Recent issues and developments in authority control for manuscripts

Abstract

The absence of shared authority files for cataloging manuscripts reflects an intrinsic complexity: a lack of homogeneity in the identification of all authorized access points. This article focuses on the analysis of authorized access points (personal names, corporate body names, family names and geographical names) present in Manus online (MOL), a database containing catalogue descriptions and digital images of manuscripts, private papers and archives held by Italian public, private and ecclesiastical libraries. In particular, personal name authority records are taken into consideration from two points of view: a quantitative (also with the help of graphs) as well as a qualitative, structural, and perspective approach. Workflow protocol, theoretical approach and practical aspects are summarized.
From a strictly operational point of view, about name authority records, the XML schema elaborated by the Text Encoding Initiative Consortium is compared with the UNIMARC/Authorities, the universal format for authorities. This comparison allows us to rethink authority and reference records in terms of international standards, also in manuscripts cataloguing. In conclusion, a look at authority files and records of digital library and international digitization projects of manuscripts worldwide: E-codices, the virtual manuscript library of Switzerland, and Biblissima: Bibliotheca bibliothecarum novissima, an observatory for Medieval and Renaissance written cultural heritage.