Appendix.
Implementing Changes in the MARC 21 Authority Format (LC Guidelines) Appendix.
Implementing Changes in the MARC 21 Authority Format (LC Guidelines)
This appendix describes the process by which changes to the MARC 21 Format for Authority Data are implemented in
the
LC/NACO name Authority File (LC/NAF)
the
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) authority file
the
Library of Congress Genre/Form Terms (LCGFT) authority file
the
Library of Congress Medium of Performance Terms (LCMPT) authority file
the
Library of Congress Demographic Group Terms (LCDGT) authority file.
Implementing changes to the LC/NAF
Review of MARC Authority Format updates
The Policy, Training, and Cooperative Programs Division (PTCP) reviews the published updates to the MARC Authority Format and determines the impact on NACO. PTCP may receive input from Program for Cooperative Cataloging committees, task groups, etc. PTCP determines whether to implement a change and sends the complete list of changes with its recommendations about implementation to the NACO nodes.
NACO nodes
The NACO nodes are the British Library, the National Library of Medicine (NLM), OCLC, and SkyRiver. The nodes are NACO record exchange partners that enable NACO member libraries to contribute records to the LC/NAF. The Library of Congress maintains the master file of the LC/NAF.
The NACO nodes and LC must all agree to implement in order for a change to be made. The nodes indicate their agreement with PTCP and provide a target date for when they can schedule the changes. Each node then does whatever work it needs to do to implement the changes.
LC's implementation workflow
This implementation process is managed in multiple offices at LC. The tag table files are updated and tested. After the testing is complete, a test installation is made for confirmation. Full installation to push the update to client workstations for U.S. staff is scheduled. The deployment to the workstations in the field offices (Cairo, Islamabad, Jakarta, Nairobi, New Delhi, and Rio de Janeiro) is scheduled separately.
The workstation application tool used by LC staff to validate authority records must also be updated, tested, and deployed to client workstations at the same time to avoid false errors being shown for the tag updates.
Scripts used in the preprocessing of NACO daily contribution files from the nodes are also updated so that authority records may continue to be accepted and validated correctly.
Announcements are made by the Cataloging Distribution Service (CDS) to the customers that subscribe to name authority record products, alerting them to the need to adjust systems for the newly implemented fields.
Documentation updates
PTCP updates the LC Guidelines and other cataloging documents to reflect implementation decisions. The publication date for the LC Guidelines and the scheduled date for the implementation will rarely align. Thus, two changes may be made to the LC Guidelines to reflect one implementation decision. The first change will be an instruction to consult LC’s Policy, Training, and Cooperative Programs Division before using a new field or subfield. This safeguards against catalogers using the new field or subfield before all the NACO nodes are ready. The second change removes the previous change and may also add an instruction such as "Subfield $4 may be used by … in consultation with LC’s Policy, Training, and Cooperative Programs Division."
Implementing changes to the LCSH and LCGFT authority files
PTCP reviews the published updates to the MARC Authority Format, determines their impact on LCSH and LCGFT, and decides whether to implement a change.
If the decision to implement a change affects a field that may be appropriate for name authority records, the process described in "Implementing changes to the LC/NAF" is invoked. After the process is complete, CDS announces the date after which the change will be implemented in LCSH and/or LCGFT authority records, since the records are distributed in CDS’s MARC Distribution Service Subject-Authorities product.
If the decision affects a field that is not appropriate for name authority records, CDS announces the date after which the change will be implemented in authority records.
LC's implementation workflow
This implementation process is managed in multiple offices at LC. The tag tables in Classification Web are updated and tested, as are the tag table files in LC’s ILS. After the ILS file testing is complete, a test installation is made for confirmation. Full installation to push the update to client workstations for U.S. staff is scheduled. The deployment to the workstations in the field offices (Cairo, Islamabad, Jakarta, Nairobi, New Delhi, and Rio de Janeiro) is scheduled separately.
Documentation updates
PTCP updates the LC Guidelines and other cataloging documents to reflect implementation decisions. The publication date for the LC Guidelines and the scheduled date for the implementation will rarely align. Thus, two changes may be made to the LC Guidelines to reflect one implementation decision. The first change will be an instruction to consult LC’s Policy, Training, and Cooperative Programs Division before using a new field or subfield. This safeguards against catalogers using the new field or subfield before all the NACO nodes are ready. The second change removes the previous change and may also add an instruction such as "Subfield $4 may be used by … in consultation with LC’s Policy, Training, and Cooperative Programs Division."
Implementing changes to the LCMPT and LCDGT authority files
PTCP reviews the published updates to the MARC Authority Format, determines their impact on LCMPT and LCDGT, and decides whether to implement a change.
PTCP makes the decision if it affects a field that is not appropriate for name authority records. If the decision affects a field that may be appropriate for name authority records, the process described in "Implementing changes to the LC/NAF" is invoked.
After the decision-making process is complete, PTCP announces the date after which the change will be implemented in authority records, because LCMPT and LCDGT are not distributed through CDS. Instead, the LCMPT records may be downloaded for free from https://classificationweb.net/LCMPT/ and LCDGT from https://classificationweb.net/LCDGT/.
LC's implementation workflow
The tag tables in Classification Web are updated and tested.
Documentation updates
PTCP updates the LC Guidelines and other cataloging documents to reflect implementation decisions. The publication date for the LC Guidelines and the scheduled date for the implementation will rarely align. Thus, two changes may be made to the LC Guidelines to reflect one implementation decision. The first change will be an instruction to consult LC’s Policy, Training, and Cooperative Programs Division before using a new field or subfield. This safeguards against catalogers using the new field or subfield before all the NACO nodes are ready. The second change removes the previous change and may also add an instruction such as "Subfield $4 may be used by … in consultation with LC’s Policy, Training, and Cooperative Programs Division."
To return: