Hello all,
OCLC is working on a name authority service which will be available
for use by DSpace. This could be very helpful in the future... Is
eScholarship aware of this? Read text below. You can go to this page
and try it out.
<http://www.oclc.org/research/researchworks/authority/default.htm>
Learn more about LC Name Authority Service
OCLC Research's LC Name Authority Service provides a way for systems to
check names in their databases against the Library of Congress
Authority File.
Try it out
Enter a name into the Interactive Response query box. For example,
enter one of the following names:
Carroll, Lewis
Lessig, Lawrence
Chomsky, Noam
Samuelson, Robert
And press <Submit Query>.
The Name Authority File Service will return any LC authority records
for names matching the name you submitted.
The Interactive Response Type is suitable for interactive use, name by
name. It has higher recall with lower precision.
Why we developed this
We developed this service so that remotely located
systems?institutional repository software, for example (DSpace, ePrints
UK, CONTENTdm, eprints.org, Fedora)?can offer authority control without
having to build full authority control modules. Without this service
DSpace does not know, for example, that Mark Twain and Samuel Clemens
are the same man; nor does it distinguish well between two authors with
the same name. With the OCLC Research name authority service, people
entering metadata for preprints can make sure the author names are
consistent and well-formed.
DSpace plans to integrate interactive authority checking in the future.