Hi Adam, Thank you for your informed response, it is always welcome. When we first set out to include validation on free-floating subdivisions earlier this year, we realized it was going to be a grand undertaking that would have 3 separate paths: 1. Utilize the 072 data in 15X authorities and link it with the corresponding 073 data in 18X authorities. We would have far preferred this method as we could automate it to our heart's content and provide true validation. As you noted, LC is still planning to populate 15X authorities with this. But LC has also been legitimately sidetracked due to other projects such as RDA. 2. As nearly all of the LC 15X authorities are missing an 072 field, we could instead use the 3,600 18X authorities with an 073 field. Moreover, we could programmatically determine usage based on the scope notes within those 18X authority records. This would be a difficult undertaking as trying to "understand" the scope notes from a coding perspective would take much time. Not to say that it would not ultimately be worth it, just that it was a huge undertaking for it being the first step. 3. Start with a first step: identify all of the 18X authorities that contained an 073 field. Even though LC hasn't yet provided a corresponding link in the non-18X authorities (via 072), we still wanted to take advantage of what was there. We would determine best-use fields, expecting to get some of our assigned fields wrong, and then assign SHM codes to those fields for validation. This is an imperfect solution, but it's an important first step down the road to the Holy Grail of free-floating validation we would like to provide. As Adam pointed out below, there are errors inherent in our first step: We will validate on subdivisions that should not be interpreted as valid. Just because H 1095 has been assigned as valid by us with all 6XX fields. We anticipate making continual improvements to this first step (option #3 above), but it will still remain imperfect. Option #2 is our ultimate goal since it looks to be some time before the 072 fields are added en-masse to LC 15X authorities. Our defaults for option #3 (where we only list validation inside the reports) are set up because we fully realize our solution as it stands right now is not entirely correct. At the same time, we do think it's a start and will help us journey down the path we need for option #2 to be realized. We currently have many lists that would help us with programmatically understanding the scope notes beyond general designations (such as "individual Christian denominations"). There are thousands of entries under our list for "denominations", most of which would be classed as "Christian" but all of which are grouped under the general "denomination" classification (in our system). Then there are several other such lists for other topics: animals, sacred works, native Americans, etc. But then there are scope notes groups that we don't have lists for currently: names of individual persons, families, corporate bodies, military services, etc. Some of these can be correctly inferred from the field and data type present in the MARC record, while some would take more work. As Adam also noted below, scope notes won't be perfect in every case, though properly applied, scope notes would reduce the inconsistency in option #3 that is present now. This post and further thoughts from Adam may provide the impetus we need to explore this further. Another reason why we chose to start with option #3 is because we wanted to test the waters for our client's interest in providing free-floating subdivision validation. We always want to make sure we're headed in directions our customers are interested in us pursuing or exploring. We know we will periodically hit dead-ends, but our hope is to continue to bring our focus moving forward. Nate Cothran Backstage Library Works -----Original Message----- From: bslwac-bounces@mailman.xmission.com [mailto:bslwac-bounces@mailman.xmission.com] On Behalf Of Adam L. Schiff Sent: Friday, July 08, 2011 4:05 PM To: Backstage Library Works Authority Contol Listserv Subject: Re: [BSLWAC] Free Floater Subdivision Validation (18X) Greetings Nate, I believe there are some errors in your post below, which I have commented on below. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Adam L. Schiff Principal Cataloger University of Washington Libraries Box 352900 Seattle, WA 98195-2900 (206) 543-8409 (206) 685-8782 fax aschiff@u.washington.edu http://faculty.washington.edu/~aschiff ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ On Fri, 8 Jul 2011, Nate Cothran wrote:
Greetings everyone,
Earlier this year (2011), our Authority Control team put our heads together to see whether there was a way to provide validation using the free-floating subdivision records. The Policy & Standards Division over at Library of Congress had mentioned previously that one of their
goals was to provide links between the 15X authority records and the 18X authority records.
In the 15X authorities, the 072 $a would reflect the Subject Headings Manual (SHM) H reference codes with a corresponding link found in the 073 $a of the 18X authorities. So whenever an 072 was found in a 15X authority, it would link up with corresponding 073 fields in various 18X
authorities. Why would this be something worth exploring in the first place?
When a heading is attempting to find a match against Library of Congress (LC) authority records, typically only portions of the heading matches. As there are many different instances of headings with variable free-floating subdivisions, usually only the main part of the heading ($a) matches an existing LC authority. As any of our clients that have perused the R06-Partially Matched Headings Report can
attest to, there are a vast number of headings listed where only the $a has been authorized, leaving many free-floating subdivisions just sitting there in the report.
For instance, the heading 600 10 $a Smith, John might have different
subdivisions following the main heading:
600 10 $a Smith, John $v Blogs
600 10 $a Smith, John $v By-laws
600 10 $a Smith, John $v Catalogs
AS: The free-floating subdivision $v By-laws could never correctly be used after a personal name. By-laws is only free-floating under names of individual corporate bodies and under types of corporate bodies. It is found on free-floating list H 1095 to cover types of corporate bodies, and on H 1105 for names of individual corporate bodies. The scope note associated with the subdivision authority record is also necessary to read to fully authorize when a subdivision is valid.
LC, however, has only authorized the main heading:
n 86851637
100 1_ $a Smith, John
So this heading, as well as many others like it, end up on our partially matched headings report. We began thinking: what if there was a way we could provide validation within the actual reports for these partially matched headings? Would our clients find this useful as they navigate through the reports, essentially being able to?at a glance?dismiss or include headings that would normally take them many more hours to check manually? What if our solution is not quite perfect at first, is it still worth exploring and refining later?
Out of the 3,603 authorities that comprise the free-floating subdivision records (18X), there are 3,600 (99.9%) which contain an SHM ID in the 073 $a. For example, H1095 is the SHM ID that contains valid subdivisions for use with 600 fields in bib records. H1095 examples include: blogs, by-laws, and catalogs. We considered this a great start.
AS: This statement is overgeneralizing. H 1095 contains free-floating subdivisions of general application, but not everything on this list is free-floating under anything. There are numerous scope notes that limit the use of the subdivisions. For subdivisions that may be used under all types of headings - geographic, personal, corporate, title, and topical - the scope note reads "Use under subjects." These are truly free-floating. An example is: $v Bibliography (H 1205; H 1322; H 1325; H 1670) Use under subjects. But many other subdivisions on this list are not so free-floating, for example: $x Cleaning (May Subd Geog) Use under topical headings. When it says "Use under topical headings" that means that it can only be used under headings tagged 650 or heading-topical subdivision strings that become topical by virtue of having a topical subdivision in them. For example 600 10 $a Smith, John by itself is a personal name heading. You cannot add $x Cleaning to this heading, even though $x Cleaning is found on H 1095. But: 600 10 $a Smith, John $x Clothing has become a topical heading by virtue of having a topical subdivision added to it. So now LCSH would allow you to add $x Cleaning to this string. Other examples of scope limits found on free-floaters in H 1095 include: $x Air conditioning (May Subd Geog) Use under types of buildings, vehicles, and other constructions. Given the above restriction in scope, the following would validate but it would be wrong: 650 _0 $a Dogs $x Air conditioning. $x Authorship Use under names of individual persons and individual works entered under title, under disciplines, and under literary, motion picture, radio, television, and video forms and genres. $x By-products Use under types of industries and processes. Again you could not use this under 600 10 $a Smith, John even though it's in H 1095. $x Circulation Use under types of serial publications. $x Environmental aspects (May Subd Geog) Use under individual military services, events, and wars, individual chemicals and groups of chemicals, individual materials and types of materials, and under types of industries, processes, machines, facilities, constructions, educational institutions, and events for environmental issues associated with their operation, creation, use, or planning and execution. Also use under individual diseases for environmental aspects of their causation or development. This can be used under many things, but it still is not totally free-floating. It cannot, for example be used under most individual names of corporate bodies, only those of military services. $x History $y To 1500 Use under topical headings. This cannot be used under names of countries, cities, etc. even though $x History $y 16th century and later centuries can. $x Lighting (May Subd Geog) Use under types of vehicles, structures, buildings, rooms, installations, etc. The scope note limit means that you cannot have 600 10 $a Smith, John $x Lighting nor 651 _0 London (England) $x Lighting. $x Political activity (May Subd Geog) Use under names of individual persons, families, corporate bodies, and military services, and under classes of persons, individual Christian denominations, and types of corporate bodies for works on the political participation of those persons or organizations. Given the limitations in scope, the following will validate but will be wrong nonetheless: 650 _0 Cats $x Political activity. Anyway, these are just illustrating that just because something is on H 1095 does NOT mean it is valid under any tag. Because of the scope note limitations, I don't think it's possible to validate perfectly.
