Overview of Authorities Configuration Policies in Unicorn.

Below is a very brief overview of the relationship between format policies, indexes and thesauri in Unicorn. For a more extensive explanation, see the Authority Control Manual (Unicorn Documentation) or the Authority Control Workbook (available in LTT).

The AUTHORITY FORMAT configuration dictates the way the indexes and thesauri are built. The indexes serve a very internal function within Unicorn--authorization purposes while the thesauri provide X-REFERENCES in the OPAC for the user. Both the indexes and the thesauri are spin offs from the configuration of the authority formats.

The CATALOG RECORD FORMAT dictates:

1. which bib tags get indexed-Keyword and Browse indexes
2. which authority index to validate the bib. tag against (Including which subfields to drop in the validation process--"authority cascade")

This is all found in the Authority Index Variations that are setup for each tag that under authority control in each format. Here is an example from the MARC format:

Tag 110:

                  * Authority Index : LCNAME
                  * Indicator2 : ANY
 * Authority Cascade Subfields : w,?,=,4,6,c,d,e,f,g,k,l,n,p,t,u
             * Leading Article : NONE
       * Provisional Subfields : Exclude w,?,=

The AUTHORITY RECORD FORMAT dictates:

1. which index tags the 1XX, 4XX will get posted to
2. which thesauri tags the 1XX, 4XX and 5XX will get posted to

The AUTHORITY INDEXES are used for:

1. BROWSE AUTHORITY which will look into the selected index (Browse authority is a command reserved for staff use.)
2. The indexes list the 1XX,4XX from the appropriate authority formats (via the format you point to an index).
3. Validation purposes, the bib. tag in the catalog record is matched to headings in the specified index

The AUTHORITY THESAURI is used for:

1. X-REF for users
2. 1XX,4XX and 5XX headings are posted from the authority record into the OPAC for users as "see related headings for:"

The OPAC manager is where one configures which thesaurus a specific search will use. When the user executes that type of search, the thesaurus entries are integrated into the choices offered on the screen to the user. Example, doing an author browse in our catalog of: SMITHERS returns a screen that includes the following X-REF:

  
3) see related headings for: SMITHERS D W DAVID WALDRON 1908 

4) SMITHERS DAVID WALDRON 1908- [7] 

5) see related headings for: SMITHERS DAVID WALDRON SIR 1908 

 In our OPAC MANAGER, we see the following for author
 term search (NOTE the THESAURUS 1 choice):

                       * Name : AUTHOR
                 * Description : Author 
              * Element Number : 25
                  * User Level : EXTENDED PUBLIC
                 * Access Code : NONE
                      * Status : Available
                   * Icon Name : RAUTHOR
                * Instructions : Skeyauthin.dis
        * Display Instructions : NO
             * GUI Help Number : 20036
                     * Heading : TERM SEARCH CATALOG BY AUTHOR
                        * Type : Catalog Access
           * Initial Operation : Term Search
                * Presentation : Labelled Fields
                     * Label 1 : author
               * Search Icon 1 : AUTHOR2
             * Keyword Index 1 : AU
              * Browse Index 1 : AUTHOR
                 * Thesaurus 1 : AUTHORS
        * Special processing 1 : Author Processing
          * Search Statement 1 : NONE

We have only 2 authority indexes, LCSH and LCNAME(not including the LOCAL index which contains no data, and the MESH index which is addressed extensively in this report) Below each is listed the authority formats that are integrated into those indexes:

 1. LCNAME      LC Names
 2. LCSUBJECT   LC Subjects


LCSUBJECT	LCNAME		
LCCHILDSH	GEOGRAPH			
LCSH		MEETING
		PERSONAL
		TITLE

Our THESAURI configuration is as follows:

*AUTHORITY THESAURUS
    NAME        INTERNAL NAME   TYPE           SYNONYMS   
 1. NAME        NAME            Thesaurus      --
 2. SERIES      SERIES          Thesaurus      --
 3. SUBJECTS    SUBJECT         Thesaurus      --
 4. GENERAL                     Synonym List   NAME SERIES SUBJECTS
 6. LC-SUBJECT  LCSH            Thesaurus      --
 7. MESH        MESH            Thesaurus      --
 8. CHILDRENS   CHLD            Thesaurus      --
 9. OTHER-SUBJ  LOCAL           Thesaurus      --

Our GENERAL thesauri is a synonym list composed of the NAME SERIES SUBJECTS thesauri. The thesauri is used for GENERAL KEYWORD search.

*Thanks to Nella Lall of the University of Calgary for condensing much of this information.