Author

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MAIN AUTHOR / MAIN WORD

Both the use of thesauri as well as the indication of the source of the information and the function of the author, make it possible to easily find the described works by any possible author. There is no distinction between anonymous and non-anonymous works for the related choice of headword or entry in STCV.

THE USE OF THESAURI OR AUTHORITY FILES

Brocade is conceived as a system of database parts that are connected to each other (relational databases). Different groups of similar information such as information on authors, corporate authors, geographical names, printers and so on are gathered in separate files. This has the advantage that, in theory, this information needs to only be entered once and can then be called up, consulted and added to time and time again.

These files are conceived as authority files. It means that the information in those files can only be altered by someone who has the authority to do so. This enhances the coherency of the files. Consulting these files, however, can be done without limitations. The authority files therefore simplify the management of recurring information (such as author information) and make it easier to connect this information to records.

Information regarding the author, as treated in this section, is placed in the authority file 'Personen' [people], the corporate authors in the file 'Corporatieve auteurs' [corporate authors]. Processing these is highly similar to the files for geographical names and the printers, that are present in the imprint.

Personal authors are systematically stored in the 'Personenthesaurus' [people thesaurus]. All possible variant forms of the same personal name are carefully brought together under the same main form. The guiding principle is: one person receives one thesaurus record. The main form is the normalised 'theoretical', 'arbitrary' name by which the author is best known. This form is noted in the field as follows:

last name, particles, first name [extension]

A comma is placed between two elements, followed by a space. The extension can be entered in a separate field and appears in the indices always between square brackets. A number of extensions can be entered from a controlled list but free entry is also possible. The extension may, for example, contain indications such as 'jr.' or 'sr.' or classical indications such as 'rhetor' or 'philosophus' and so on. A Roman numeral indicating a generation in a 'dynasty' or family, is not entered in the extension but in the main form itself, after the first name.

Example: Main form of an author Brande, vanden, Stijn [jr.]

After the main form, these records then contain all relevant variant forms (known in Brocade as 'reference terms') by which the author is known, or that appear in consulted works and literature. Both the main form and the reference terms are indexed, meaning the user will reach the correct record effortlessly. Someone searching for the keyword 'Suivius', will be referred to the main form of 'Hazart, Cornelius'. After clicking on that main form, they arrive in the authority record itself, where all reference terms are presented. When the author is only mentioned in the title as a derived adjective, we take the main form of that author with 'document' as source indication.

Example

Title: Formulae Terentinianae novo delectu

Author: Terentius Afer, Publius (main form)

Source indication: Document

TYPES OF AUTHORS

Personal authors

In first instance, it concerns people found on the title page (author, editor, compiler, translator, ...). Names mentioned elsewhere in the work might also be recorded (for example a translator or editor mentioned in the preface or in the approbation); for illustrators, this is checked systematically. Finally, one might also record authors found in external sources, if that information is useful and reliable. This is explained in a general note, or in the bibliographical reference in which the information was found. With anonymously published works, the attributions are documented as best as possible.

Corporate authors

Besides the types of personal authors mentioned above, the STCV also record corporate authors. A corporate author is usually found in government publications (placards, ordinances, statues, instructions, sentences, and so on). In those cases, the corporate author is the issuing agency.

A corporate author may also be recorded in a number of other publications. It is possible, for example, that the rules of a certain monastic order are issued in the name of the order, or theatre programmes may be supplied by a specific college of a specific order in a specific city, and so on.

Ruling monarchs, popes, bishops etcetera are always considered personal authors.

Contemporary synods, meetings, councils, ... of which the decisions are published, are considered corporate authors. If useful, any secretaries mentioned on the title page, may be recorded as 'editor'.

CHOICE OF PERSONAL AUTHOR

One main form, many reference terms

Personal authors are systematically saved in the 'Personenthesaurus' [people thesaurus]. Variant forms of the same personal name are carefully recorded under the same main form. The guiding principle is: one person receives one thesaurus record, regardless of the name variants or pseudonyms they used.

For example, the pseudonym Suivius for Cornelis Hazart is found under the main form 'Hazart, Cornelius'. Manually making a reference from 'Suivius' to 'Hazart' is therefore not necessary anymore thanks to the automatic indexing of both main forms and reference terms.

Outline for the source indication

The source indication for the author depends on which title is chosen. The table below gives all the possible source-indications.

LOCATION OF THE AUTHOR	SOURCE-INDICATION
Typographical title page	title page
Engraved title page	title page if this is the only title page; document if there is also a typographical title page
Approbation, privilege, ...	document
Illustrations within or outside of collation, not on the title page	document
Author as adjective in the title	document
Bibliographical references, other STCV records, ...	external

If a typographical title page does not mention an author but the engraved title page does, then that author is recorded by their main form with the source-indication 'document'.

