Authority records

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AUTHORITY RECORDS

Brocade is a system of relational databases. Different groups of similar information such as information about authors, corporate authors, geographical names, printers, and so on are saved in separate files. This has the advantage that information should, in general, only be entered once and can from then on be recalled, consulted and completed.

These files are authority files. This means that the information in these records may only be altered by someone who is authorised to do so. This increases the coherence and consistency of the files. There are no limits, however, on consulting the files. The authority files make it easier to manage recurring information and to link this information to descriptions.

3.1 Personal Authors

Personal authors are found in the authority file 'Personen' [people], corporate authors in the file 'Corporatieve auteurs' [corporate authors]. The process described here is similar to that of geographical names and printers.

Personal authors are systematically saved in the 'Personenthesaurus' [people thesaurus]. Care is taken to bring all possible variant forms of the same personal name under the same main form. The principle is: one person receives one thesaurus record. The main form is the normalised, 'arbitrary' name by which the author is best known. For classical and medieval authors, we use the main form as it is given in RAK (Regeln für die alphabetische Katalogisierung). The name form in this field is noted as follows:

Last name, particles, First name [extension]

By particles we mean all prefixes added to a name but separated from this by a space or an apostrophe. Only the Irish and Scottish particals O'... en Mac.../Mc... are retained with the name. A comma followed by a space is place between elements. The extension is entered in a separate field and appears in the indexes always between square brackets. Some extensions may be entered in a controlled manner, but free entry is also possible. The extension may for example contain indications such as 'jr.' or 'sr.' of classical indications to distinguish homonyms ('rhetor', 'philosophus'). A Roman numeral indicating a generation in a dynasty or family, is not placed in the extension but added in the main form after the first name. The particle 's.' for a saint is never present in the main form but can be added in a separate reference term containing the just the author's first name.

Example: Main form of an author

Brande, vanden, Stijn [jr.]

Hollander, d', Joost

Example: Main form of a printer Bellerus, Petrus I [Widow and heirs]

These records then contain all relevant references 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 effortlessly arrive at the correct record. Someone looking for the term 'Suivius' will be referred to the main form of 'Hazart, Cornelius'. After clicking on the main form, you arrive at the authority record itself, where all the reference terms are presented.

Main form or reference term?

Depending on the source, the main form or reference term of the author is recorded in the description. There are two possibilities:

1. The personal author has the source-indication 'title page'
2. The personal author has the source-indication 'document' or 'external'

In the first case, the variant form present on the title page is taken. This reference term is then attached to the thesaurus record of the author in question. In the second case, the main form of the author is taken. The reference term found in the work may be important however, e.g. for the identification of another work. That is why such 'additional reference terms' are recorded as much as possible in the people thesaurus, but without linking them to the description. The variant name forms serve as extra search terms which can be of help in arriving at the correct author.

Reproduction of the main form

Both the main form and the reference terms of an author are saved in the people thesaurus. For creating a new author in this thesaurus, the following rules apply:

1. The main form is representative for the author
2. Authors with the same name must be distinguishable

The preferred main form is that name by which an author is generally known, either by the frequency of the name or by the tradition. The main form may, if necessary, be altered: main forms remain arbitrary. In principle, STCV follows the common rules in Brocade for creating new main forms.

The reference terms or variant name forms may never be deleted or altered: they refer to variants present in publications. Altering a reference term automatically alters the author indication in all descriptions where that reference term is used. If a reference term in a description needs to be altered, either an existing (suitable) reference term is chosen or a new reference term is created and then linked to the description.

Formal rules for the creation of a main form

For creating a new main form, the following rules apply:

1. The order of the name is noted as: last name, particles, first name (+ potential Roman numeral)
2. Indications such as 'junior', 'senior', 'rhetor', 'philosophus', 'widow' and zo on are entered as an extension to the name
3. Additional distinguishable information is entered in the biographical scope note
4. For classical authors, the name by which the author is best known comes first (for example Tacitus, Publius Cornelius; Vergilius Maro, Publius)
5. For medieval authors, the first name remains first (for example Thomas a Kempis; Balduinus Avennensis)

Reproduction of the reference term

All reference terms belonging to a specific author are saved in the thesaurus. Reference terms are never altered, only added to. For transcribing the reference term, the following rules apply:

