In our first meeting of the academic year, we’ll discuss identity management, a potential rebranding and reimagining of the authority control services that cataloging and metadata specialists provide. All are welcome to participate!
DATE: Tuesday, October 14
TIME: 9:00—10:00 am
PLACE: Wells Library Room 043
TOPIC: Problems with Authority: Libraries, Archives, and Identity Management
MODERATOR: Jennifer Liss
Developments in linked library data simultaneously elevate the importance of and challenge long-held notions concerning authority control. Initiatives such as ORCID, ISNI, and VIVO are minting and maintaining authority files for researchers and content creators.
Catalogers have performed machine-processable authority control for many decades. The phrase “identity management” has been suggested as a replacement for the phrase “authority control,” which refers to the task of maintaining authority files in order to collocate and disambiguate access points in bibliographic records. Rebranding authority services may help administrators understand the importance of authority work as performed by catalogers. However, is relabeling our work (and our job titles, and our departments) enough?
In a world in which our users create and publish content at a rapid pace, what opportunities exist in a reimagined identity management service? What might an identity management service look like? How do we market our expertise and update our skill sets to meet the demands of the new data infrastructures we hope to leverage for richer discovery?
RESOURCES YOU MIGHT CONSULT
There’s no list this time! The article below–a 10 minute read–is written from the point of view of a web content strategist. In the context of serving web users’ information needs, the article addresses the growing pains associated with a shift to structured data on the web. How are the issues discussed relevant to libraries?
- Wachter-Boettcher, Sara. (2012, February 28). Future-ready content. A List Apart. Retrieved from http://alistapart.com/article/future-ready-content