Choice between main form or reference term

The source where the information was found, determines whether the description records the variant form of the name or only the main form.

If the name is found on the title page, the variant form (reference term) is always recorded. If it matches the main form of the name, an identical reference term is still created. In that case, a possible alteration of the main form will not affect the specific variant found and recorded in that description.

If the name is found elsewhere in the document or an external source, the main form is recorded.

Function indication

A controlled list of eleven possible functions was determined for the function of the personal author:

Primary authors
aut	Primary author
Secondary authors
adp	Adapter
com	Compiler
dis	Dissertant/promovendus/student or defendens (of a thesis)
dub	Dubious author
edt	Editor
hnr	Honorary/passive author
ill	Illustrator (painter/designer, artist, engraver)
mus	Musician (composer, performer)
ths	Thesis advisor/promotor/supervisor (of a thesis)
trl	Translator

Brocade offers other functions as well (such as collaborator, 'clb', and director, 'drt') but STCV does not use them.

If an author is mentioned twice on a title page, for example as author and as translator or illustrator, we record their most important function (usually this is 'aut').

Special cases

Editors of magazines

Authors and editor of magazines are not 'primary authors' (aut). They receive 'editor' (edt) as function-indication.

Theses

For academic disputations, dissertations and theses, STCV diverges from what is common practice in STCN. Despite who the actual author of the text is, the promovendus (defendens/student) is always indicated as 'dis', the promotor (praeses/supervisor) always as 'ths'. If it can be ascertained with certainty who the actual author is, this is clarified in a general note. Neither is therefore named 'primary author' (aut). The promotor (supervisor) must not be confused with the rector magnificus on whose authority ('ex auctoritate') a promotion takes place. The rector magnificus is not recorded in the description. This is not an exception to the rule that all names on the title page are recorded, since the rector has not made a real contribution to the realisation of the text.

Travel narratives

For anonymously published travel narratives, the 'traveller' is treated as 'primary author' (aut).

Orations

For anonymously published public recitations of orations and poems, the declamator (declaimer/reciter) is treated as 'primary author' (aut).

Confessions

For a confession or confirmation, such as 'Confessie ofte belijdenisse van Lowijs Gaufridi', for example, Lowijs Gaufridi is recorded as 'primary author' (aut), even though the text might be delivered by a (father) confessor.

SPECIAL CASES OF PERSONAL AUTHORS

Names in a language with a different alphabet

Names of authors cited in Greek on the title page are also recorded in Greek in the description and therefore transcribed in Greek characters for the reference term in the people thesaurus. An additional reference term is also created with a transliteration of this Greek variant into the Latin alphabet. The spelling of the main form is given in the common Latin form for this author's name.

Greek character set and transliteration

For names of authors in other languages with an alphabet that is different than the common Latin or Greek (Hebrew, Arabic, cyrillic, etc.) the variant form or reference term for the author is transcribed to the Latin alphabet. The name in the original alphabet could potentially be added as an additional reference term. The main form is given in the common western form of the author's name.

Kings and other ruling monarchs (also popes, bishops, etc.)

Unlike the STCN, in STCV the variant form of the title page is always recorded, even if that only mentions the function.

Example

Main form: Filips IV [king of Spain]

Reference term: le roy d'Espaigne

Pseudonyms

A pseudonym of which the actual author's name is known, is always cited as a reference term in the description and therefore added as a reference term to the thesaurus record of the author's actual name.

Example

Main form: Scribani, Carolus

Reference term: Clarus Bonarscius

Reference term: C.B.

An unresolved pseudonym with a name structure is cited as a reference term in the description but in this case it is a reference term of the main form of the unidentified pseudonym, which is treated here as a normal name. The situation is further explained in the biographical scope note.

Example

Main form: Snot, Piet

Reference term: Piet Snot

Author indications

Is the author's name hidden behind an indication that cannot be treated or conceived as a personal name, such as initials, letters or other characters, qualifications, etc., then this is always recorded as a variant form or reference term to the record of the person identified as the author. If the author indication cannot be identified, it is recorded as a reference term to an unidentified main form. Descriptions such as 'een priester der societeyt Iesu' [a priest of the Jesuit Society] or 'eenen minderbroeder' [a Friar Minor] are edited for the main form to 'Priester S.J.' [priest S.J.] or 'priester O.F.M.' [priest O.F.M.]. For other descriptions, the spelling in the main form is also modernised and if there is an article at the front, that is neglected. So, for example, will the reference term 'eenen liefhebber der waerheydt' [a lover of truth] be classed under the main form 'Liefhebber der waarheid' [Lover of truth]. Note that such main forms always start with a capital letter. This is not always the case for reference terms.

