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UC San Diego NACO Contribution Policy

General

Who

  • LA IV staff and above who have been trained in NACO and who perform original or OCLC Enhance cataloging.

Types of headings eligible

  • Personal names (authors of UCSD dissertations excluded).
  • Corporate names, including conference names.
  • Geographic names established in the NAF (i.e. jurisdictions and city sections).
  • Family names.
  • Works and expressions.
  • Series.

Types of contributions

  • New records.
  • Modifications to existing records.
  • Requests to delete records.

Which contributions to make

  • For persons, families, and corporate bodies, generally create or modify authority records in all applicable cases.
  • For works and expressions, follow the guidelines in the DCM Z1 Introduction.
  • For series, use cataloger judgment on how important the series is (e.g. how likely is it that a user would search under this series).
  • For geographic names, creating or modifying records is encouraged but not required. Note, however, that if using a geographic name as a qualifier in another access point, it must be established.
  • When creating or modifying a record, add separate elements fields for all information that is readily available or where research is required to avoid conflicts. If using an element as an addition to an authorized or variant access point, then make a separate field for that element. See RDA 8.3 for a list of all the core elements.
  • All access points in BIBCO or CONSER bibliographic records must be backed by RDA (or RDA acceptable) authority records
  • Existing authority records marked as not RDA acceptable must be upgraded if using the access point on an RDA bibliographic record. See the PCC Post RDA Test Guidelines for more information.
  • Upgrading RDA acceptable authority records to be fully RDA is strongly encouraged, though not ultimately required. However, if using an RDA acceptable access point in an RDA bibliographic record, you must check the usage in the authority 670 fields to ensure that the access point would be valid under RDA and make the needed changes (e.g. some RDA acceptable records will lack Jr., Sr., III, etc. in the access point but the usage shows that these are integral parts of the name). See the PCC Post RDA Test Guidelines for more information.
  • In some cases records related to the one being created/modified must also be upgraded to RDA (e.g. the parent body record for when you are establishing a sub-body). See the PCC Post RDA Test Guidelines for more information.
  • If creating or modifying an authority record would take an inordinate amount of time or we don't have the necessary language expertise, then you may opt to skip the record. Do not code the corresponding bibliographic record as PCC. If you are doing ECIP cataloging, however, you must do all necessary NACO work.

Searching

Domain

Authority Records

  • LC Name Authority File.

Bibliographic Records

  • All cataloged records in local catalog.
  • LC and PCC records.
  • Cataloger judgment: non-LC, -PCC records in OCLC.

Other, as specified in NACO documentation, such as:

  • Certain reference sources for specified nonverbal creators (see the Sources of Information sections in chapters 91011, and 16 plus the related policy statements).
  • The appropriate database for geographic place names (see LC-PCC PS 16.2.2.2).
  • Appropriate bibliographic sources to determine usage in a corporate body's language when your resource is not in the body's language (RDA 11.2.2.5.2).
  • Cataloger's judgment: Internet, email, phone calls, etc.

What to search for

  • The entity that you are performing authority control on.
  • The specific character strings you are using, and expected variants. Be sure to follow all the NACO normalization rules.
  • LC bibliographic records that have the access point you are working on but in a different form than you are establishing. Certain records will need to be reported to LC. See the Guidelines for Reporting NACO BFM for more information.

Original written by Paul J. Weiss; approved by Section Heads, March 25, 2002
Revised by Paul, November 28, 2006
Reviewed by the NACO Contributors Group, November 28, 2006
Approved by Cataloging Committee, December 12, 2006
Revised by Ryan Finnerty, November 10, 2014
Approved by MS Unit Heads, November 18, 2014
Revised by Ryan Finnerty, January 11, 2022