No. 119, May 2001

NDL staff participated "CJK Authority I and II"
at the National Institute of Informatics (NII)

The National Institute of Informatics (NII) held two meetings on name authority control among Chinese, Korean and Japanese script in January (Meeting I) and in March (meeting II) 2001. The two meetings consisted of Stage I of the project 'Authority Control among Chinese, Korean and Japanese'. The scope of names here is, in the first instance, 'Author Name', then followed in the future, by proper nouns that are used in other countries in local usage other than the original one. 

Author's name authority control is essential for effective library catalog searching. Selecting a single form brings together in one place all the works of an author, and this process creates a link between bibliographic records and the author's name authority file. It improves access dramatically by providing consistency in the form of headings used to identify authors of a book. 

Librarians have spent much time and effort in discussing appropriate formats of name authority records to handle CJK entries. In addition to ordinary problems, there are special difficulties in cataloging CJK materials in CJK countries. For example, in the case of Chinese names, Japanese readers may read them in the Japanese way, and Korean readers in the Korean way, often quite differently from the original Chinese way. Similarly, the reverse would happen in other CJK countries in the case of Japanese and Korean names. 

When a foreign publication is being entered into a database, it is desirable to record its original spelling (writing), local adaptation for colloquial use, as well as other forms possible for internal use. When searching for these names, which one is to be used? Original form or local adaptation? There could be a common treatment of foreign names in the three countries. Common convension and data elements will offer better search capability. 

To discuss the issues, delegations from the National Library of China, the National Library of Korea, Korea Education Research Information Service and the National Diet Library were invited to the meetings. The NII also invited Ms. Marie-France Plassard, IFLA UBCIM, as a guest speaker. On March 27, she visited the NDL and delivered a lecture on the IFLA UNIMARC Authority for the library staff. 

From the NDL, three librarians presented papers at the meetings on authority control in the NDL. At the first meeting in January 2001, Mr. Yokoyama of the Book Processing Division presented a paper titled 'The Current Status of Authority Control of Author Names in the National Diet Library'. In the presentation, he outlined the authority control procedure in the NDL, introduced authority control in the Japanese national bibliography 'JAPAN/MARC', and explained how the NDL treats Chinese and Korean author's names. At the second meeting in March 28-29, Ms. Asoshina and Ms. Ozawa of the Book Processing Division gave an explanation of the Authority File of the Japan MARC in detail. 

Program

Authority Control among Chinese, Korean and Japanese Scripts (CJK Authority I) 
National Institute of Informatics (NII), Japan 

January 10, 2001

• Opening - Professor NAITO Eisuke, NII
• Authority Control - Professor MIYAZAWA Akira, NII
• NACSIS-CAT Authority Control (NII) - Mr. SAKAI Kiyohiko, NII
• JAPAN/MARC Authority Control (NDL) - Mr. YOKOYAMA Yukio, NDL
• China MARC Authority Control (NLC) - Mr. ZHOU Shengheng, Ms. JIANG Min, NLC
• KORMARC Authority Control (NLK & KERIS) - Mrs. LEE Chi-Ju, Mrs. LEE Jae-Sun, NLK, Dr. PARK Hongseok, Ms. LEE Ji-won, KERIS

January 11, 2001

• Questions to NACSIS-CAT
• Questions to JAPAN/MARC
• Questions to China MARC
• Questions to KORMARC
• Discussion

Authority Control among Chinese, Korean and Japanese Scripts (CJK Authority II) 
National Institute of Informatics (NII), Japan 

March 28, 2001

• Authority Control in an International Environment: the UNIMARC Format for Authorities - Ms. Marie-France PLASSARD, IFLA UBCIM
• NACO Activity: a Literature Survey - MATSUI Sachiko, Univ. of Library and Information Science
• Problems and the future of Authority Control - MIYAZAWA Akira, NII
• Description Rules of JAPAN/MARC Authority Data
• Description Rules of NACSIS CAT Authority Data
• Description Rules of KOR MARC Authority Data
• Description Rules of KERIS CAT Authority Data
• Description Rules of China MARC Authority Data

March 29, 2001

• Comparison of Authority data - NDL
• Comparison of Authority data - NII
• Comparison of Authority data - NLK
• Comparison of Authority data - KERIS
• Comparison of Authority data - NLS
• Discussion