Moving beyond the name: Defining corporate entities to support provenance-based acces

Journal of Archival Organization

Volumn 5, Issue 1-2, 2007, Pages 49-74

  Light, Michelle ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA   (United States)

Author keywords

Archival authority records; Corporate names; DACS; Describing Archives: A Content Standard; EAC; Encoded Archival Context; Families); International Standard Archival Authority Record (Corporate Bodies; ISAAR (CPF); Persons

Indexed keywords

EID: 39049171090     PISSN: 15332748     EISSN: 15332756     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1300/J201v05n01_04     Document Type: Article

References (64)

1. Plato. Cratylus 439b. Trans. Benjamin Jowett. In Plato: The Collected Dialogues, including the Letters. Edith Hamilton and Huntington Cairns, eds.. (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1961).
2. International Council on Archives, "International Standard Archival Authority Record for Corporate Bodies, Persons and Families: Second Edition" (Paris: ICA Committee on Descriptive Standards, 2004): available at http://www.ica.org/biblio/ISAAR2EN.pdf
3. ISAAR(CPF)2, 5.1.2.
4. Stefano Vitali, "Authority Control of Creators and the Second Edition of ISAAR(CPF), International Standard Archival Authority Record for Corporate Bodies, Persons, and Families," Cataloging & Classification Quarterly 38, nos. 3-4 (2004): 193.
5. Michael Gorman and Paul W. Winkler, eds. Anglo-American Cataloging Rules. 2nd rev. ed. (Chicago: American Library Association, 1988): 24.1C1.
6. Stephen L. Hensen, Archives, Personal Papers, and Manuscripts: A Cataloging Manual for Archival Repositories, Historical Societies, and Manuscript Libraries. 2nd ed. (Chicago: Society of American Archivists, 1989), 5.1B.
7. AACR2R requires that all bibliographic records have one main entry. When one or more individuals or corporate bodies create a work, the main entry is the individual or corporate body listed first. The other creators become added entries. (AACR2R 21.1.A.2 and 21.1.B2) The main entry concept, therefore, privileges one entity over another, and may not reflect the reality of how archival records may be created. MARC and APPM follow this practice. The main entry in the bibliographic record can be subject to similar criticism as basing authority records on a single name. Both do not always support an accurate, comprehensive understanding of the circumstances of an item's or a collection's creation. Many entities may be responsible for a body of archival materials, but only one gets a main entry. This point, however, is beyond the scope of this article. Nevertheless, it is important to note that Describing Archives: A Content Standard (Chicago: Society of American Archivists, 2004) has diverged from the single main entry model and allows the assignment of multiple creator access points to the description of an archival collection. (DACS 2.6, 9.4)
8. For example, see David A. Bearman and Richard H. Lytle, "The Power of the Principle of Provenance" Archivaria 21 (Winter 1985-1986): 14-27
9. and Richard V. Szary, "Expanding the Role of Authority Files in the Archival Context," Paper presented at the Society of American Archivists Annual Meeting (Austin, Tex.: Nov. 1, 1985) (available at http://www.library.yale.edu/-rszary/Authority/expand.html).
10. The MARC authority format became widely available in 1981. Undergoing many revisions since then, the 2005 version of the MARC 21 Concise Format for Authority Data is available at http://www.loc.gov/marc/ authority/.
11. The Name Authority Cooperative was established in 1976 and is hosted by the Library of Congress. About 400 institutions around the world participate in contributing, maintaining, and using authority records.
12. International Council on Archives, "International Standard Archival Authority Record for Corporate Bodies, Persons and Families" (Ottawa: Secretariat of the ICA Ad Hoc Commission on Descriptive Standards, 1996): http://www.ica.org/biblio/eds/isaar_eng.pdf.
13. ISAAR(CPF), 1.7.
14. Rules for Archival Description (Ottawa, Bureau of Canadian Archivists, 1990-).
15. ISAAR(CPF), 1.4-1.7; 2.1.2.
16. Ibid., p. 4.
17. Jean A. Thompson, "What's in a Name: Beyond Webster's Biographical Dictionary, Part Two: Corporate Names" Key Words 6, no. 4 (July-Aug. 1998): 6-9.
18. Robert H. Burger, Authority Work: The Creation, Use, Maintenance, and Evaluation of Authority Records and Files (Littleton, Colo.: Libraries Unlimited, 1985): 17.
19. Bristol Voss, "You Might Know Him by His Indian Name: Used to Smoke Peace Pipe, Wear Fur, and Hunt Buffalo," The Journal of Business Strategy 14, no. 4 (July/Aug. 1993): 5
20. Simon Brooke, "Pitfalls of Rebranding," [London] Financial Times (Oct. 3, 2002): 15
21. Kenneth Bredemeier, "U.S. Companies Are Changing Their Names in Record Numbers, and It's Not as Easy as It Sounds," The Washington Post (Feb. 11, 2001): H1.
22. Chris Valley and Glenda Morgan-Jackson, "Just the Right Name: How One Nonprofit Solved an Identity Crisis," Nonprofit World 11, no. 1 (Jan./Feb. 1993): 20-24
23. R.G. Edmondson, "What's in a Name? Plenty," Credit Union News 12, no. 16 (Aug. 13, 1992): 2
24. "Corporations Still Playing the Name Game," Pantagraph (Dec. 26, 1995): C.1
25. Bruce Horovitz, "What's in a Name? Company Survival," USA Today (Sep. 29, 1997): 12.B.
26. IFLA Section on Cataloguing, Working Group on the Revision of FSCH, "Structures of Corporate Name Headings: Final Report" (Nov. 2000): available at http://www.ifla.org/VII/s13/scatn/final2000.htm.
