Skip to main content
ExLibris
  • Subscribe by RSS
  • Ex Libris Knowledge Center

    Using the Authority Control Task List

    Translatable
    To use the Authority Control Task List, you must have one of the following roles:
    • Cataloger
    • Catalog Manager
    • Catalog Administrator

    The Authority Control Task List provides more details regarding authority record updates and the authority control process that are relevant to the institution's bibliographic record headings.

    For more information, see Authority Control Rules.

    When activating the Preferred Term Correction rules in the Authority Control Rules configuration, the report will display two additional columns for "BIB Heading Before" and "BIB Heading After".

    The Authority Control Task List makes it easier to manage cataloging maintenance tasks. Specifically, this list highlights authority headings updates that require manual intervention.
    Authority Control Task List.png

    List of Changes in the Authority Control Task List

    The following is a list of changes highlighted in the Authority Control Task List, some of which may require manual intervention due to a linking issue, a preferred-term-correction issue, or deleted/updated authority record:
    • Linking – Bibliographic heading found no matching authority heading
    • Linking – Bibliographic heading found multiple matching authority headings (ambiguous). This issue may occur as a result of times, for example, when the Library of Congress splits one subject heading into two subject headings such as Nurses and nursing is split and replaced with Nurses and Nursing. It may also occur when the system finds a Community Zone authority record and a local authority record match.
    • Linking – Bibliographic heading linked to an authority record
    • Linking – Bibliographic heading link changed due to a new authority record replacing an existing authority record (redirection). This is for institutions configured for ID-based authority control and that have implemented a Direct ID Prefix in their metadata configuration.
    • Preferred term correction – Bibliographic heading updated
    • Preferred term correction – Multiple matching AUT headings with same Originating System ID (ambiguous)
    • Preferred term correction – Bibliographic heading found no authorized term
    • Authority record deleted – Unlinked the bibliographic heading
    • Authority record updated
    For more information related to preferred term correction, see add_punctuation_for_heading for punctuation configuration options.
    For a complete list of report types/changes, see Viewing Tasks.

    Working with the Authority Control Task List 

    On the Authority Control Task List page, you can choose to view the tasks from the Review tab or the All tab:
    • Review tab - Displays changes to the institution records and changes that the library may want to take action on
    • All tab - Displays all changes for general information.
    The lists on the Review tab and All tab can be filtered using the options below. Page facet and filter values are persistent per session.

    Facets:

    • Vocabulary – Use this option to view records for a specific vocabulary when more than one is available.
    • Field – Use this option to view records that contain a specific field.
    For more information, see the Authority Control Task List: Filter Out Community Zone Records video (0:52 min.).

    Filters:

    • Report Type (see Viewing Tasks for more information)
    • Linked Inventory Type
      • All
      • Physical
      • Digital
      • Electronic
      • No Inventory
    • Submit Date Range - The authority control tasks are kept only for the most recent 6 months. Thus, filtering by Date Range is limited to the last 6 months.
    • Brief Level – Use this option to view records for a specific brief level. This can be configured to appear as an additional column of information in your Authority Control Task List.
    • Suppressed from Discovery – Use this option to view only the records that are suppressed from discovery (Yes) or to view only the records that are not suppressed from discovery (No).
    • Linked to Community Zone – Use this option to view only the records linked to the Community Zone (Yes) or to view only the records that are not linked to the Community Zone (No)

    For more information, see the Filter the Authority Control Task List video (1:00 min.)

    For successfully linked headings, use the Other Settings configuration parameter authority_control_link_available to indicate if you want to view this information in the All tab of the Authority Control Task List page. See Configuring Other Settings for more information.
    For more information, see the Authority Control Task List video (1:37 min.).
    You may find it helpful to use the MMS Creation Date index in the Authorities Advanced Search when working with authority records in the Authority Control Task List. For example, using this search index, you can view a list of new authority records that have been loaded. See Using Advanced Search for more information.

    For consortium members in a Network Zone, the Authority Control Task List reflects the linking and PTC done for local member records only. The information about Network Zone records exists only in the Network-Zone Authority Control Task List.

