Authority Control: Creating Headings for Corporate Bodies

Original Lecture Video

Basic Rule

• Enter a corporate body directly under the name by which it is commonly identified, except when required to enter under the name of a higher or related bosy, or under the name of a government
• IE: personnel department of a business; many businesses have such a department so invoke the higher name

Order of preference for corporate body names

• Name is determined by consulting the following sources (in order of preference): name that appears most frequently in published items issued by the body IF ANY; name that appears most frequently in reference sources; the name that appears most frequently in corporate body's records; the name that appears in administrative records relating to the acquisition of the materials being determing; name that appears in other archival records

Punctuation and changes of names

• Delete any punctuations, like periods – Use IBM not I.B.M.
• Changes of name: if the name of a corporate body has changed, establish a new heading under the new name for material appearing under that name; make a “see also” reference from the old heading to the new and from the new heading to the old (this goes back to respect de fond)

Variant Names, additions, and omissions

• Variant names – use form of name found in the records according to the following order of preference: records legally establishing the crporate body; records of administrative regulations (e.g. by laws); other records of policy (e.g. minutes)
• Additions – add qualifiers for names not conveying the idea of a corporate body of to differentiate between similarly-named entities
• Omissions – omit initial articles, terms including incorporation, and abbreviations

Governments and conferences as corporate bodies

• Governments – use the conventional name of the government (e.g. Pennsylvania not Commonwealth of Pennsylvania); differentiate among governments that have the same names using qualifiers
• Conferences and Meetings – use the specific name unless there is a corporate body to which the meeting is subordinate; omit locations, numbers, frequencies, or years of convocation (this info. Will be used as qualifiers in a specific order) (SEE chapter 14)

Subordinate bodies rule

• Subordinate bodies – DACS 12.12.13) – enter a subordinate body directly under its own name unless its name belongs to one or more of the following types (see DACS); make a cross-reference from the non=preferred to preferred form of the name
• Type I: a name containing a term that by definition implies that the body is part of another (e.g. department)
• Type II: a name containing a word that normally implied administrative subordination (e.g. committee)
• Type III: a name that is general in nature or that does no more than indicate a geographic, chronological, or numbered or lettered subdivision of a parent body (e.g. research institute)
• Type IV: name that does not convey the idea of a corporate body
• Type V: name of a university faculty, school, college, institute, laboratory, ec, that simply indicates a particular field of study, interest, or activity
• Type VI: name that includes the entire name of the higher or related body (e.g. Yale University Library)
• Kent State University. School of Library and Information Science. Admissions Committee

Direct v Indirect subheading (12.14)

• If corporate body fits one+ types, enter as a subheading of the lowest element in the hierarchy that is entered under its own name
• Sometimes we can eliminate certain levels of the hierarchy
• DACS p179 and 180

Government agencies entered subordinately

• Enter a gov. agency subordinately to the name of the government if it belongs to one or more of the following types:
• Types 1: agency with a name containing a term that, by definition, implates that the corporate body is part of another
• Types 2: agency contains a word that normally implies administrative subordination in the terminology of the government concerned
• Type 3: agency with a name that is general in nature or that does no more than indicate a geographic, chronological, numbered, or lettered subdivision of the government or of one of its agencies entered subordinately
• Type 4: agency with a name that does not convey the idea of a corporate body and does not contain th name of the governments
• Type 5: agency that is a ministry or similar major executive agency as defined by official publications of the government in question
• Type 6: Legislative body
• Type 7: A Court
• Type 8: a principal service of the armed forces of a governments
• Type 9: a head of state or head of governments
• Type 10: an embassy, consultate, etc
• Type 11: A delegation to an international or intergovernmental body

Enter all agencies belonging to the above types as a direct subheading of the heading for the government unless eliminating levels of hierarchy would confuse it with another agency

Special rules for Government Agencies

• government officials (14.20)
• Legislative bodies (14.21)
• Constitutional conventions (14.22)
• Courts (14.23)
• Armed forces (14.24)
• Religious bodies and officials (14.27)