[Evergreen-general] Indexing =400 Authority MARC Fields in Author and Subject Searches

[Rosie Le Faive]

Hello,

We've recently begun asking those very same questions, and I am interested in hearing what others have to say.

For replacing problematic headings, I think we will need to keep a list of the problematic authority records to prevent them from re-entering our system during authority record loads. We will probably track both the (LCSH) IDs as well as the heading, so that we can be alerted if the problematic record has changed (for instance, to something less problematic, so we could go back to using it). Since we aren't (yet?) using an authority vendor, this'll likely be done in custom python scripts... but all this is still hypothetical!

I'm eager to hear if/how we can improve the Author and Subject searches by indexing non-preferred headings.
________________________________
From: Evergreen-general <evergreen-general-bounces at list.evergreen-ils.org> on behalf of Szwagiel, Will via Evergreen-general <evergreen-general at list.evergreen-ils.org>
Sent: Tuesday, February 6, 2024 10:05 AM
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Cc: Szwagiel, Will <william.szwagiel at dncr.nc.gov>
Subject: [Evergreen-general] Indexing =400 Authority MARC Fields in Author and Subject Searches


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Good morning,

We have been discussing ways to try and make authority records more useful in Evergreen for staff and patrons when searching the catalog.  As it currently stands, if you select Author as the Catalog Field in a search and search for a version of an author's name that appears in a =400 field in the authority record, you will not receive any results.  However, if you search for that same version of the author's name with Keyword selected as the Catalog Field, you will receive results.

One potential solution that has been suggested is to index the =400 fields in the Author search.

This led to a broader discussion regarding a project we are currently undertaking to introduce less problematic or offensive local subject headings into our MARC records.  Basically we are planning to put together a list of terms that we feel are outdated or problematic and then come up with a separate list of terms with which to replace them.  Instead of simply adding our local subject headings to the records and leaving the problematic ones present as is, we intend to replace the problematic ones with the new terms.

This returned to the discussion of how best to handle authority records.  The thinking is that we would add these new terms to the existing authority records (presumably in =400 fields) and potentially index these fields in the Subject search, as well, similar to how we discussed potentially doing this with the Author search.

Has anyone else done anything like this before?  If so, how has it worked out for you?  If you have not had much luck with it, what would you recommend as an alternative?

Thank you in advance for any insight you may be able to provide.


William C. Szwagiel

NC Cardinal Project Manager

State Library of North Carolina

william.szwagiel at ncdcr.gov<mailto:william.szwagiel at ncdcr.gov> | 919.814.6721

https://statelibrary.ncdcr.gov/services-libraries/nc-cardinal

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Raleigh, North Carolina 27699-4600

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