Evergreen Indiana outsources authority control functions to a commercial vendor, MARCive, Inc. Each month, updated authority records are received from MARCive and loaded into the Evergreen Indiana authority database by the Indiana State Library. Newly added bibliographic records and unmatched records from migrations are sent to MARCive on approximately a quarterly basis. Records that have been sent to MARCive will have a ‡d MvI added to the 040 field. It is OK to overlay or edit records that have been sent to MARCive.
Within Evergreen, a bib linker runs continuously and automatically validates all headings that can be validated against the current authority file. Generally this process will be complete within 24 hours. It is not necessary for catalogers to validate headings and the “Validate” button in the MARC Edit view should not be relied upon. Subject headings that have been validated by the bib linker will be appended with a $0 containing the record id number for the corresponding authority file:
650 _ 0 ‡aTotalitarianism ‡v Fiction. ‡0 (EG-IN)1058923
Many valid subject headings will not be validated by Evergreen’s bib linker. This is because Evergreen validates against the entire subject heading string, not just part of it. If a subject heading does not validate in Evergreen, it is likely that the Library of Congress has not created an authority file for that particular subject heading string.
Cataloging Procedures for new controlled entries #
- Verify subject headings against Library of Congress Authorities.
- If heading isn’t in the LoC authority database, check the Evergreen Indiana catalog to see if another cataloger has already established a local heading. If you find a match, be sure to enter the heading in your record exactly as it appears in the catalog.
- If no heading exists, establish one in your MARC record based on cataloging guidelines (see the end of this section for a list of resources).
Libraries frequently need to establish headings for local entities for which there are no official Library of Congress authority records. If you need to establish a new heading you will qualify the heading with the name of the geographic place in which it is located:
Cemeteries: 610 _0 ‡a Black Creek Friends Cemetery (Grant County, Ind.)
Churches: 610 __ ‡a First Presbyterian Church (Warsaw, Ind.)
High Schools: 610 __ ‡a Columbia City High School (Columbia City, Ind.)
Townships: 651 __ ‡a Clear Lake (Steuben County, Ind. : Township)
Businesses: 610 __ ‡a Mills Memorial Water Works (Thorntown, Ind.)
VIAF Headings #
The Virtual Internet Authority File [VIAF] is a dataset which combines multiple authority files into a single authority source. It is implemented and hosted by OCLC and may be found in records brought into the Evergreen Indiana catalog. These will appear either as a ‡0 or ‡1 followed by a URI to viaf.org which is appended to the end of a heading.
Some examples of headings with a VIAF URI:
100 1_ ‡a Obama, Michelle, ‡d 1964- ‡e author ‡1 http://viaf.org/viaf/81404344
600 00 ‡a Zeus ‡c (Greek deity) ‡0 http://viaf.org/viaf/308237987
651 00 ‡a Greenwich Village (New York, N.Y.) ‡0 http://viaf.org/viaf/128013029
VIAF references should not be removed from the record. They do not display in the OPAC view.
Resources for authority work #
LC-PCC PS Library of Congress-Program for Cooperative Cataloging Policy Statements
Availability: free through RDA Toolkit
- Chapter 9 – Identifying Persons
- Chapter 10 – Identifying Families
- Chapter 11 – Identifying Corporate Bodies
- Chapter 16 – Identifying Places
NACO Participant’s Manual – 4th edition.
Availability: https://www.loc.gov/aba/pcc/naco/documents/NACOParticipantsManual.pdf
RDA Toolkit
Availability: with subscription only
- Chapter 8 – General Guidelines on Recording Attributes of Agents.
- Chapter 9 – Identifying Persons
- Chapter 10 – Identifying Families
- Chapter 11 – Identifying Corporate Bodies
- Chapter 16 – Identifying Places