Quality Control of Chinese Monographic Records: A Case Study

Transcription

1 Journal of East Asian Libraries Volume 1998 Number 116 Article Quality Control of Chinese Monographic Records: A Case Study Fung-yin K. Simpson Follow this and additional works at: BYU ScholarsArchive Citation Simpson, Fung-yin K. (1998) "Quality Control of Chinese Monographic Records: A Case Study," Journal of East Asian Libraries: Vol : No. 116, Article 6. Available at: This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the All Journals at BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in Journal of East Asian Libraries by an authorized editor of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact scholarsarchive@byu.edu, ellen_amatangelo@byu.edu.

2 QUALITY CONTROL CHINESE monographic RECORDS CASE STUDY fung yin K simpson university illinois purpose study east asian cataloging productivity U benefitted RLIN RUN CJK OCLC CJK systems since 1980s recently developed information many developments technology windows online environment concept resource sharing cataloging between RLIN RUN CJK OCLC CJK resulted great efficiency CJK cataloging these developments what current state chinese cataloging records order answer question study first reviews recent developments cataloging chinese materials I1 then go explore quality chinese monographic records checking critical errors affect retrieval comparing error rates among cataloging records various sources library congress LC LC adapted records done institutions LC copy OCLC member institutions member OCLC tape loaded RLIN RUN member institutions member RLIN recent developments chinese cataloging developments information technology 1980s RLG later OCLC developed CJK chinese japanese korean systems allowed catalogers display input CJK scripts bibliographic databases 1990s resource sharing established between RLG OCLC allow CJK records exchanged moreover both RLG OCLC seeking international cooperation augment bibliographic databases expand functionalities searching inputting displaying CJK records two examples accomplishments suffice RLG incorporated five libraries china arid arld thirteen RLG member libraries create international union catalog chinese rare books imprint years range OCLC tape loaded nearly japanese records waseda baseda university information network WINE database december both RLG OCLC developed continuing technical improvements systems OCLC CJK plus system introduced may 1993 windows features development made much easier easler edit CJK bibliographic records using copy paste functions another convenience availability multiple screens rip flip through several bibliographic records november 1994 CJK plus system migrated PRISM service searching capability expanded include phrase search boolean combined keyword searches useful searches program pinyin pincin wade giles romanization conversion well record validation became available stage 1995 RLG released 31

3 software compatible windows following year inputting zn methods CJK characters expanded include pinyin pincin wade giles romanizations alongz 7 character components inputting method 3 above functionalities advanced CJK cataloging user friendly technologically advanced cataloging environment resource sharing CJK cataloging RLG OCLC tape loaded each others member librarys CJK monographic records since november 1989 however editing needed clean tape loaded records order meet inputting standards each systems example involves use word division aggregation RLIN CJK special symbol called aggregator used tojoin individual chinese characters together form semantic unit tape loaded chinese records OCLC do aggregators aggregatory required RLG hand vemacular vernacular punctuation spaces RLIN acceptable OCLC furthermore tape loaded records both databases usually lack call numbers 4 OCLC member libraries enhancing tape loaded records appropriate call numbers since december 1993 OCLC tried retain call number RLINCJK records tape loaded OCLC database part selected RLG membersrecords records implemented initially number records lacking call number among tape loaded records decreasing constant editing extra space proper punctuation still required LC copy cataloging fall 1993 library congress started treat copy cataloging standard activity order increase cataloging output reduce arrearage external source records bibliographic utilities OCLC RLIN sources adapted purpose records done copy cataloging identified lc Iccopycat 042 field 5 these records examined reexamined approved LC development should increase accuracy records databases methodology although small case study done local institution statistical analysis should provide important observations concerning quality control chinese bibliographic records data consisted 380 chinese monographic records selected OCLCs worldcat WorldCat OCLC online union catalog processed between october 1995 february 1996 asian library university illinois urbana champaign monographic records processed during period considered although random sample cataloging record OCLC database reasonable assume records processed during period typical rather exceptional advantage approach each item physically available verification along matching bibliographic record 32

4 order limit scope current publications avoid retrospectively converted records reprinted titles titles published before 1987 excluded bibliographic records entered before 1990 selected titles included 31 titles published late 80s 349 titles published each bibliographic record following fields examined date entered worldcat WorldCat imprint date presence LC classification number presence LC subject headings cataloging institutions these fields well numbers errors entered microsoft EXCEL spread sheet table I1 shows 10 records illustrate structure data data spread sheet exported SASJMP statistical analysis TABLE I1 LIST ELEMENTS bibliographic RECORDS record E yr pyr P yr LCCN LCSH institution error y y member y y lc copy y y lc y y member y y member y y member y y lc copy y fiction mriln rlin alin y fiction member y y mriln rlin alin 1 completeness bibliographic records addition checking existence LC classification number LC subject headings error counts constructed checking crucial errors likely affect retrieval record examples include mis romanization tag code errors incomplete omitted fields correlation between error rates cataloging institutions determined compared results analysis among 380 sampled records 89 records cataloged LC records cataloged through LC copy records cataloged OCLC member institutions records cataloged RLG member institutions tape loaded OCLC see table 2 percentage distribution study suggests LC contributed 211 roughly quarter chinese records remaining three quarters contributed member institutions either OCLC RLG 33

