Common authority file

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Common authority file
Logo Common Authority File (GND) .svg

founding 2012
Duration 15512769 (as of: 2019)
place Frankfurt am Main
ISIL DE-588
operator German National Library u. a.

The Common Authority File ( GND ) is an authority file for people , corporations , congresses , geographical areas , subject headings and work titles , which is mainly used for cataloging literature in libraries, but is also increasingly used by archives, museums, projects and in web applications . It is run cooperatively by the German National Library (DNB), all German-speaking library associations , the journal database (ZDB) and numerous other institutions. Authority data make cataloging easier, offer clear search access and the possibility of networking different information resources.

On April 19, 2012, the GND replaced the previously separate authority files, personal names file (PND), common corporation file (GKD), subject headings authority file (SWD) and the standard title file of the German Music Archive (DMA-EST file). Since July 2014, the authority data has been recorded according to the RDA rules, which are also used by the Library of Congress , among others .

Basics

Example of personal data (screenshot, May 2012)

The common authority file was developed between 2009 and 2012 in a joint project of the German National Library, the German-speaking library associations and the journal database. The aim of the project was to merge the previously separate authority files GKD, PND and SWD as well as the DMA-EST file. A common data format should be implemented and the existing differences in rules should be harmonized.

The creation of authority records used to be based on different sets of rules. These were the " rules for alphabetical cataloging " (RAK-WB and RAK-Musik) for formal indexing and the " rules for the subject catalog" (RSWK) for content indexing . The inconsistent rules for creating the preferred designation for the formal and content indexing led to redundant data sets in the GKD and the SWD, especially in the area of ​​corporations, congresses and geographical areas. For this reason, transitional rules have been drawn up for the GND for cases in which the rules for the indexing of form and content differ from one another, which enable the authority data records to be used jointly. As far as possible, the transitional rules already took into account the RDA ( Resource Description and Access ) regulations.

The data formats of the authority files, both the internal formats and the exchange formats, differed considerably in some cases. The exchange format of the GND is based on MARC 21 Authority. By merging all authority records in the GND, the previously existing format differences could be overcome. However, existing parallel data sets from the different authority files can only be merged over time.

In the Virtual International Authority File (VIAF) project, the GND is virtually linked with other authority files to form an international authority file.

content

scope

The common authority file contains around 8.6 million data records (as of June 2020) of the following entity types :

code Entity type Data sets
(June 2013)
(2015) (2016) (2017) (2018) (2019) (February 2020) (June 2020)
p People (individualized) 2,882,000 (no information) (no information) (no information) (no information) (no information) 5,251,171 5,350,953
n Personal names (not individualized) 4,628,000 (no information) (no information) (no information) (no information) (no information) 7,046,133 fall away
- Persons and personal names (total) (7,510,000) 8,669,790 10,546,959 11,551,274 12,032,087 12,265,826 12.297.304 (5,350,953)
k Corporations 1,172,000 1,240,852 1,498,606 1,493,823 1,487,938 1,490,830 1,491,072 1,491,358
v Conferences and events 587,000 619.610 769.067 786.180 803.612 826.579 829,548 836.410
G Geographics 293,000 289,449 295.027 300,138 305,543 310,860 311,357 313.058
s Technical terms 202,000 205,586 207.149 209.003 211,339 212,775 212,895 213.257
w Works 193,000 244,480 287.204 331.310 367,574 405,899 410.736 425.718
- total (9,957,000) 11,269,767 13,604,012 14,671,728 15,208,093 15,512,769 15,552,912 8,630,754

Entity types

The entity types listed here correspond to so-called record types ( record type ) in libraries .

In the common authority file, a unique identification number (basis for the Uniform Resource Identifier ), a standardized preferred designation, different name forms and various descriptive attributes are recorded for each entity description. The attributes are stored as relationships to other authority data records wherever possible, with the type of relationship being coded in each case. Examples of related attributes are places of birth and death of people and their professions. For corporations, u. a. Predecessor and successor relationships, but also administrative superordinates, are specified.

In this way, a network of interrelated data sets ( linked data ) is created, which is particularly suitable for use on the web, allows navigation within the authority file and thus improves the search options for users.

At the end of August 2019, the assignment of subscriber numbers was stopped. One year later, from June 19, 2020, the links between the Tn in the bibliographic data were retrospectively broken. Instead of the links there are only text strings. Since July 2020 the name records are no longer part of the common authority file.

