Like in other domains it is sometimes the case with writers that different persons have the same name (e.g. Alexandre Dumas) or the name of the same person appears in different forms on different publications (Jaan Kross — Jāns Kross).
For clear distinguishing between persons (authors, illustrators, translators, etc.) and for assembling different name variants, the online catalogues of libraries use authority records of personal names. In the authority record, all publications related to the person are linked with one preferred spelling of their name while parallel name spellings are saved as name variants. If a person’s name changes, the preferred name is changed also in the authority record. To distinguish between persons with the same name, the authority record contains various additional information (birth and death date, field of activity, etc.).
Persons in MARC21XML format:
Persons (.zip)
OAI-PMH
For clear distinguishing between persons (authors, illustrators, translators, etc.) and for assembling different name variants, the online catalogues of libraries use authority records of personal names. In the authority record, all publications related to the person are linked with one preferred spelling of their name while parallel name spellings are saved as name variants. If a person’s name changes, the preferred name is changed also in the authority record. To distinguish between persons with the same name, the authority record contains various additional information (birth and death date, field of activity, etc.).
Persons in MARC21XML format:
In the online catalogues of libraries, collectives denote institutions and organisations, but also orchestras, exhibitions, conferences, ships, etc.
Like in the case of persons, it is also necessary to clearly distinguish between collectives bearing the same name (theatre Estonia vs ferry Estonia), different variants of the same name (NATO vs North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) or present and previous name variants (previous names of the present Estonian Centre for Standardisation and Accreditation (as of 2021) – Estonian Standards Board (1990-2000), Estonian Centre for Standardisation (2000-2020)). Unlike with the authority records of personal names, a collective gets a new authority record if its name changes. The authority record with the previous name is also preserved.
Collectives in MARC21XML format:
Collectives (.zip)
OAI-PMH
Like in the case of persons, it is also necessary to clearly distinguish between collectives bearing the same name (theatre Estonia vs ferry Estonia), different variants of the same name (NATO vs North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) or present and previous name variants (previous names of the present Estonian Centre for Standardisation and Accreditation (as of 2021) – Estonian Standards Board (1990-2000), Estonian Centre for Standardisation (2000-2020)). Unlike with the authority records of personal names, a collective gets a new authority record if its name changes. The authority record with the previous name is also preserved.
Collectives in MARC21XML format: