Survey #1 Summary

PLEASE NOTE: This is an archived document! It is of historical interest only and does not necessarily represent current Yale University Library practice. For other archived documents, go to: Archived Cataloging Documentation. For current documentation, go to: Cataloging at Yale.

Current Authority Control Procedures

From: Authority Control Planning Committee
Results of a survey dated: 1 April 1996 In preparation for contracting with OCLC for automated authority control services, the Authority Control Planning Committee identified a number of critical issues, including the need to better understand current cataloging and other workflows -- many of which will have to change considerably in order to accommodate a vended approach to authority control.

Early in April, we distributed to catalog librarians across the Yale University Library system a questionnaire intended to provide answers to some of our questions about current authority control procedures. Those questions include:

What headings are verified against an authority file before they are added to the catalog?
What authority file is used for that verification process?
Is the verification process the same for original and copy cataloging?
How frequently are changes made to LC authority records?
What is the nature of those changes?

Unfortunately, the questions on the questionnaire were not as clear as they should have been. As such, only the responses to some of the questions are presented below. Nevertheless, the data do provide some useful information about the frequency with which different types of headings are verified in the cataloging processs. The figures below are based uopn a respnse rate of approximately 69% (24 of 35 recipients returned completed [or partially completed] questionnaires).

Original Search heading in LTYL Search heading in RLIN/OCLC

Names always    100%
sometimes
never
always    6%
sometimes    48%
never    46%

Series always    88%
sometimes    4%
never    8%
always    4%
sometimes    40%
never    56%

Subjects always    63%
sometimes    33%
never    4%
always    4%
sometimes    21%
never    75%

Uniform titles always    75%
sometimes    17%
never    8%
always    2%
sometimes    42%
never    56%

Member copy Search heading in LTYL Search heading in RLIN/OCLC

Names always    83%
sometimes    13%
never    4%
always    6%
sometimes    40%
never    54%

Series always    79%
sometimes    13%
never    8%
always    6%
sometimes    31%
never    63%

Subjects always    54%
sometimes    38%
never    8%
always    6%
sometimes    23%
never    71%

Uniform titles always    63%
sometimes    29%
never    8%
always    4%
sometimes    25%
never    71%

LC copy Search heading in LTYL Search heading in RLIN/OCLC

Names always    46%
sometimes    29%
never    25%
always    4%
sometimes    17%
never    79%

Series always    63%
sometimes    16%
never    21%
always    2%
sometimes    13%
never    85%

Subjects always    21%
sometimes    42%
never    37%
always    2%
sometimes    13%
never    85%

Uniform titles always    46%
sometimes    17%
never    37%
always    2%
sometimes    10%
never    88%