    Viewing Tasks

    Use the following procedure to view tasks in the Authority Control Task List.
    To view tasks in the Authority Control Task List:
    1. Open the Authority Control Task List page.
    2. Select the Review or All tab.
    3. Filter by Report Type, Linked Inventory Type, or Submit Date Range to view the tasks upon which you want to focus.
      The following report type options appear on the Review tab:
      Report Type Filtering Options – Review Tab
      Report Type Description
      AUT record deleted - Unlinked BIB heading This option references authority records that have been deleted and manual handling may be needed.
      GND – AUT record partial redirection When the LDR/05 = c and the 682 $$i = "Aufspaltung-mit-Teilumlenkung" in the authority record, this indicates that an authority record has split. The bibliographic headings that are linked to the authority record require manual handling to decide which one should stay linked and which one should be linked to another authority record. The Authority Control Task List reports each bibliographic headings record linked to the authority record that is updated. Refer to the AUT Originating System ID column for the originating system ID of the updated authority record.
      GND – AUT record to be deleted When the LDR/05 = c and the 682 $i = "Loeschung" in the authority record, this indicates an authority record is about to be deleted in GND. The Authority Control Task List reports each bibliographic heading linked to the authority record to be deleted. Refer to the AUT Originating System ID column for the originating system ID of the updated authority record.
      Linking – BIB heading found multiple matching AUT headings (ambiguous) This option references attempts to find a link between a heading in the bibliographic record and an authority headings record. In some cases, multiple matches are found. You need to review the possible matches to decide which is the correct one.
      Linking – BIB heading found no matching AUT headings This option references attempts to find a link between a heading in the bibliographic record and an authority headings record. When no matching authority headings record is found, you may want to review the information in the bibliographic record.

      Linking – BIB heading link change due to AUT record redirection

      This option references bibliographic record link changes that are caused by authority record redirection changes.

      This is for institutions configured for ID-based authority control and that have implemented a Direct ID Prefix in their metadata configuration. See the Updating the Authority Record ID Automatically in Bibliographic Records section for more information.

      Linking - BIB heading was re-linked to an AUT record with higher priority

      This option references bibliographic record linking changes that are caused by authority priority relinking. See Linking Process with the Authorities - Link BIB Headings Job for Authority Priorities for more information.

      Preferred Term Correction – BIB heading found no authorized term This option references updates to the bibliographic record with the value of the preferred term of the linked authority record. When the linked authority record does not have a preferred term matching the nonpreferred term (such as when the nonpreferred term is registered in the 410 field and the preferred term is in the 100 field), the bibliographic record is not updated.

      Preferred term correction – Multiple matching AUT headings with same Originating System ID (ambiguous)

      This option references cases where more than one authority record with the same Originating System ID was found.

      Preferred Term Correction – Multiple preferred terms with the same language found. See Subfield 9 with the Same Language Code and Working with Multilingual Authority Records.

      Preferred Term Correction – No correction was done for fields with alternate graphic representation linked to non-multilingual authority record

      This report type identifies fields with alternate graphic representations that are not corrected in the Authorities - Preferred Term Correction job because the normal field and its corresponding 880 field are both linked to the same non-multilingual authority record. The Authorities - Preferred Term Correction job handles these cases in this manner to prevent preferred-term correction where both the normal field and its corresponding 880 field have the same value after the correction. 

      For the 880 field to be linked to an authority record, the 880 needs to be configured as an access point. See Working with the 880 Field Implemented as an Access Point for more information.

      All the report type options above also appear on the All tab. In addition to these, the All tab contains the report types described in the table below.
      Report Type Filtering Options – All Tab
      Report Type Description

      AUT record updated

      For this option, Alma shows information on the updated authority record.

      The task list shows entries only for updated authority records that were linked to a bibliographic headings record in the institution. It does not show entries for authority records that were updated but were not linked to a bibliographic headings record in the institution.

      Linking – BIB heading link change due to AUT record redirection

      This report type provides the details regarding changes made to bibliographic records when new authority records replace existing authority records due to redirection.

      With this report type, there is a Comments column (on the All tab, not the Review tab) that provides the following information:

      • Old authority record ID pulled from the authority record's 035 $z
      • New authority record ID pulled from the authority record's 035 $a

      This is for institutions configured for ID-based authority control and that have implemented a Direct ID Prefix in their metadata configuration. See the Updating the Authority Record ID Automatically in Bibliographic Records section for more information.

