I found all views worth considering in this discussion, and very interesting. In my view, laws and rules are amended and should be amended to respond to social, professional and technological change.
Please, Justine, continue to express your professional views. By the way, the NCA rules for at least one foreign language are not consistent with the archival rules in the relevant country. I do believe it’s worth trying to improve something that has served us very well for the last 15 years; hopefully a small revision should last for much longer.
Regards
Jone
From: Archivists, conservators and records managers. [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Winstanley-Brown, Justine
Sent: 11 September 2012 16:23
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: FW: Re: Plea regarding NCA Rules for hyphenated and compound surnames
Thanks for your detailed explanation of the options, with a view to non traditional users. I agree that consistency is a powerful tool – though I suspect that interpretive/second-guessing search tools as popularised by Google are preferred and will be expected by many users in the future, as opposed to indexing.
It’s just a shame that I find myself accused of “vain sensibilities” when expressing a personal opinion in support of a fellow archivist who raises a valid concern in their area of work and is seeking discussion. As a new professional venturing onto the list-serv for the first time I guess it is a valuable lesson!
All the best, with thanks
Justine
From: Archivists, conservators and records managers. [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of T.G. Boyd
Sent: 11 September 2012 15:39
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: FW: Re: Plea regarding NCA Rules for hyphenated and compound surnames
The present NCA rules should be adhered to rigidly, because they represent by far the most efficient way to ensure that researchers who don't actually know whether part of a name is a middle name or the first part of a compound surname are able accurately to predict where that name will appear in an index. Eg, it is *not* safe to assume that everyone who reads the name 'David Lloyd George' & wants to look said 'Welsh Wizard' up in an archival index will know that the surname is 'Lloyd George' rather than 'George' (what about, eg, an 18yo from Outer Mongolia who wants to learn a bit about the First World War in the west or the origins of the British Welfare State...?), & such an assumption becomes even less safe as the subject in question becomes more obscure. If we stick with the current NCA rules then all we need to do to ensure that ANY researcher, whatever their existing level of knowledge, can find a particular person's listing, is to add a brief note describing the current name-construction convention to any finding aid, so that *anyone* who bothers to read that guidance will know to look for David Lloyd George under 'G' rather than 'L'. By contrast, if we switch to indexing David Lloyd George under 'Lloyd' rather than 'George', &c, then the only way to make a finding aid as accessible/useful to *all* researchers would be to produce a complete list of every single possible interpretation of what a subject's name might be, & attach the 'correct' construction to each entry. This would mean, eg, that David Lloyd George would have to be included in such an additional list not only as 'George, David Lloyd' and 'Lloyd George, David', but also as 'David Lloyd George', in case a researcher assumed at first that 'David Lloyd George' was a triple-barrelled surname (just as 'Gordon Duff Pennington' actually is). Producing such an enormous additional list for each index, let alone requiring researchers to read through it, is obviously hugely inefficient & extremely unhelpful compared with composing a brief note to the effect that each individual is indexed under the final element of their name and adding a copy to each finding aid (which is all that the current NCA rules require in order to achieve the same level of service-provision).
In trendified political terms, its an accessibility/equalities question: do we make our finding aids &c will be useful to *all* potential service users (by sticking with current NCA rules), or do we make our finding aids culturally exclusive & less helpful to researchers from non-traditional backgrounds purely in order to pander to the vain sensibilities of those people with compound surnames who choose to look themselves or their relatives up in our indexes (which is what those calling for a change are suggesting)...?
From: "Winstanley-Brown, Justine" <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Tuesday, 11 September 2012, 14:10
Subject: Re: FW: Re: Plea regarding NCA Rules for hyphenated and compound surnames
Of course, including those created in 1901, or 2001! J
From: Archivists, conservators and records managers. [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Judith Curthoys
Sent: 11 September 2012 13:38
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: FW: Re: Plea regarding NCA Rules for hyphenated and compound surnames
And there was I thinking that archivists dealt with historic records...!!
J.
On 11/09/2012 11:56, Winstanley-Brown, Justine wrote:
I agree with Jane on both fronts, from a structured data point of view but also the human one. It has always bothered me as someone with a double-barrelled surname that at present the rules construct personal names in a way that is simply incorrect.
Whilst I understand that compound names can be complex and may sometimes be ambiguous, at present we have a rule that deliberately and consistently distorts known names. I don’t think this should be the default approach when we already have the ability to provide variant/alternative forms alongside.
I appreciate that simplicity is important, but surely it shouldn’t come at the cost of accuracy?
In terms of resourcing, we have to maintain standards to keep them fit for purpose in a changeable world, and this case seems like a great example of where a minor revision by consensus could make a useful difference.
PS. In response to your comment Judith, whilst traditionally one part of compound name may have taken precedence, we can’t really adopt that approach for 20thC-> records as for many (most?) people that’s no longer the case!
Justine Winstanley-Brown BA (Hons) MA| Project Archivist: A City Making History
City of York Council | Libraries and Archives
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