On June 20, 2011, we looked at all 8,575,658 authorities in our LC master file (which LC updates weekly). We wanted to discover how many existing authorities had an 072 field that we could utilize in conjunction
with the free-floating subdivision record?s 073 field. We found one record that has an 072 field (0.0000001%):
sh2010014519
072 $a H1149
150 $a Cyclohexylamine
AS: LC has announced that it is exploring the possibility of adding 072 fields to its subject headings, but as you've seen, they haven't done much yet.
That put a damper on our ambitions, but didn?t derail us. While it was obvious we could no longer mine the links between 15X and 18X authorities
via 072/073 fields, we realized we still were able to exploit the 18X authorities.
Each 18X authority starts with either $x or $v followed by the valid subdivision:
sh2003007727
073 $a H1095 $z lcsh 073 $a H1100 073 $a H1103 073 $a H1110 185 $v Blogs 485 $v Weblogs
? H1095 is a general catch-all list of subdivisions valid for use on all 6XX fields
AS: As I've explained above, this is a very big overgeneralization. Most of the subdivisions in H 1095 are NOT valid for use on all 6XX fields. Only the ones whose scope note says "Use under subjects" are truly valid with any 6XX field.
? H1100 is valid for Classes of persons on 600 fields
AS: No this is incorrect. Classes of persons are not tagged 600, they are topical headings tagged 650. Examples of class of persons headings taken from SHM H 1101: Youth; Women; Fathers; Poor; Political prisoners; People with mental disabilities; Liver--Cancer--Patients; Catholics; Hare Krishnas; Fire fighters; Judges; Darts players; High technology industries--Employees.
? H1103 is valid for Ethnic groups on 650 fields
? H1110 is valid for Names of persons on 600 fields
We instructed our system to first check the 073 $a SHM ID. Based on the ID found, our system would then check specific 6XX fields (or all, depending on the SHM ID) against the list of subdivisions that are determined to be valid for that SHM ID.
Our earlier example:>
600 10 $a Smith, John $v Blogs
The authority n 86851637 will be returned. With the validation on 18X authorities in place, it would also find the $v Blogs free-floating subdivision authority sh20030007727, since H1095, H1100, and H1110 are all valid to be used in 600 fields.
AS: H 1100 Classes of persons subdivisions are not valid for use on personal name headings. Classes of persons are nouns like Women, Librarians, Catholics, all taggged 650.
We have modified our existing R06 report (which is part of our standard distribution if requested) to color-code valid, invalid, and partially valid free-floating subdivisions.
? Valid ? valid subdivisions will be green and underlined
? Invalid ? invalid subdivisions will be red and underlined
? Partially valid ? partially valid subdivisions will be orange and underlined. An example would be $x Blogs where the valid subdivision is actually $v Blogs
AS: Any $v subdivision may be used as a $x when the subdivision is functioning as a topic rather than a form. In most cases, LC has established separate topical and form subdivisions, but there are some where they haven't done that, but if you need the subdivision as a topical and only a form subdivision exists, it is usually valid to code it as $x. It would be best if LC explicitly established all of these, but they haven't. They have done so for me when I've requested the need for one though.
For now, these are our default actions:
? Validate free-floating subdivisions against the 18X authorities only in the partially matched headings report
? Do not deliver matching validation authorities (unless requested)
? Do not update client?s master authority file by adding validation authorities (unless requested)
This report should now be included (upon request if you?re not already receiving it) with the validation and able to be viewed with your next Current Cataloging service. We also altered our CSS files in the report so that if you print out R06, the validation settings will be
printed differently than how they are displayed onscreen?since color-coded headings in black & white all become varying (indecipherable) shades of gray.
We know further refinement will be needed, but we think this is a good start and hope you find it useful. As always, we welcome any feedback you may have and, as a team, we will attempt to answer your questions
concerning this enhancement.