Entity subtypes

Apart from personal names, each record type can be further differentiated by specifying an entity code. For example, a geographic area can be a building or a state. A total of around 50 entity types are available.

Entity encoding

code definition
G Geographics
give Buildings and building ensembles, monumental sculptures, memorials, tombs, etc. according to RSWK §730.1
gif; gik Member states (they are always coded twice with "gik")
gik Local authorities and administrative units
gil; gik Countries, states (independent) (they are always coded twice with "gik")
gin Natural geographical units, biogeographical and paleographical units, names of geographical sub-units with cardinal direction or with other expressions according to RSWK § 205, 1 and 2
gio Small-scale geographical areas within a location, excluding buildings and building ensembles
gir; gik Spiritual imperial rulers (until 1803), administrative units of the Eastern Church (they are always coded twice with "gik")
giv; gik Administrative units which, according to EH-G-03, get an instant generic term from the generic term of the administrative unit (they are always coded twice with "gik")
giw Borders, paths, lines
gix Estraterrestrials
giz All geographical names that cannot be assigned to any of the other entity sub-types, regions and areas according to RSWK § 204a, including the surrounding area of ​​individual cities and municipalities
gxz Fictional places
k Corporations
kif Companies (from January 2016)
kim Musical bodies (from January 2016)
kio Organs of local authorities
kip Projects and similar projects and programs
kiv; kir Religious administrative units (e.g. dioceses of the Catholic Church; exception: administrative units of the Eastern Church, administrative units of the Eastern Church are coded with “gir” and “gik”) (they are always coded twice with “kir”) (from January 2016)
kiz All other corporations that do not belong to any other special entity type
kxz Fictional bodies
p people
pif Familys
spades Ruling princes, members of ruling royal houses
pip Pseudonyms
pis Collective pseudonyms
piz Personal names that do not belong to any other special entity type
pxg Gods
pxl Literary figures, legendary figures
pxs Ghosts
s Technical terms
sab; saz Musical instrumentation (according to RDA 6.15) (they are always coded twice with "saz") (from January 2016)
sad; saz Data carrier (according to RDA 3.4.1.3 DACH) (they are always double-coded with "saz")
saf; saz Form information on the type of content (according to RDA 7.2.1.3 DACH) (they are always coded twice with "saz")
say; saz Musical genre (according to RDA 6.14.2.5.2 DA-CH) (they are always double-coded with "saz") (from January 2016)
sam; saz Musical output form (according to RDA 7.20.1.3 DACH) (they are always coded twice with "saz")
saz General terms, d. H. all subject headings that do not belong to any other special entity type
she Ethnographics
sif Means of transport with individual names
sih Individual historical events
sip Products and brand names except software products ("siw")
sis languages
siu Groups of people who are not a corporate body
siw Software products
siz All individual facts that are recorded as subject terms and cannot be assigned to any of the other entity sub-types, e.g. B. Competitions
slz Letters, morphemes, words as the subject of linguistic research
snz Nomenclature biology - chemistry
sxz Fictitious terms
szz All cases of doubt for all entities
u
uiz Non-corporate entities (only in legacy data)
v Conferences and events
much Conferences, events
vif Conference sequences or series, event sequences or series w
w Works
wid Printer brands
how Expression
wif Version of a work of music (no longer used from July 2014)
wim Works of music
win Collections
wip Provenance features
wis Written monuments
wit Works

Usage and interfaces

The common authority file is kept at the German National Library. The library networks have imported the GND basic inventory into their network systems once and since then have obtained the updates of the authority file via the OAI procedure. The GND is processed and expanded not only by libraries, but also by archives (previously mainly scientific and literary archives), museums and editors of reference works. Participation takes place either through library networks or after consultation with the German National Library. Use by state and municipal archives is only just beginning (as of 2015).

The GND standard data are available free of charge on the DNB website in the formats MARC 21 Authority, MARC21-xml and RDFxml under license CC0 1.0 .

Cross-institutional integration of authority data

Merging of various sources on Franz Beckenbauer using the BEACON format

In December 2012, a cooperation project between the German National Library (DNB) and the German Film Institute (DIF) was started under the name Cross- Institutional Integration of Authority Data (IN2N) . The aim of the project funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) is to support institutions outside the library system in using the GND and to involve them in the cataloging process. Among other things, the data sets from filmportal.de have already been compared with the personal articles from Wikipedia as part of the project .