5 percentage TABLE 2 cataloging institution institutions number LC LC copy member OCLC mem RLIN tape loaded total completeness chinese records provision oflc ofle LC classification numbers LC subject headings adding parallel chinese scripts core fields three basic criteria evaluate completeness chinese records these 380 records 43 records lacked LC classification numbers among them 16 records without LC classification numbers result inappropriate tape loading see table 3 six records did assign LC subject headings excluding fiction literary works six romanization records lacked parallel chinese scripts required standard CJK cataloging study approximately chinese bibliographic records incomplete respect basic requirements CJK bibliographic records almost these incomplete records provided member institutions except LC minimal level levei level 7 record without LC classification number TABLE 3 LC classification NUMBER institution yes total LC LC copy member OCLC mem RLIN tape loaded total

6 error counts error rates addition completeness bibliographic records error rate another vital measurement quality control bibliographic record each record carefully investigated fixed fields variable fields checking elements based requirements program cooperative cataloging PCC non roman core records 6 common errors categorized fivemajor groups code errors rule errors misspelling ISBN errors additions additional entries see table 4 TABLE 4 LIST ERRORS FIELDS field name code err rule err misspell ISBD err additions TOTAL fixenc 4 4 fixcont 4 4 hyill hxill fixill 9 9 fixdates fixothers isbn x fix dates x 2 2 lxxrom lxxver Rom rom 245 Ver ver 246fi 250rom 246ti Rom Ver ver 260 Rom rom 260ver Ver xx axx xx&8xxr xx&8xxv axx 5xx xx axx xxrom xxver TOTAL

7 code errors incorrect omitted MARC coding tags indicators subfield codes failure encode fixed field required bibliographic input standards counted additions tape loaded records LC classification number retained enhanced encoded level remained L less full then did count code error contraventions ofaacr2 LC rule interpretations LCRIs categorized rule errors incompletemissing Incomplete missing transcription title publication information treated rule errors contradictions LC authority file name entries counted category addition regular english typographical misspelling errors several types misspelling errors chinese records mis romanization incorrect wade giles romanization letters diacritical symbols improper use omission hyphens personal geographic names wrong chinese characters vernacular fields extra spaces between romanized womanized words vernacular words counted ISBN errors due different cataloging standards ofoclc OCLC RLG tape loaded recordsfrom RLG RLO accordance OCLC requirements CJK chinese japanese korean cataloging unnecessary spaces word separations frequently appear records situation occurred many LC records cataloged through RLIN frequent error occurrences table 4 seen field 245 title statement field 260 imprint information high error rates finding similar lei zengs bengs research both OCLC RLIN samples 7 however zeng indicated inadequate ISBN punctuation spacing missing entry inadequate space editing three frequent errors followed misspelling romanized womanized words 7 according study misspelling womanized romanized fields frequent error followed rule errors then ISBN errors both fields since 1994 OCLC CJK system implemented PRISM environment problem improper spacing drastically reduced full record basis editing tagging errors detected corrected through record validation therefore inadequate spacing problems mentioned zengs bengs research reduced significantly years current study misspelling romanized womanized fields frequent error justified controversy unpopularity chinese romanization system even native speaker take time learn leam how romanize accurately enough search database 8 inaccurate chinese characters rarely occurred regularly used characters cannot found OCLC CJK character input codes rule errors fields consist mostly improper missing transcription title information inconsistency between romanized womanized vernacular fields zeng pointed same error occurrences study common complex description chinese title page various forms title headings authorship publication information colophon page often states publisher well distributor long official title names furthermore required parallel fields roman vernacular apparently exhausted patience chinese catalogers missing entries inconsistency common apparently due human error while inputting record rather unfamiliarity aacr2 LCRIs 36

