Trevor Reynolds writes:
>Archives and libraries seem to prefer to use "authority file", museums seem to
>prefer "term list"!
There's probably some truth in this, possibly because most museum people
have less formal training in information retrieval than librarians
(though I'm not sure that this would apply to archivists).
Consequently, we are not as comfortable with the jargon.
However, despite my museum background, I'm perfectly happy with
'authority file', a term with which I have been familiar for most of my
museum career. In fact, I would never refer to person and corporate
body authority files as 'term lists' (that may be what they are but it
doesn't 'feel' right!). I'm quite comfortable using that phrase for
most very simple lists of preferred and non-preferred terms (i.e. no
hierarchical relationships) but draw the line at people.
Like Trevor, I would generally expect an 'authority file' to have been
checked against some reference source and probably to have some
additional information such as date, place of birth etc. I believe
that, in its broadest sense, 'authority file' can also apply to a
thesaurus but this may not be universally accepted.
To sum up, I would say that 'term list' is a narrower term of 'authority
file' rather than a synonym!
Regards
Stuart
------
Stuart Holm, Heritage Documentation Projects Tel: 01603 870772
2 New Road, Reepham, Norwich NR10 4LP Fax: 0870 055 3623
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
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