Cascading Subfields Presentation to the Cataloging Congress 5 October 2001 Spencer M. Anspach

What is Cascading? Cascading, in the Unicorn context, is the process by which authority validation (linking a heading on a bibliographic record to an authority record) can be made to ignore certain subfields. Cascading only affects the process of authority validation. It does not affect indexing (keyword or browse) or display; it does not directly affect the heading on the bibliographic record.

How Cascading Works Subfields are cascaded from right to left Subfields are cascaded only until –a matching authority is found –a non-cascaded subfield is encountered –beginning of field is reached

NOTE Cascading is a integral feature of Unicorn and is happening now: –|w in many fields (artifact of OCLC automated processing) –|4 and |e from authors –|? and |= from all fields

Examples Authority record: –Higman, G. |q (Graham) Bib entry: –Higman, G. |q (Graham) |e ed. |w cn Authorization: –Higman, G. |q (Graham) |e ed. |w cn(no match) –Higman, G. |q (Graham) |e ed. (no match) –Higman, G. |q (Graham) (match) (**Note that spaces were added around the subfields for clarity of display.)

Tag (and second indicator value for subject)Subfield 111, 411, 711, 811n, d, c 600/0, 600/2v, x, z 610/0, 610/2v, x, z 611/0, 611/2n, d, c, v, x, z 630/0, 630/2v, x, z 650/0, 650/2, 650/9v, x, z 651/0, 651/2v, x, z Proposed Subfields to Add for Authority Cascading

111, 411, 711, n, d, c Authority record: CIRET Conference Bib records: CIRET Conference |n (16th : |d 1983 : |c Washington, D.C.) |? UNAUTHORIZED CIRET Conference |n (19th : |d 1989 : |c Osaka, Japan) |? UNAUTHORIZED CIRET Conference |n (24th : |d 1999 : |c Wellington, N.Z.) |? UNAUTHORIZED Authority record: CIRET Conference Bib records: CIRET Conference |n (16th : |d 1983 : |c Washington, D.C.) |= ^A CIRET Conference |n (19th : |d 1989 : |c Osaka, Japan) |= ^A CIRET Conference |n (24th : |d 1999 : |c Wellington, N.Z.) |= ^A172391

Authority record: –International Conference on Number Theory |d (1997 : |c Zakopane, Poland) Bib record: –International Conference on Number Theory |d (1997 : |c Zakopane, Poland) 111, 411, 711, n, d, c In this case, the effect will be the same as currently: If authority record is present, heading will be authorized If authority record is absent, it will be marked unauthorized

650 - v, x, z Authority record: Endowments Bib records, currently: Endowments |v Statistics. |? UNAUTHORIZED Endowments |x Finance. |? UNAUTHORIZED Endowments |z Alabama |z Mobile. |? UNAUTHORIZED Endowments |z Hungary |x Periodicals. |? UNAUTHORIZED Endowments |z Scotland |x History |y 19th century. |? UNAUTHORIZED Bib records would become: Endowments |v Statistics. |= ^A Endowments |x Finance. |= ^A Endowments |z Alabama |z Mobile. |= ^A Endowments |z Hungary |x Periodicals. |= ^A Endowments |z Scotland |x History |y 19th century. |? UNAUTHORIZED

610 - v, x, z Authority record: Dante Society of America. Bib record, currently: 110:2 : |a Dante Society of America. |= ^A :20: |a Dante Society of America. |x Periodicals. |? UNAUTHORIZED Bib record would become: 110:2 : |a Dante Society of America. |= ^A :20: |a Dante Society of America. |x Periodicals. |= ^A38038