BIOGRAPHICAL DATA ELEMENTS

 

 

1.0       IDENTIFICATION AREA

 

DEFINITION:           

This category is used to record names and other information that identify the individual.

 

DISCUSSION:         

Identification information consists primarily of names by which a person has been known throughout his or her existence.  It also includes information such as identification numbers that may be uniquely assigned to the person.

 

            >>Purpose:               

This information is recorded in order to identify uniquely the individual being described.

 

            >>Nature:                  

Names and other identifying information can be "self-identified," i.e., adopted by the individual, or assigned externally to the person by other people or agencies for identification purposes.  Names often changed, added, or dropped over time, even posthumously.  Names will often exist in multiple languages and character sets, while other identification information may consist of numerical codes, or graphic representations.

 

SOURCES:              

Identification information for a person is usually determined from records pertaining to that person (e.g., marriage licenses, birth certificates), or from reference sources such as professional directories.

 

USES:                       

Identification information is used to disambiguate individuals with similar or identical names, and to ensure that other elements of biographic information are associated with the correct person.

 

ACCESS:                 

Identification information is an essential access point to biographic information about an individual.

 

INTERCHANGE:    

Associations between the subcategories must be maintained during information exchange or data transfer.

 

RELATIONSHIPS:  

 

 

ISSUES:       

 

 

 

 

 

 

1.1       NAME OF PERSON

 

 

DEFINITION:           

The names or titles by which an individual has been identified.

 

DISCUSSION:         

A name can be treated as a whole, or parsed into constituent parts including surnames, forenames, qualifiers, titles, numerations, and other text such as place of origin, patronymic, etc.  For any name, its "type" should be recorded to distinguish and contextualize each name (e.g., "maiden name," "pseudonym").  If the language associated with a name is significant, it should be recorded; certainly for names that are recorded in a transliterated form, the transliteration scheme should be identified (e.g., a Chinese name transliterated using either Pinyin or Wade-Giles systems).  Since names are often associated with specific time periods, the dates during which a name is operative should be recorded.

 

            >>Purpose:               

Names are essential to the unambiguous identification of a person.  The full range of names associated with a person must be recorded to provide the most complete biographical picture for that person.

 

            >>Nature:                  

Although most people choose a single name by which they prefer to be known, they may often have additional names in everyday or colloquial use, e.g., nicknames, pseudonyms (single and collective), acronyms, and other variants.  Variant names often evolve over time and through linguistic bastardization, as with European artists whose works were sold in 19th-century Britain under anglicized forms of their name (e.g., "Holebine").  Descriptive names ("Notnamen") are often assigned to anonymous persons to provide a "handle" on which to hang information such as the attribution of works of art, for example, "The Master of the Albattarech Madonna."

 

SOURCES:              

Personal names most often appear in records pertaining to an individual, such as birth certificates, marriage licenses, and death certificates. Names are also found in secondary sources such as professional directories, telephone books, membership lists, writings about the individual, etc.  "Notnamen" are generally assigned in scholarly texts describing the person's artistic oeuvre.

 

USES:                       

Names are used to identify individuals. If a person's name changes and dates associated with the change are known, the name used when records were created can help in their dating.  For someone who has been known by different names over time, complete documentation of names is necessary to link the biographic data from all periods during which the various names have been in use.  Names recorded in the biographic record will be used to control references to the individual in other documentation.

 

ACCESS:                 

Names are a primary access point to biographic information.  Researchers will want to retrieve people's names in many ways, including by type of name (e.g., maiden and married names), any variant or colloquial names including pseudonyms and acronyms, and by spellings in different languages.  Researchers may search for any name in full or partial form. Collocation of all forms of the individual's name is essential, as co-equal access points to the full range of biographic data.

 

TERMINOLOGY:

Use appropriate and relevant standards to determine whether preference for any one name will be established, and if so, which.

 

EXAMPLES:

Domenico Theotocopouli (El Greco)

Cary Grant (stage name for Archibald Leach)

Erte (pseudonym for artist Romain de Tirtoff)

INTERCHANGE:    

Associations between subcategories must be maintained during information exchange or data transfer.

RELATIONSHIPS:  

 

 

PRACTICE:

Common practice for recording names is to use the full form of name in inverted order, last name first.  The USMARC Authorities format also designates content for numeration, titles, other text, and qualifiers.  Inverted forms are satisfactory for indexes, but may be unsatisfactory for labels and on-line displays.  Direct order better suits natural-language displays of names, but is useless for collocation.  Text encoding (such as SGML) could atomize these values, making them suitable for both displays and indexing.

 

ISSUES:       

 

 

 

                                               


1.2       IDENTIFIERS

 

 

DEFINITION:           

Identifiers include information other than names that is used to uniquely identify an individual.

 

DISCUSSION:         

In order to clarify the context in which an identifier has been assigned, record the type of identifier as well as its value.

 

            >>Purpose:               

Identifiers can add to the unique identification of a person.

 

            >>Nature:                  

Identifiers are typically textual or numeric codes or values assigned externally to a person in order to uniquely identify him or her within a specific context.  Identifiers can also include graphic information, such as a set of fingerprints, a voiceprint, or tattoos.

 

SOURCES:              

Textual identifiers are often carried on formal documents created by the individual, such as tax forms, benefits applications, and licenses.  Graphic identifiers may be recorded in the course of documenting the individual for employment or incarceration (e.g., "mug shots").

 

USES:                       

Identifiers are used in place of a person's name when needed to uniquely identify the person within a specific context.

 

ACCESS:                 

Researchers will want access to identifiers when approaching biographical information from the context in which the identifier is used.  For example, a researcher studying alcoholism among veterans may retrieve medical records according to the social security numbers by which the patients are identified.

 

TERMINOLOGY:

Controlled vocabulary is recommended for recording the types of identifiers.

 

EXAMPLES:

Social Security Number

Employee number

 

INTERCHANGE:    

Associations between the subcategories must be maintained during information exchange or data transfer.

 

RELATIONSHIPS:  

 

 

PRACTICE:

Common practice for recording identifiers is to isolate each desired "type" as a distinct data element with its correlate value.

 

ISSUES: