[rak-list] Authority Control/OCLC

[Jim E Cole]

Dear Colleagues,

	I am by no means an expert on OCLC's efforts to control headings in
its WorldCat database.  I do know, however, that the headings found its
authority file are at least not as well linked to the to headings in
WorldCat as one would like--and hope--them to be.  Thus for, instance, the
authorized heading for the city in which I live is

	Ames (Iowa)

and the heading for the television station formerly owned by the university
here is

	WOI-TV (Television station : Ames, Iowa)

Although both headings are found in the OCLC authority file, one
nevertheless finds a record in OCLC WorldCat with the heading

	Ames, Iowa.  Television station WOI-TV.  [OCLC record 4483769]

This, of course, has the television station not only incorrectly established
subordinately to the city name, but uses the wrong form of the heading for
the city!

	Similarly, although the heading for "West Germany" is established in
the authority file as

	Germany (West)

one still finds "Germany (Federal Republic, 1949- )" used as either a
heading or as the initial part of a heading over 1350 times in WorldCat. 
The headings range from just

	Germany (Federal Republic, 1949- )  [OCLC record 5014648] 

to such things as

	Germany (Federal Republic, 1949- ).  Meteorologisches Amt fuer
Nordwestdeutschland.  [OCLC record 4520359] (Pardon my substitution of the
of the "e" for the umlaut in "fuer"!)

	The OCLC authority file itself has a record for the Meteorologisches
Amt, entered directly under its own name:

	Meteorologisches Amt fuer Nordwestdeutschland.

This, however, did not affect the older heading in WorldCat.

	Similar problems exist, of course, for "East Germany".  For
instance, even though the authority file's heading for the Staatsrat is

	Germany (East).  Staatsrat

one nevertheless finds the heading

	Germany (Democratic Republic, 1949- ).  Staatsrat

used in OCLC WorldCat [OCLC record 27121430]

	These are just a few--and easily found--examples of mistakes and
inconsistencies and conflicts with the authority file that are to be found
in the OCLC WorldCat database.  

---
Jim Cole, Editor-in-Chief
THE SERIALS LIBRARIAN
http://www.ameshomeschool.org/serialslibrarian