Authority control for the Internet

OCLC Office of Research efforts into creating effective authority control support in the online cataloging arena has a long history, but in the last several years we have intensified that effort. Leveraging knowledge gained in authority control research over the past decade, we have implemented a solid prototype system for corporate name authorities.

This system is OCLC’s first real-time system for authority control. Real-time authority validation systems have existed for some time, but none of those systems took the next step and attempted to correct errors in real time. These are important results for the library community and beyond. First, it will mean more efficient use of expert cataloger time for libraries, whether they are cataloging traditional materials or electronic. Second, it can enable that large pool of Internet users--who are well-educated but are not catalogers-- to contribute usable resource descriptions to the various databases that are now being created around the world.

Our research in authority control has reached a point of development as a useful prototype just as the CORC system has a need for such capability. In the last several months, we have redirected our work on the prototype system toward adapting its detection and correction algorithms to work within the CORC system, which is based on Mantis and the OCLC SiteSearch platforms.

There is an ebb and flow to the research process that is clearly evident in the relationship of the authority control research project and its working out in the CORC system. Basic research, where ideas are generated and tested, often leads to the further stages of refinement in the applied research stages that are closer and closer to being advanced development efforts. Additionally, there comes a time when the results that came from basic research and fed into the applied research stages have been exhausted in their applicability to real-world products. At that point, the researcher re-enters the basic research stage, where more ideas are generated and tested.

Even as we work hard to adapt our research to the needs of CORC users, we are thinking ahead to that time when new ideas will be needed to restart the research process. That research will, if successful, bring even more benefits to the cataloging community, both professional librarians and those who, while lacking expertise in cataloging, still need to create near-professional metadata records. Just having first brought authority control to the Internet is not enough for me and my staff. We can make it better.--Ed O’Neill is consulting research scientist, OCLC Office of Research.