27. The Getty's Union List of Artist Names (ULAN) implements this. ULAN includes multiple forms of names for an artist, including names in inverted order, natural order, married names, variant spellings, variations in different languages, nicknames, pseudonyms, and other appellations. Sources are provided for each form of the name. All forms of the name are used for searching and display; however, one name is designated as the preferred term and is used as the default for certain types of display. This preferred name generally is an inverted form of the name that is used most commonly in publications. ULAN is available at available at http://www.getty.edu/research/conducting_research/ vocabularies/ulan/.
28. See Barbara Tillett, "Authority Control: State of the Art and New Perspectives," Cataloging & Classification Quarterly 38, nos. 3/4 (2004): 8.
29. Glenn E. Patton, "FRAR: Extending FRBR Concepts to Authority Data," Paper presented at the IFLA General Conference and Council in Oslo, Norway (May 2005): http://www.ifla.org/IV/ifla71/papers/ 014e-Patton.pdf.
30. Ibid.
31. Barbara Tillett, "Authority Control," also suggests some options for using a standard number to identify entities uniquely. (p. 30)
32. Ad Hoc EAC Working Group, "Encoded Archival Context: Beta" (Nov. 2004): Available at http://www.iath.virginia.edu/eac/.
33. Toronto Tenets: Principles and Criteria for a Model for Archival Context Information" (Mar. 2001): http://www.library.yale.edu/eac/ torontotenets.htm.
34. Ibid.
35. Daniel V. Pitti, "Creator Description: Encoded Archival Content" Cataloging & Classification Quarterly 38, nos. 3/4 (2004): 209-210.
36. ISAAR(CPF)2, 1.8.
37. Ibid., 5.1.2.
38. Describing Archives: A Content Standard (Chicago: Society of American Archivists, 2004).
39. DACS is not prescriptive in its recommendations for authority records, "because of the variety of ways in which the data might be stored and used" (105). It does provide a way to include ISAAR(CPF) elements for describing entities in the more general narrative fields of a MARC authority record. That is, for an authority record it recommends describing an entity according to the rules outlined in Chapter 10, which includes many ISAAR(CPF) elements such as description of the function, mandate, and administrative structure of a corporate body. The example in Chapter 11 shows a variety of this information in one narrative note, such as might be required in a MARC authority record. It is doubtful whether NACO would accept such a verbose record, however.
40. DACS, 117.
41. Ibid., 2.6; 9.4.
42. Ibid., 14. 1C1.
43. Compare to AACR2R 24. 1C1, which states: "If the name of a corporate body has changed (including change from one language to another), establish a new heading under the new name for items appearing under that name. Refer from the old heading to the new and from the new heading to the old (see 26.3C). Pennsylvania State University The name of the Farmers' High School was changed in 1862 to Agricultural College of Pennsylvania; in 1874 to Pennsylvania State College; in 1953 to Pennsylvania State University. Works by this body are entered under the name used at the time of publication."
44. APPM, 2.1B3.
45. DACS, 2.3.17.
46. The applicable variant name probably could be used in the title, however.
47. The distinction is not overt. Compare the terminology in 2.3.17, 11.15, 11.17, and 14.1C1 DACS does not provide criteria for determining when a name change represents a variant or a new entity.
48. See the appendix for an example of how this model might be applied in EAC.
49. In AACR2R and DACS, personal names may be qualified by birth and death dates in order to distinguish one similar name from another, but corporate bodies may not be qualified according to the dates of their existence. Following ISAAR(CPF)2, I also think it would be useful to allow such qualifications to be used for corporate bodies.
50. National Archives and Records Administration, Lifecycle Standards Guide (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Adiministration, 2005): Iii-iv; available at http://www.archives.gov/ research/arc/lifecycle-data-requirements.doc
51. National Council on Archives, "Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names" (London: National Council on Archives, 1997): Available at http://www.neaonline.org.uk/materials/ rulesfortheconstructionofpersonalplaceandeorporatenames.pdf. Its take on corporate change for authority records is different. Rule 4.2.3A states, "When a corporate body changes its name, establish a new authorised form for the new name."
52. Ibid., 4.10.2.
53. Ibid., 4.10.4.
54. Chris Hurley, "Hurley's Common Practice Rules for the Documentation of Provenance: Corporations, Natural Persons, Activities, Roles" (Monash University: Records Continuum ReseaAch Group, 2001): available at http://www.sims.monash.edu.au/research/rorg/publications/ hcprdep200101.htm.
55. Ibid., P 1.2.2.
56. Ibid., P 1.2.5.
57. He adds that "Rules for establishing whether changes to a corporation involve a change in identity may be added in a later version." P 1.2.3.
58. Ibid., P 1.2.3.
59. Ibid.
60. Ibid., P 1.2.5.
61. Describing Archives in Context: A Guide to Australian Practice (Australian Society of Archivists, 2006), the most recent guide to archival description for Australian archivists, does not provide guidance for determining when an organization or agency has undergone enough change to be defined as a new organization or agency. Description of an agency includes a name as well as other identifying characteristics, such as dates of establishment and abolishment. Standards for the content of this description, as well as the guidelines for determining when an organization or agency has changed sufficiently to be considered a new organization or agency, are left up to practicing institutions.
62. See Barbara B. Tillett's summary of the alternative ideas of Seymour Lubetzky, Ritvars Bregzis, and Michael Gorman in "Authority Control," 24-25.
63. Hans-Jörg Lieder, "LEAF in a Nutshell," LEAF Newsletter 1 (March 2002): Available at http://www.crxnet.com/leaf/news_online.html.
64. Ibid.