If you?ve made it this far, we might as well end with a table showing the SHM ID codes, a general description for those IDs, as well as the bib
fields we have set for validation:
AS: I see that some of these tags you have are not correct. For example military services are generally tagged 610 and sometimes 651: 610 10 $a United States. $b Air Force 610 10 $a Texas. $b National Guard 651 _0 $a United States $x Armed Forces 651 _0 $a Ohio $x Militia 651 _0 $a United States $x National Guard It's important to read the instructions in each of these instruction sheets to understand fully which types of headings are appropriate and the kinds of tags that would be valid. Corporate bodies are not just coded 610, they are also coded 611. The instructions in H 1105 specifically state: "The category also includes names of individual exhibitions, fairs, expositions, etc., but excludes names of individual conferences, congresses, or meetings." Since exhibitions, fairs, expositions, etc. are coded 611, this needs to be included too. See my further comments below.
H
H1095
free floating subdivisions
6xx
H1155
legislative bodies
610
H
H1100
classes of persons
600
H1155.2
groups of literary authors
650
H
H1103
ethnic groups
650
H1155.6
literary works entered under author
600
H
H1105
corporate bodies
610
AS: I commented above. Some types of corp. bodies tagged 611 are also covered by this list.
H1155.8
literary works entered under title
630
H
H1110
names of persons
600
H1156
literatures
650
H
H1120
names of families
600 3x
H1158
materials
650
H
H1140
geographic names
651
H1159
military services
650
AS: I commented above. 650 is not correct. Military services are either tagged 610 or 651 depending on the particular heading.
H
H1145.5
bodies of water
651
H1160
musical compositions
630
AS: This is not correct. Please read the instruction sheet to see what is covered: Headings representing musical forms and types of compositions, medium of performance, style, function, music for special seasons or occasions, musical settings of special texts, etc., and headings including the subdivisions Hymns; Music; Musical settings; and Songs and music. Examples: Sonatas (Oboe); Trios (Piano, flute, violin); Rock music; Easter music; Magnificat (Music); Catholic Church--Hymns; African Americans--Music; French poetry--Musical settings; Baseball--Songs and music. This category does not include the general heading Music. The majority of terms included would be tagged 650, but as you can see from the Catholic Church--Hymns heading, some could be 610.
H
H1147
animals
650
H1161
musical instruments
650
H
H1148
art
650
H1164
organs and regions of the body
650
H
H1149
chemicals
650
H1180
plants and crops
650
H
H1149.5
colonies
651
H1185
religions
650
AS: Some of the religions listed in the description of this instruction sheet are tagged 610, e.g. International Society for Krishna Consciousness.
H
H1150
diseases
650
H1186
religious and monastic orders
610
H
H1151
education institutions
610
H1187
christian denominations
610
AS: 610 is not correct by itself. The instruction sheet says: Headings for all named Christian denominations and sects. These headings may be headings for corporate bodies established in the name authority file, for example, United Methodist Church (U.S.), or generic subject headings for larger groupings that are established in the subject authority file, for example, Methodist Church. Examples: African Methodist Episcopal Church; Baptists; Congregational churches; Orthodox Eastern Church. Also included are headings for individual rites, for example, Catholic Church--Ambrosian rite; Catholic Church--Byzantine rite. The category does not include the general headings Christian sects and Protestant churches; nor does it cover name headings for individual or local churches, congregations, dioceses, etc. Therefore 650 is commonly used for denominations as well.
H
H1151.5
types of educational institutions
650
H1188
sacred works
630
H
H1153
industries
650
H1195
land vehicles
650
H
H1154
languages
650
H1200
wars
650
AS: check the instruction sheet for additional examples. The U.S. Civil War, for example is a 651: 651 _0 $a United States $x History $y Civil War, 1861-1865
H
H1154.5
legal topics
650
Nate Cothran - nate@bslw.com
Product Manager, Automation
Backstage Library Works
533 E 1860 S, Provo UT 84606
(p) 801.342.5697 - (f) 801.356.8220
www.ac.bslw.com/community/blog
************************************** * Adam L. Schiff * * Principal Cataloger * * University of Washington Libraries * * Box 352900 * * Seattle, WA 98195-2900 * * (206) 543-8409 * * (206) 685-8782 fax * * aschiff@u.washington.edu * **************************************