Authority Control in Library Thing.
I love this. Library Thing is offering authority control
at the user level–users can combine multiple listings for the same
author, basically putting this aspect of cataloging into the users'
hands.
In
fact, the computer guesses pretty well, presenting a list of likely
aliases for in the “Also known as…” section. You can check these
authors out by clicking on their names. If they're really the same, and
you're feeling generous, go ahead and click “combine.” The authors will
be smoothed together, with the more common name winning. I've gone
through some of the better-known authors—the rest are up to you.Be bold! The system is
self-correcting. If you screw up and combine two authors who aren't
really the same—eg., Thomas Wolfe and Tom Wolfe—someone will notice.
Clicking “separate” will break them apart again.
See?
Users care about authority control. Why? Because it's a pain in the
butt to have to click on 7 slightly differing entries for Gabriel
Garcia Marquez to find all the relevant items in the catalog. The same
thing happens with title authority control. I can't wait for FRBR to
take hold in our catalogs…either that, or this user-level authority
control. Anything would be better than the messes we have to deal with
now.
[LibrarianInBlack]