      Linking – BIB heading linked to AUT record This options references attempts to find a link between a heading in the bibliographic record and an authority headings record. When a link is formed between a bibliographic heading and an authority record, an entry is created in the task list to show the information of the linked headings.

      Preferred Term Correction – BIB heading updated

      This option references updates to the bibliographic record with the value of the preferred term of the linked authority record. When this update is successful, the entry shows the value of the bibliographic record before and after the change.

      When an authority record is deleted, it is unlinked from the bibliographic headings it used to match. An entry for each such link shows the link prior to its deletion.

      The task list shows entries only for deleted authorities that were linked to a bibliographic headings record in the institution. It does not show entries for authority records that were deleted but were not linked to a bibliographic headings record in the institution.

    4. Use the Find option to locate specific records in the list. The following columns/fields of information can be selected for your search:
      Review Tab:
      • BIB Heading
      • MMS ID
      • Title
      All Tab:
      • BIB Heading Before
      • MMS ID
      • Title
      With the Find option, the search has the following characteristics:
      • The search can be processed on records that are up to 30 days old.
      • The search can be performed on the text in the order that it appears.
      • Up to 1,000 records may be shown in the search results.
    5. Filter by Facets to view the tasks by focusing on vocabulary, field number, brief level or suppressed records.
      When using a combination of the Find, Search, and Facet features to locate specific records in the Authority Control Task List, select the facets last. Using the other options after facets have been selected will clear the selected facets.
    6. Using the Columns drop-down list to make selections, you can also choose to limit your view to certain columns.
    7. From the list of records, select a title link (from the Title column) to view a record.
      The title opens in the MARC Record Simple View page from which you can optionally select Edit to make any changes.
      While reviewing the list, sometimes you may notice that the same record (MMS ID) may be identified with two different errors. This may be caused by the system checking the Community Zone authority records and also checking local authority records for a match.
    8. When you have completed your review and/or change, select Dismiss from the row actions list to remove a task from the list. You can also dismiss multiple records by selecting the row check box in the check box column and choosing Dismiss Selected.
      If you select Dismiss All, all presented records from all tabs are dismissed.

    Editing Tasks and Process Changes

    Use the following procedure to edit tasks and process changes with the Authority Control Task List.
    To edit tasks and process changes with the Authority Control Task List:
    1. Open the Authority Control Task List page.
    2. For the task that you want to edit, select Edit from the row actions list. Optionally, to edit multiple records across multiple pages, up to 100 records, select the checkboxes for the desired tasks and choose Edit Selected above the list.
      The record is opened in the MD Editor to the field that has the issue and highlights that field with a different background color. If there are additional fields in the record with issues, they are also highlighted in a different color.
    3. Edit the record as you normally would.
      When you use F3 to view preferred/nonpreferred terms, use the Expand option to display additional details for nonpreferred terms. The additional details are highlighted in bold, and can be especially helpful when the nonpreferred terms are similar.
    4. Save your changes.
    5. When you are finished with the task(s), return to the Authority Control Task List page, and select Dismiss from the row actions list. Optionally, to dismiss multiple records across multiple pages, up to 100 records, select the row checkboxes for the desired tasks and choose Dismiss Selected.
      Select Dismiss All to dismiss all presented records from all tabs. 

    Dismissing All Tasks

    You may choose to remove all tasks that are available from the Authority Control Task List page regardless of the tab (Review tab or All tab) on which they may appear.
    When you are viewing the Review tab, Dismiss All is available as a page action.
    Select Dismiss All to remove all tasks available from the Authority Control Task List.

    Configuring Authority Control Task List Report Types

    With the Authority Control Task List Types configuration option that is located in Configuration Menu > Resources > General, you can identify the report types that you want to appear on the Review tab of the Authority Control Task List.
    Using this configuration option, the report types that you identify as disabled will be filtered from the Authority Control Task List. As a result, those report types will not appear in the Authority Control Task List and the report type you disable will not appear in the Report Type list. The default configuration is for all report types to be enabled (see below).
    Authority control list type review.png
    Authority Control Task List Types Code Table Configuration Page