M3 offers additional Authority Control features that help you manage the Authority Control module in an easy and efficient manner.
• Flexibility in maintaining your authority control records – You can edit, delete, and purge your authority records at any time. Any edits made to authority records are automatically reflected in the associated biblio- graphic fields. Deleting and purging authority records does not affect the associated bibliographic records in any way (except to unlink the authority record from the bibliographic record).
• Authority verification logs – Every time you perform a verification of your bibliographic records, a verification log is generated. Among other things, this log lists the number of authority records created. If you subscribe to the Library of Congress database, it lists the number of authority records downloaded. It also lists any bibliographic subject field records that were not verified.
• Automatic flipping of unestablished headings – If a bibliographic field has an unestablished heading, this heading will be flipped to the established heading during the verification process. For example, one of your bibliographic records has the unestablished heading Steven King, 1947- in MARC field 100 – Personal Name Heading. During verification, this is flipped to the established heading Stephen King, 1947-.
• Easy access to the authority table when working with bibliographic records – If you are editing or creating a new bibliographic record, you have easy access to your authority table. For example, if you are adding a new subject (MARC field 650 – Topical Term) to a bibliographic record, all your subject authority records automatically display. You can then scroll through the authority records and choose the subject you want. No typing is required.
• An Override Authority feature – If you do not want the authority records to automatically display when you are cataloging, you can disable this by selecting the Override Authority check box. This allows you to type your entries in bibliographic fields that are under Authority Control. However, this option should be used carefully because:
• You risk creating an incorrect authority record.
• You will have to verify the bibliographic record when you are finished, since your typed entry has to be added to the authority table. You will be reminded to verify the bibliographic record when saving. Until the record is verified, it will not display the MARC field 950 – Authority Control Flag.
• Find and Replace – Find and Replace is fully functional on authority records. To protect the integrity of bibliographic fields under Authority Control, the Replace function is not functional on these fields.
• Import and export of authority records – Authority records can be imported and exported with the same ease as bibliographic and patron records.
• Security for all Authority Control functions – The Cataloging Access window in Group Editor includes permissions for all Authority Control functions in Cataloging. This includes adding, editing, deleting, and purging authority records, as well as permissions for the Replace and the Unlink Biblio- graphic functions.
