Maxwell's Guide to Authority Work

"Unidentified Flying Objects," not "UFOs" or "Flying Saucers"

Authority work is the linchpin of the library catalog. As the author puts it, "Without authority control, the burden is placed on the user to think of all the possible forms a cataloger might have used to give access in the catalog to a given author or subject." If a subject is not sorted by its authorized heading, then the library and its users and staff are left without a system and ultimately the cost of an unsatisfied user. From one of the preeminent experts in the field, this is the step-by-step guide for ensuring that your library and staff are creating and maintaining authority records with the end user in mind. Comprehensive and definitive, Maxwell's Guide to Authority Work is a must-have.

In this readable text, authority work is broken down to its most basic components so that you can trace and follow the preparation of a complete authority record. Helpful illustrations identify the key characteristics of good authority records, common acronyms are defined, and cross-references throughout reinforce material. Step-by-step, you'll learn how to:

• Form and record uniform access points
• Keep thorough and accurate records
• Share information in an environment of international databases and cooperative cataloging

The authoritative tool for making certain a person, author, corporate body, organization, book, or other media is appropriately classified under its authority name, subject, and form, Maxwell's should be part of any library's toolbox.

Robert L. Maxwell is Associate Librarian of the Harold B. Lee Library at Brigham Young University, where he also serves as leader of the special collections and humanities cataloging team. He has taught cataloging in the School of information Resources and Library Science at the University of Arizona and has chaired the Bibliographic Standards Committee of the Rare Books and Manuscripts Section of the Association for College and Research Libraries (ACRL). He is co-author, with Margaret Maxwell, of the current edition of Maxwell's Handbook for AACR2R. Maxwell earned his master's of library science degree from the University of Arizona and his doctorate degree in classical languages from the University of Toronto.