Thematic Indexes Used in Library of Congress NACO Authority Files

Background

At the Music Library Association Annual Meeting held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in February 2011, it was determined there was a need for a list of thematic indexes currently being used in the creation of authorized and variant access points in the Library of Congress/NACO Authority File (LC/NAF). The Bibliographic Control Committee Authorities Subcommittee was charged to complete this work.

Methodology

Members of the MLA Authorities Subcommittee began compilation of the list by consulting Appendix A of Michelle Koth’s Uniform Titles for Music (Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Press, 2008). The appendix is a compilation of composer name authority records that contain instructions in MARC21 field 667 for using thematic index numbers in authorized access points. Members of the MLA Authorities Subcommittee viewed each of these 667 fields in the LC/NAF, generating citations for the index used, the restrictions on its use, and the abbreviation or acronym used to denote the index in authorized access points. Other thematic indexes used in the LC/NAF were also identified by viewing variant name/title access points of the same composers. Where information was lacking or incomplete, members of the MLA Authorities Subcommittee also consulted Barry S. Brook and Richard Viano, Thematic Catalogues in Music: An Annotated Bibliography, 2d ed. (Stuyvesant, N.Y.: Pendragon Press, 1997) and Grove Music Online.

Using this Bibliography

Composers are listed in alphabetical order by surname. For each thematic index used the following is provided: 1) a code for use in metadata schemas (such as MARC21) that identifies the index; 2) a full bibliographic citation for the index; 3) the abbreviation exactly as it appears in conjunction with the thematic index number in the LC/NAF, followed by the Library of Congress Control Number (LCCN) for the source of the abbreviation, if approved for use in an authorized access point; 4) restrictions on its use in authorized and/or variant access points; and 5) notes providing other pertinent information. All indexes listed in this resource may be used in MARC21 field 383 $c, regardless of whether the index number may be used as an element of an authorized and/or variant access point. Note: WoO numbers are documented in thematic indexes and are therefore considered to be thematic index numbers.

Registration

This resource has been assigned the code mlati by the Library of Congress Network Development and MARC Standards Office.

Suggestions for Additions and Revisions

If you want a thematic index added to this resource, please submit the citation and any supplementary information using our suggestion form, which will be reviewed by the MLATI coordinator of the Vocabularies Subcommittee of the Cataloging and Metadata Committee. Please also use this form to suggest revisions to existing entries. For those who want to use a proposed index in an authorized access point, your request will be forwarded to the Library of Congress for consideration. Until the Library of Congress has reached a decision, the index should not be used in authorized access points. However, the index can be used in an element of variant access point or in MARC21 field 383.

Bibliography