New DLF Blog Post: “Issues in Authority Control: Case Studies in Name Authority Records and Platform User Experience Design”

From the Digital Library Federation (DLF)

This post was written by members of the DLF Assessment Interest Group’s (AIG) Metadata Working Group (MWG). Learn more about the Assessment Interest Group.

This collaborative think piece addresses several concerns with metadata authority control:

• Name authority records
• User interface and data display in digital collections
• Defining controlled fields and terms
• Delegating authority work to non-Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS) staff or students

We discuss systems that identify and distinguish between entities with the same or similar names, with subject authority control (identifying and distinguishing between concepts and topics) and name authority control (disambiguating people, organizations, and places). We explore  how different digital libraries administer authority records to improve data accuracy and consistency as a method for improving  information retrieval and user experiences.

Experts in the field providing institutional case studies include:

• Hannah Tarver (University of North Texas)
• Annamarie Klose (The Ohio State University)
• Mandy Mastrovita (Digital Library of Georgia)

Editors include:

• Dana Reijerkerk (Stony Brook University)
• Rebecca Fried (Union College)
• Mandy Mastrovita (Digital Library of Georgia)

Read the Complete Post (3871 words)

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