Hi Charlotte,
The Archives Hub team takes in huge amounts of descriptions from hundreds of repositories, and these records obviously include names, sometimes from the 'authority files' within the repository's own system. We also give quite a bit of training on cataloguing and interoperability and spend a good deal of our time thinking about good data.
In terms of NCA Rules, I would say that a good deal of the advice is fit for purpose, but not all of it. Some of it works fine in a pre-digital world, but is not so relevant now. I have a particular issue with hyphenated and compound surnames, for example, as the advice is to 'use the last word as the entry element', so the surname gets chopped up. The most important thing is consistency and good structure, because that helps with machine processing. After that, the best thing you can do is to use a globally recognised identifier alongside the name, because then you identify the person or organisation unambiguously, and that can potentially enable resources to be brought together. We encourage the use of VIAF for this. There is more about that in a blog post I did some time ago on a Linked Data project: https://blog.archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk/category/linking-lives/ However, I don't think many archival systems encourage adding this type of identifier.
We are just about to start a pilot project on bringing names into the Archives Hub and I'm doing some work on looking at different identifiers, which I'll aim to blog about. We will work with the names we have on the Archives Hub, but it is likely that we can only work with names that have life dates and that are well-structured, because we will need to implement algorithms to create name records and match them. Name matching is really important as a means to make connections and join archives up with other resources.
There is so much more that can be said about names! I think one problem is that systems may restrict what you can do. But always think about structure and use of dividers - so surname, forename (dates) is a good structure. The best thing is a system that actually identifies the different parts of a name, as then they are semantically identified and they can be displayed in different ways, but most do not do this unfortunately.
By the way, we have just taken exports from Epexio, but the files didn't include creator names or names as index terms, so I'm not sure how names are entered in or outputted from Epexio.
all the best,
Jane.
Jane Stevenson
Archives Hub Service Manager
[log in to unmask]
> On 23 Mar 2020, at 12:25, Becky Sheldon (Commissioning Communities and Policy) <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> Hi Charlotte,
>
> This is a very timely email as we have just identified name authority files as something that can be worked on from home (at least in getting started, many might need to be completed when we can all have full and regular access to our collections again).
>
> Our procedures still refer to NCA and ISAAR rules, but we would certainly be interested to know if we should have moved on?
>
> I expect by the end of all of this we will all be completely up to date on such matters J
>
> Best wishes to everyone!
>
> Becky Sheldon | Archivist | Commissioning, Communities and Policy | Derbyshire County Council | Derbyshire Record Office, New Street, Matlock, DE4 3FE | Reception: 01629 538347
>
>
> From: Archivists, conservators and records managers. [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Charlotte Berry
> Sent: 23 March 2020 12:14
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Name authority files - query on what you use?
>
> Dear all
>
> In the odd situation of having no readers and very few enquiries at present, I am able to block out some time for getting on with sorting out some indexing and also migrating some pdf/scanned catalogues into our new system Epexio.
>
> I am currently planning on using NCA Rules as this is what I am most familiar with. Is there any consensus out there on what other folk are using? I am conscious I haven't done much indexing work since contributing to the Archives Hub c 2003-2007 (ahem), so are the NCA Rules hugely outdated by now or are folk still using them? They seemed to do the job very well at the time, but I am aware that ISAAF has been released since then. Are many people using that instead? Or something else entirely?
>
> I am happy to post a summary of responses for the list, and I am aware that I may well be outdated here!
>
> We are also about to start a major cataloguing project here (a challenge in itself at present with homeworking etc) so it would be good to have a decision made on name authorities, as these will be a key element of that particular project.
>
> I look forward to hearing from you, and hope you are all keeping well.
>
> Best wishes
>
> Charlotte
>
> Magdalen College Oxford
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