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Add non-Latin script variant name headings in authority records

Discover how to add non-Latin script variant name headings in authority records using Connexion client.

Overview

  • The Library of Congress and other major authority record exchange partners—British Library, National Library of Medicine, and OCLC, in consultation with the Library and Archives Canada—are implementing the use of non-Latin scripts in records for Name Authority Cooperative Program (NACO) contribution/distribution processes. 
  • NACO participants can use non-Latin script variant forms of name headings in: 
    • Fields 4XX and 7XX 
    • Various note fields (for example, 67X) 
  • NACO participants can add non-Latin script data to LC name authority records. 
  • Non-NACO catalogers can add non-Latin scripts and export records for local use. Non-Latin scripts can be added to authority save file records and to authority constant data. 
  • Only MARC-8 character sets for the following scripts will be supported: 
    • Arabic (includes the Persian language) 
    • Chinese 
    • Cyrillic (within the MARC-8 character set) 
    • Greek 
    • Hebrew (includes Yiddish) 
    • Japanese 
    • Korean 
  • In addition to creating, editing, and exporting authority records with non-Latin scripts in variant name headings, searching, browsing, displaying, saving, and applying constant data are also available. 

Details

  • The Latin script or romanized (Latin script representation of non-Latin script data) form of a heading in field 1XX will continue to be the authorized heading. 
  • The LC authority file will not have paired records for Latin script and non-Latin script forms of name headings for the same entity. 
  • NACO contributors will follow MARC 21’s “Model B” for multiscript records.  Model B provides for unlinked non-Latin script fields, such as authority record 4XX fields, that have the same MARC tags used for Latin script data. 
  • Using Model B for authorities is a departure from the current bibliographic record practice of many Anglo-American Cataloging libraries, where non-Latin characters are exported as linked 880 fields (Alternate Graphic Representation) using MARC 21’s "Model A” for multiscript records. 
  • Although Connexion client supports Armenian, Bengali, Cyrillic (outside the MARC-8 character set), Devanagari, Ethiopic, Syriac, Tamil, and Thai for use in bibliographic records, character sets for these scripts will not be supported for variant name headings in authority records. 

See more information on adding references using non-Latin scripts to name authority records on the Library of Congress website. 

Character sets supported

MARC-8 character sets for non-Latin scripts to be available for references in authority records are listed in MARC 21 Specifications for Record Structure, Character Sets, and Exchange Media, Code Tables.

These character sets are subsets of UTF-8 Unicode that are approved for use in MARC 21 cataloging.

The following non-Latin scripts will be supported for authority record variant name headings:

  • Basic Arabic = 33 (hex)
  • Extended Arabic = 34 (hex)
  • Chinese, Japanese, Korean (EACC) = 31 (hex)
  • Basic Cyrillic = 4E (hex)
  • Extended Cyrillic = 51 (hex)
  • Basic Greek = 53 (hex)
  • Basic Hebrew = 32 (hex)

Existing non-Latin script support in Connexion client for bibliographic records: What applies to authority records

Much of the information about using non-Latin scripts for bibliographic records also applies to using supported scripts for authority records; for example, see input methods for languages that use non-Latin scripts.

Functions that are the same for authority records

Functions that apply to both bibliographic and authority records include:

  • A single record and a single field in a record can have multiple non-Latin scripts, as in bibliographic records.
  • Data alignment for displaying and printing Arabic and Hebrew script data (View > Align Right).
  • MARC-8 character verification (verification separate from record validation) (Edit > MARC-8 Characters > Verify [or Clear].
  • Conversion of invalid CJK to MARC-8 (Edit > MARC-8 Characters > Convert to MARC-8 CJK).
  • Manual transliteration of romanized data to Arabic or Persian using Edit > Transliterate > Arabic [or Persian].
     Note: Automatic transliteration (set by an option) is not available for variant name headings in authority records.
  • Unicode formatting control characters to support correct display of bidirectional data in Arabic and Hebrew script records (right-click in a field and click Insert Unicode Control Character to choose a control character).
     Note: Formatting control characters are not automatically added to Arabic or Hebrew data. You must add them manually. They are available only from the right-click menu.
  • CJK E-Dictionary, which helps with character selection by providing comprehensive information about CJK characters supported in the client (Tools > CJK E-Dictionary).
  • Existing LC authority file search indexes will include non-Latin script search terms.
  • The following authority search windows support entering non-Latin script search terms: 
    • Search LC Names and Subjects (Authorities > Search > LC Names and Subjects) 
    • Enter Authority Batch Search Key window (Batch > Enter Authority Search Keys) 
    • Search LC Names and Subjects History (Authorities > Search > LC Names and Subjects History)
  • Normalization of search terms, that is, characters the system groups and indexes together as if they are the same character, is the same as normalization of non-Latin script searches in WorldCat. See Help topics on individual scripts for details (for example, see details on Arabic character normalization in Catalog using Arabic scripts). 
  • If you want to retrieve all records or see sample records containing a particular script, use the WorldCat Character Sets Present search index (label vp:) with the assigned code for a script:
    Script Code for script Enter search as ...
    Arabic ara vp:ara
    Chinese, Japanese, and Korean cjk vp:cjk
    Cyrillic cyr vp:cyr
    Greek gre vp:gre
    Hebrew hbr vp:hbr

    To enter one of the searches above to retrieve all records that contain a specified script, use the command line in the LC Names and Subjects Search window (Authorities > Search > LC Names and Subjects). See more about how the client displays LC authority file search results.
  • Select a character set for exporting (Tools > Options > Export; click Record Characteristics) and importing (File > Import Records; click Record Characteristics) authority records that have non-Latin script data, as you do for bibliographic records.

Functions that are different for authority records

The following features function differently for non-Latin script data in authority records:

  • Character set identifier in records - No script identifier will appear in authority records (unlike non-Latin script bibliographic records which have identifiers in field 066 c). 
  • Validation - Validation of authority records is, of course, different from validation of bibliographic records. Specifically, validation of authority records that contain non-Latin script data: 
    • Is limited to name authority records (no sh/sj) 
    • Is limited to the following heading fields: 400, 410, 411, 430, 451, 700, 710, 711, 730, 751 
    • Is limited to some 6XX notes fields (to be determined) 
    • Checks for display from left to right or right to left based on the Unicode range of the first character after the first subfield code
    • Allows adding or replacing authority records only for MARC-8 character sets
    • Allows exporting authority records with non-MARC-8 data added locally only if validation is set to None in Tools > Options > General (click Validation Level Options)

Functions that are not available for authority records

The following existing functionality for bibliographic records is not available for authority records: