing the title.

This field is designed primarily to capture in machine-actionable form any information regarding associated titles that is discovered during the normal course of research regarding the entity represented by the authority record. When a resource consulted indicates that the entity represented by the authority record is not related to one or more titles, that information may be placed into the 673 field instead of (or in addition to) being included as part of subfield $b of the 670 field.

The list of titles provided in 673 fields is not intended to be exhaustive, but simply to reflect those titles encountered during the course of other research. No effort should be put into determining whether a given title represents a work, an expression or a manifestation; the 673 field should contain whatever title is given in the source of information. This field is not intended to be populated by automated mining of existing bibliographic data; titles cited in this field should be those for which some authority may reasonably be asserted.

GUIDELINES FOR APPLYING CONTENT DESIGNATION

• Indicators

Second indicator - Nonfiling characters
Number of character positions associated with a definite or indefinite article (e.g., Le, An) at the beginning of a title that are disregarded in sorting and filing processes.

0 - No nonfiling characters
No initial article character positions are disregarded. Diacritical marks or special characters at the beginning of a title field that does not begin with an initial article are not counted as nonfiling characters. An initial definite or indefinite article may be deleted in the formulation of the title field. If the initial article is retained but is not to be disregarded in sorting filing processes, value 0 is used.

1-9 - Number of nonfiling characters
Title begins with a definite or indefinite article that is disregarded in sorting and filing processes. Any diacritical mark, space or mark of punctuation associated with the article and any space or mark of punctuation preceding the first filing character after the article is included in the count of nonfiling characters. Any diacritic, however, associated with the first filing character is not included in the count of nonfiling characters.

• Subfield codes

$w - Bibliographic record control number
System control number of the related record preceded by the MARC code, enclosed in parentheses, for the agency to which the control number applies. See MARC Code List for Organizations for a listing of sources used in MARC 21 records.

672 #0 $a?????$w(DLC) ###?????#$w(OCoLC)?????

$0 - Authority record control number or standard number
See description of this subfield in Appendix A: Control Subfields.

$6 - Linkage
See description of this subfield in Appendix A: Control Subfields.

$8 - Field link and sequence number
See description of this subfield in Appendix A: Control Subfields.

• Examples

670 ## $a BL AL recd., 11 June 2010 $b (Christine Routledge, born 2 Sept. 1965; is not the author of Kaleidoscope)
672 #0 $a Johnny
673 #0 $a Kaleidoscope
[In this example, the 670 field shows the source of the 673 field but not of the 672 field.]

100 1# $a Richardson, Frances, $b 1952-
670 ## $a Hanes - eglwysi Capel Curig, 2010: $b t.p. (Frances Richardson)
670 ## $a NLW AL, rec'd 3 Jan. 2012 $b (full name: Frances Ann Richardson, b. 19 May 1952 ; not the author of To nourish humanity or Sir Eglamour of Artois)
673 #0 $a To nourish humanity
673 #0 $a Sir Eglamour of Artois
[In this example, the 670 field shows the source of both 673 fields.]

100 1# $a Williams, Cathy, $d 1953-
670 ##  $a Quality time analysis guide, year 2, 2009-2010, 2009: $b cover (Cathy Williams, Office of Innovation, Support, and Alternative Education, Okla. State Dept. of Education)
670 ##  $a E-mail from author, Feb. 16, 2012: $b (Cathy J. Williams, b. July 1953; not author of Fifty years of caring and sharing; 99 easy-to-use speech and language activities; Mathcounts)
673 #0 $a Fifty years of caring and sharing
673 #0 $a 99 easy-to-use speech and language activities
673 #0 $a Mathcounts
[In this example, the 670 field shows the source of all 673 fields.]

3. PROPOSED CHANGES

In the MARC 21 Authority Format:


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