1. The variant form is cited; descriptions such as 'eenen priester der soc. Jesu' [a priest of the order of Jesuits] retain the article 'eenen' [a].
2. Punctuation and spaces are retained. So, too, a comma meant as a semicolon or a colon meant as an abbreviation mark (e.g. 'Joan: Bapt: Clouwet').
3. Abbreviations of titles such as 'b.on' or 'sermes.' follow the transcription rules for titles when being recorded as an indication of the author.
4. Capital letters at the start of a name (first name and last name) are retained, other capitals are reduced to lower case. Loose particles (e.g. 'vande', 'vander', 'der', 'a' etc.) are always noted in lower case. Names that are fully in lower case (e.g. engravers on the title page), receive a capital letter for at the beginning of the first and last name. The particles never receive capitals.
5. The actual ligatures æ, œ, Æ and Œ are transcribed as such. Other ligatures are resolved.
6. The combination of 2 V's is retained, both in upper and in lower case. When the combination 'VV' or 'vv' is meant to suggest 'W' or respectively 'w' by re-cutting one of the letters, the letter is noted as 'W' or respectively 'w'.
7. Variant letter forms are not distinguished. The long ſ is displayed as a normal 's' and ß as 'ss', also in German.
8. Abbreviations are generally retained. A number of common abbreviations indicated by a titulus are resolved between square brackets: 'vandê' becomes 'vande[n]', 'VÂ' becomes 'va[n]'.
9. The gothic (blackletter) capitals I/J and U/V are always read and reduced as I/i and V/v.
10. Cursive is not distinguished.
11. The author's name, usually in the genitive on the title page of Latin and Greeks works, is changed to the nominative. Sometimes Latin names in their nominative form already have a genitive ending (e.g. 'Balduinus Avennensis' for 'Boudewijn of Avesnes').
12. Additional formulas, mottoes, devices, functions, birth places and indications of occupation or profession are neglected.

The biographical scope note

Personal authors always receive a scope note of the type 'bio'. This note contains, as much as possible, at a minimum the year of birth ('begindatum' [start date]), the year of death ('einddatum' [end date]), the place of birth ('beginplaats' [start place]) and the place of death ('eindplaats' [end place]). If no exact year is known, this is noted as: 'c. 1608'. Years before our calendar are indicated with 'ante Chr.' Indications such as termini post or ante quem or centuries are converted to a circa-indication. Place names are always recorded in Dutch, without additions. Further clarifications could potentially be added in the biographical scope note itself.

The free field in the biographical scope note may be utilised in any way. Entering information is compulsory for religious authors: for these authors the order to which they belonged is always mentioned here. The order-indication is abbreviated according to the list of Herwig Ooms, Repertorium universale siglorum ordinum et institutum religiosorum in ecclesia catholica, Brussels 1959. For saints, their feast day is always mentioned.

The biographical scope notes are always internal: they can not be seen or consulted by the end user.

The field 'Bron' [source] contains the bibliographical references used to find the information for the scope note. Preference is given to the known standard works and works present in the STCV list of references. If the information is derived from an external online database, the link to this may be added here.

Whenever possible, each person in the thesaurus is given a biographical scope note. These notes are purely meant for internal use. The biographical scope contains the following elements:

1. Biographical elements such as the monastic order (abbreviations according to Herwig OOMS, Repertorium universale siglorum ordinum et institutum religiosorum in ecclesia catholica, Brussel, 1959), the worldly name, the profession
2. Date of birth and date of death
3. Place of birth and place of death
4. Source for this information

References

It is possible for authors to put in a hyperlink to an external database. Important databases are the RKD (for graphic artists), Agrippa (for Flemish authors) and BBKL (for religious authors).

→ RKD: Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie (www.rkd.nl)

→ BBKL: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexicon (www.bbkl.de)

Relations

For each personal author, a minimum of two and usually three types of relation are made:

• the period in which the person lived: an author living and working in the seventeenth century receives the indication '92.17'
• the geographical region(s) in which the person was active
• usually an indication of the profession or capacity in which a person was known is added, for example 'juristen' [lawyers], 'Italiaanse letterkunde' [Italian literature] or 'Christendom: personen' [Christianity: people].

Link to the table in Reference lists.

Creating a new authority record

If you are sure there is no existing authority record available, you may create a new authority record for a personal author.

• Go to http://anet.be/menu/auth, select a new record for 'P - persoonsnaam' and click on 'Start'
• Under 'Lidmaatschappen' [memberships]: check 'STCV'
• Under 'Relaties' [Relations]: add relations when possible
  • Geographical: e.g. 944.92 (France: people)
  • Chronological: e.g. 92.17 (Biography: 1600-1699)
  • Profession: e.g. 27.92 (Christianity: people)
• Main form:
  • create a main form following the rules
  • Add English and French versions when relevant/possible ('Verwoording E' and 'Verwoording F')
• Reference term:
  • create the reference term you need following the transcription rules
  • enter 'STCV' for lidmaatschap [membership]
• Biographical scope note: if you have found information, add it here
  • 'Begindatum' [year of birth] and 'Einddatum' [year of death]
  • 'Beginplaats' [place of birth] and 'Eindplaats' [place of death]
  • 'Bron' [source] when possible e.g. link to CERL Thesaurus
• click on 'registreer' [register]
• check 'Bevries/ontdooi dit record' [freeze/unfreeze this record] and, again, click on 'registreer' [register]
  

All authority records used by STCV should be frozen at all times!

