NACO Coordinating Committee Minutes

Date: 11 April 2005

Present: Steven Arakawa, Maria Hunenko, Mickey Koth, Cécile Mandour, Rick Sarcia, Manon Théroux (chair and recorder).

Absent: Sarah Elman, Fanny Hsieh.

1. RLG Authority Assistant Poll

In response to a query from RLG, Manon conducted a poll on the YUL-NACO list to see how many catalogers were using the RLG Authority Assistant to generate NACO records. The tally: 9 people are using it at least sometimes; 18 people have never used it. Some people did not respond, probably because they are not currently creating NACO records.

RLG has told us that the Authority Assistant might not be available on Day 1 of doing NACO input in RLIN21.

Some people expressed interest in learning more about the Authority Assistant and how it works, so we will have some kind of a demo/training session in the future (after we move to RLIN21). It can be efficient, especially for those who catalog directly in RLIN, but the system-generated record does require careful editing.

2. Finding Biographical Information Class

Emily Horning and Sue Lorimer of Research Services and Collections have agreed to teach a class for NACO catalogers on "Finding Biographical Information". An announcement will go out shortly. Manon asked for input from the committee. One person suggested that a survey of online biographical resources would be helpful; another said it would be useful to have call numbers identified for any print biographical resources discussed.

3. LC Classification Numbers for Literary Authors

At its last meeting, the committee discussed the new procedures for classing belletristic materials and agreed to allow LC classification numbers for literary authors to be recorded in authority record 090 fields when no 053 field was present. Manon has documented the new practice as part of a larger set of guidelines called "Yale Policies for NARs." It parallels the existing document "Yale Policies for SARs." The group suggested some additional revisions to the draft document. The final document will be distributed on YULCAT.

The dummy bib records in Orbis that begin "A A A Belletristic" will need to be re-evaluated in light of the new SML Catalog Department policy for classing belletristic materials. Many of these dummy bib records contain obsolete instructions to prefer local LC classification numbers over genuine LC numbers. There are a few hundred such records altogether. Steven will start a project to re-evaluate them, transferring the numbers to the appropriate authority records whenever possible and then deleting the bib record.

4. RLIN21 Status Report

On April 8, the NACO-enabled RLIN21 client was released for testing to the institutions with representation in the RLG Authority Design User Focus Group. Yale is a member of this group and thus will serve as a tester. The NACO Coordinating Committee will be doing the preliminary testing and developing of staff training materials; later, after receiving training, other Yale catalogers will participate in the testing. Unfortunately, RLG has not given us a timeline for when the test period will end. The testing will be conducted against RLG's training database not the real authority file.

Each unit will have a new RLIN21 NACO account. Our current NACO accounts will become obsolete. The new RLIN21 NACO accounts will be separate from the RLIN21 accounts used for bib file searching and exporting.

Because the placement of diacritics will be before the letter in Orbis but after the letter in RLIN21, we will institute a temporary "buddy system" once we move to RLIN21 to ensure that everyone's records are looked over before being produced.