False or dubious names

If the title page gives a misleading or false author's name, there are two possibilities: either the false author's name is due to a mistake (for example a printing error), or it is a deliberate mystification.

The false author's name is due to a mistake

The false author's name is added as a reference term to the main form of the actual author. The function-indication is 'primary author' (aut), with as source 'title page'. In a general note, the mistake is clarified.

The false author's name is due to deliberate mystification

The actual author publishes their work deliberately under the name of another, existing person. The mystification is known from sources or research. The false name is added as a reference term to the main form of the false author. The function-indication is 'dubious author' (dub). Furthermore, the actual author is added as a second author in the description with as function 'primary author' (aut) and as source-indication 'external'. A general note reads:

'Mystification; the real author is [...]'

If the actual author is not known but it is clearly a mystification, the general note reads:

'Mystification; the real author is unknown'

Multiple authors

Normally, all authors mentioned on the title page are recorded. The problem in the choice of information to record, is therefore more a choice of which title page rather than which authors. The following cases are distinguished:

1. Different titles of more than one author are united in one edition under a common title. Of course, that one common/joint title is recorded, regardless of whether that title is sufficiently significant or not. All authors are recorded.
2. Different titles of more than one author are united in one edition, with the authors' names and the different titles on the title page and the authors and titles are not presented equally. Only the most prominent title is recorded in the title field. The other titles, if they are deemed sufficiently significant, may be mentioned in a note of the type 'with'. All authors are recorded. The link between authors and titles is clear from the notes and/or the digital image of the the title page.
3. Different titles of more than one author are united in one edition, with the authors' names and the titles presented equally. The first title is recorded in the title field of the description. This 'mother description' contains all the authors. The other titles are each recorded separately in new descriptions, the so-called 'daughter descriptions', which contain only the authors and titles relevant to that part. Between mother and daughter descriptions, a relation is made of the type 'includes' (incl) or 'included in' (inclin). Different titles presented equally on the title page
4. Different titles of more than one author are united in one edition but the authors of smaller parts are not mentioned on the (main) title page: it concerns separately named, dependent parts to be mentioned in a note of the type 'with'. In that case, the additional authors are recorded as a main form with as source-indication 'document'. They are also recorded in the free text field of the note of the type 'with'.

Anonymously published works

In the online-database of STCV, the use of a headword or entry for anonymous works does not present itself. Anonymously published works that can be attributed with certainty to an author, receive the main form of that author in the author field, with as source-indication 'external'. Less certain attributions to an author are only given in a general note; attributions that are rather dubious could, at most, end up in a cataloguing remark.

The same reference term (usually a vague author indication) may obviously refer to different main forms, depending on the identification of the wording.

Examples

TITLE PAGE	REPRODUCTION IN THE PEOPLE THESAURUS
Een priester der Societeit Iesu	main form	Priester S.J.
	reference term	een priester der societeit Iesu
Een priester der Societeit Iesu	main form	Smidt, de, Aegidius
	reference term	een priester der societeit Iesu

Mottoes and devices

Mottoes or devices present besides the author's name on the title page or not recorded in the description. If they might be able to help the identification of anonymous works or pseudonyms, they might be added in a general note.

CHOICE OF CORPORATE AUTHORS

General

Government publications in STCV (unlike in STCN) are not described anonymously but assigned to a corporate author. The bibliographer will search in the text of the government publication for the 'issuing agency': the government agency that issued the ordinance. The search will focus on the agency that is as close as possible to the level of the actual practice. A placard made by the Geheime Raad [Secret Council] and then ratified and published individually by different cities, will have as corporate author the magistrate of the specific city and not the secret council. People signing the government publications as part of their profession (secretaries of government agencies, ruling monarchs, ...) are not considered authors and are not recorded anywhere in the description. Ruling monarchs, kings, governors, popes, bishops, ... are treated as personal authors when they are the issuers of the publication at hand.

Corporate authors are systematically recorded in the thesaurus for 'Instellingen & Manifestaties' [Institutions & Manifestations]. Only if the issuing agency is named on the title page, will that specific reference term be recorded in the description. All other wordings found in the work may be added as reference terms to the thesaurus record, without being linked to the description.

Special cases

Two types of publications are not considered government publications and do not receive a corporate author. They are recorded by the name of the personal author or compiler.

1. Letters of ambassadors to their government and other semi-official pieces
2. Commented compilation-editions of ordinances, such as Vlaems recht

It is also possible that government publications are illustrated and that the illustrator is known. In that case, besides the corporate author, a personal author is also added with the function 'ill' (illustrator).

INPUTTING CORPORATE AUTHORS IN BROCADE

Inputting authors in Brocade

Creating a new authority record