8 another common rule error name entry conflict LC authority entry fields ixx lxx lax 6xx axx 7xx axx many CJK personal names share same romanizations CJK authors often use various forms headings publications however LCs authority file provides roman form CJK personal names cannot effectively distinguish name another 9 consequently often confused catalogers particular chinese personal names name entries records added types ofromanization adjust need patrons necessary catal ogers choices name entries romanization conflict LCs authority entries these should added locally kinds errors critical affect nonetheless affect retrieval particular additional name entries subject entries important I1 mentioned earlier six 380 records lacked subject headings excluding fiction literary works however catalogers should take care note subject headings provided order convey complex subject matter provide added name entries indicate authorship editorship important record ISBN known accurately ISBN important key elements searching foreign publications databases case searcher familiar language system romanization used database error rates among cataloging institutions 430 errors identified descriptive parts 374 records six records romanization lack parallel chinese fields counted maximum 10 errors each yere 490 errors 380 records descriptive cataloging mean error rate per record compared among cataloging institutions LC smallest error rate followed LCs copy cataloging olg errors OCLC olg errors tape loaded records RLIN errors see table 5 addition above errors descriptive cataloging subject headings 43 records lacking LC classification numbers 26 OCLC records 16 tape loaded records LC minimal level level 7 record consequently mean error per record LC still maintained least error rate OCLC errors tape loaded records errors per record order test significance difference between means tukey kramer honestly significant difference HSD method used overall significance level 5 10 tukey kramer analysis shows member library error rates OCLC tape loaded significantly higher LC rates original copy cataloging 37

9 ERROR RATE TABLE 5 cataloging institutions institution number mean std itd error LC LC copy member OCLC mem RLIN tape loaded mean error rate per record member institutions result does indicate RLIN records fewer errors OCLC required input standards composed members these two cataloging utilities different six romanized womanized records included study cataloged OCLC member institutions may CJK workstations available cataloging needs tape loaded records RLIN OCLC preselected RLIN member libraries least case instance counting records paired chinese scripts excluding six romanized womanized record OCLC mean errors descriptive cataloging very close error rate tape loaded records conclusions baseline study done leazer rohdy 1993 showed LC produced bibliographic records domestic publications records great britain 382 records foreign publications11 study publications 38.2 chinese bibliographic records cataloged LC maintains high accuracy errors per record member institutions cataloged 75 chinese monographs database resource sharing CJK cataloging exchanging bibliographic records between OCLC RLIN expanded both databases increased availability CJK bibliographic records timely manner member institutions foreseeable future OCLC RLIN likely convert foreign MARC records cataloging databases conversions doubt provide timely access foreign bibliographic resources north america benefit collection development reference catalogers may spend time enhance these records order maintain high quality control databases complexity chinese records difficult maintain quality control above study error rates shows frequent type error errors see table 4 mis romanization various fields widely recognized romanization cannot properly differentiate thousands unique chinese characters effectively however nonetheless remains common method integrate chinese records unified online catalog environment north america currently online public access catalogs academic libraries do CJK displays regardless flaws romanization system access 38

10 currently use should therefore standardized should clear guidelines catalogers library patrons follow second common category errors rule errors made errors 251 calculated study see table 4 incomplete omitted transcriptions entries frequent errors type compared regular english bibliographic records chinese bibliographic record require lengthy complex process create parallel fields romanization chinese scripts important apply concept simplification cataloging chinese materials especially field 245 field 260 even crucial comprehensive CJK cataloging manual incorporates rules special guidance CJK catalogers follow present aacr2 workbook east asian publications published needs revised adhere current rule changes current cataloging envirom environment nent least moreresearch research should conducted bibliographic control CJK materials complicated cataloging issues addressed standardization cataloging achieved NOTES 1 five year RLG chinese rare books project successfully completed dec 1996 RLIN focus 2 japanese records waseda baseda university added OLUC janfeb Jan Feb 1996 OCLC newsletter 3 RLIN terminal windows version 3 june 1996 rl17vfocus RLIN 202 asya 1994 quality timeliness chinese japanese monographic 4 tsao jai hsya reocrds RLIN database library resources & technical services LC expands copy cataloging Z program 1993 cataloging service bulletin cooperative cataloging council non roman core record task group final report zeng lei 1993 quality control chinese language records using rule based data validation system part 1 evaluation quality chinese language records OCLC OLUC database cataloging 0 classification quarterly mccloy william brokaw 1993 cataloging chinese legal materials cataloging & classification quarterly yu abraham J 1995 enhancement linkage online name authority file bibliographic database committee east asian libraries bulletin east4sian 10 sail sall sali john ann lehman JMP start statistics guide statistics data analysis 39

11 using JMP JMP insoftware software belmont duxbury press leazer gregory H margaret rohdy 1994 bibliographic control foreign monographs review baseline study library resources & technical services association asian studies committee east asian libraries subcommittee technical processing AACR 2 mork Work workbookfor east asian publications madison university wisconsin madison libraries