At the end of 2014, the DIF standard data was imported into the GND. In the previous months, data from the Ibero-American Institute (Berlin) and the Research Center for Eastern Europe at the University of Bremen were included in the GND. Since May 6, 2016, Wikipedians who have participated in a corresponding training course can use the "GND web form" to create authority data for people. The associated library ID is Wikimedia Germany (DE-B1592).

literature

  • Renate Behrens-Neumann: The Common Authority File (GND). A project comes to an end. In: Dialogue with Libraries. Volume 24, Issue 1, 2012, ISSN  0936-1138 , pp. 25-28, ( PDF; 130 kB ).
  • Eva-Maria Gulder: The Common Authority File (GND). Bayerische Staatsbibliothek München (authority data editing), September 2011, ( PDF; 2.84 MB ).
  • Thekla Kluttig: Common authority file and archives - what's the point? In: Clemens Rehm, Monika Storm, Andrea Wettmann (eds.): Legacies - New ways of transmission in association. Joint spring conference FG 1 and FG 6 for all specialist groups in the VdA. May 7, 2013, Staatsarchiv Chemnitz (= publications of the Saxon State Archives. Series A: Archive directories, editions and specialist articles. 17). Mitteldeutscher Verlag, Halle (Saale) 2014, ISBN 978-3-95462-388-4 , pp. 85-88.
  • Barbara Pfeifer: From project to action. The common authority file (GND). In: Klaus-Rainer Brintzinger, Ulrich Hohoff (Hrsg.): Libraries: Gates to the world of knowledge. 101st German Librarians' Day in Hamburg 2012. Olms, Hildesheim u. a. 2013, ISBN 978-3-487-14888-5 , pp. 80-91.
  • Fabian Steeg, Adrian Pohl, Pascal Christoph: lobid-gnd - an interface to the common authority file for man and machine . In: Information Practice . tape 5 , no. 1 , 2019, ISSN  2297-3249 , doi : 10.11588 / ip.2019.1.52673 ( uni-heidelberg.de ).
  • Brigitte Wiechmann: The Common Authority File (GND). Retrospect and Prospect. In: Dialogue with Libraries. Volume 24, Issue 2, 2012, pp. 20–22, ( PDF; 465 kB ).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. d-nb.info . In: Annual Report / German National Library . S. 49 (accessed June 24, 2020).
  2. ^ Renate Behrens, Christine Frodl: First milestones in the RDA project. In: Dialogue with Libraries. Volume 26, Issue 1, 2014, pp. 25–31, here p. 28, ( PDF; 310 kB ).
  3. German National Library - Annual Report 2015 , p. 49. Retrieved on June 3, 2016.
  4. German National Library - Annual Report 2016 , p. 51. Retrieved on April 13, 2019.
  5. German National Library - Annual Report 2017 , p. 51. Retrieved on April 13, 2019.
  6. German National Library - Annual Report 2018 , p. 49. Accessed January 27, 2020.
  7. German National Library - Annual Report 2019 , p. 49. Retrieved on June 24, 2020.
  8. data.dnb.de , February 13, 2020. Access date: July 2, 2020.
  9. data.dnb.de , June 22, 2020. Access date: July 15, 2020.
  10. GND: List of the codings in subfield $ 4 - alphabetically by code ( memento from September 23, 2015 in the Internet Archive ).
  11. The abbreviation "Tn" stands for Thesaurus Name and denotes non-individualized name records. Marked as "undifferentiated" in VIAF .
  12. "Abolition of Tn standard data in the GND with an effect on the bibliographic data of the DNB" , May 28, 2020. Access date: July 14, 2020.
  13. GND entity coding allocation guidelines ( Memento from September 23, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) (status: June 21, 2013).
  14. "Entity Coding - Allocation Guidelines" (as of November 15, 2018)
  15. IN2N ( Memento from August 12, 2015 in the Internet Archive ), Deutsches Filminstitut , query date: November 21, 2013.
  16. Alexander Haffner: Cross-institutional integration of authority data (IN2N). In: Dialogue with Libraries. Volume 25, Issue 2, 2013, pp. 42–45, ( PDF; 54 kB ).