Aleph update: Distinct display of ambiguous headings

Starting tomorrow Aleph functionality to distinguish ambiguous headings will be implemented.  Ambiguous headings are identical "See from" terms that appear in more than one authority record. The best known example of an ambiguous heading is ALA, which is a legitimate "See from" heading in eleven authority records in HOLLIS. Because the headings are identical only one index entry is created for ALA, and the heading displays with only one "See" reference in both the OPAC and the client.

In version 18, Aleph is able to identify ambiguous headings and provides a mechanism for changing them into distinct headings. When the system determines that a "See from" heading in either HVD10 or HVD12 already exists in another authority record,  the "See" heading is copied from the 1XX field and appended to the ambiguous heading in a subfield 7. Applying subfield 7 to the authority record for African Literature Association changes the ambiguous heading 4101 $$aALA into 4101 $$aALA$$7African Literature Association.  Subfield 7 is only applied to "See from" headings, and will affect how they display in Authors, Series, Subjects (LCSH) and Subjects (MeSH) indexes.

As of tomorrow, subfield 7 will be applied to new and resaved authority records as they go through indexing. Subfield 7 will be applied retrospectively to all ambiguous headings over the weekend. By Monday (2/24) the implementation should be complete.

When subfield 7 is fully implemented, each instance of ALA will display on a separate line in the OPAC with its own "See" reference.

ALA - [Heading Information]
   See:  African Literature Association

ALA - [Heading Information]
   See:  American Laryngological Association

ALA - [Heading Information]
   See:  American Library Association


Subfield 7 content will display in brackets in the client:

+   ALA [African Literature Association.]
+   ALA [American Laryngological Association]
+   ALA [American Library Association]


More information on subfield 7 functionality and its behavior in the cataloging client is available in a new document Authority records: ambiguous headings on the Aleph documentation site.

Please send any questions concerning re-indexing to the Aleph Support Center, http://hul.harvard.edu/ois/systems/aleph/forms/f-supp-cat.html.

Thanks,

Allison Powers
Office for Information Systems
Harvard University Library
90 Mt. Auburn Street
Cambridge, MA 02138

Phone: 617-495-3724