Corporate Authors

Inputting corporate authors is largely similar to personal authors. Religious institutions receive a structured main form consisting of an abbreviation of the order, followed by the location, potentially followed by a further reference. The rules for transcription and the use of capital letters are followed.

Examples

S.J., Brugge
S.J., Antwerpen, college
Raad van Brabant

Staten van Brabant

Main form or reference term?

The same rules apply here as for personal authors. Often a corporate author needs to be searched for in the document, meaning the description will cite the main form. Variant forms (reference terms) found in the work, however, are systematically added to the thesaurus.

Function indication

For corporate authors, the function indication to be selected is always 'primary author' (aut).

Common corporate authors

The list below offers a brief outline of main forms for a number of common corporate authors. Note that for city or town authorities, the chosen wording for the main form is 'Stad' [city], regardless of the very different names that exist locally for these agencies. The local variant can be added as a reference term to increase the searchability.

For religious orders, the order is first mentioned in abbreviation, then the city or the province, and finally the house, college or section. The same holds true for other religious institutions with a local character, such as synods and councils, brotherhoods, sodalities, ...

Worldly institutions

Central government institutions
Raad van State [State Council]	a::061.78417
Geheime Raad [Privy Council]	a::061.78404
Staten-Generaal [States-General]	a::061.40276
Regional government institutions
Raad van Brabant [Council of Brabant]	a::061.78418
Raad van Vlaanderen [Council of Flanders]	a::061.12847
Staten van Vlaanderen [Estates of Flanders]	a::061.80146
Staten van Brabant [Estates of Brabant]	a::061.79046
Local government institutions: cities (some examples)
Antwerpen, Stad	a::061.5
Brussel, Stad	a::061.6717
Leuven, Stad	a::061.2803
Mechelen, Stad	a::061.5314
Lier, Stad	a::061.68733
Turnhout, Stad	a::061.5306
Gent, Stad	a::061.4553
Brugge, Stad	a::061.17493

Ecclesiastical institutions

Religious orders and colleges (some examples)
S.J., Antwerpen, college	a::061.78605
O.Cart., Leuven	a::061.78541
O.C.D., Gent	a::061.78876
O.E.S.A., Leuven, college	a::061.78766
O.E.S.A., Gent, college	a::061.80948
O.F.M., Antwerpen	a::061.78990
O.P., Antwerpen, college	a::061.78590
O.Praem., Antwerpen	a::061.78877
Councils, synods, ...
Mechelen, bisdom, synode	a::061.83180
Concilie van Trente [Council of Trent]	a::061.83182

Common monastic/convent orders

For religious orders, as used amongst other in the authority files of institutions, for anonymous works with an order indication, and in the biographical scope notes of authors, we use the abbreviations from the repertory of H. Ooms. Here is a list of the most common examples.

Order (Dutch)	Order (English)	Abbreviation
Augustijnen	Augustinians	O.E.S.A.
Capucijnen	Capuchin Friars Minor	O.F.M.Cap.
Cisterciënzers	Cistercians	S.O.Cist.
Dominicanen, predikheren	Dominicans, Preachers	O.P.
Franciscanen	Franciscans	O.F.M.
Jezuïeten	Jesuits	S.J.
Karmelieten	Carmelites	O.Carm.
Kartuizers	Carthusians	O.Cart.
Norbertijnen, premonstratenzers	Norbertines, Premonstratensians	O.Praem.
Ongeschoeide karmelieten	Discalced Carmelites	O.C.D.
Recolecten (-minderbroeders)	Friars Minor Recollect	O.F.M.Rec.

Checklist

Creating a new authority record

If you are sure there is no existing authority record available, you may create a new authority record for a corporate author.

• Go to http://anet.be/menu/auth, select a new record for 'I - instellingen/organisaties' and click on 'Start'
• Under 'Lidmaatschappen' [memberships]: check 'STCV'
• Main form:
  • create a main form following the example of other similar records
  • Add English and French versions when relevant/possible ('Verwoording E' and 'Verwoording F')
• Reference term:
  • create the reference term you need following the common transcription rules
  • enter 'STCV' for lidmaatschap [membership]
• click on 'registreer' [register]
• check 'Bevries/ontdooi dit record' [freeze/unfreeze this record] and, again, click on 'registreer' [register]
  

All authority records used by STCV should be frozen at all times!

Rare Book Printers

The main words and reference terms for publishers, printers and book sellers follow largely the same rules as those for authors. However, no relations are added. Furthermore, the authority record of the printer receives a number of additional scope notes that may help in the identification:

1. biography
2. address
3. (shop) sign
4. profession

Fields must be added in the order indicated above. In the fields address, sign and profession, information is noted as follows.

• first: the first piece of information in normalised form, followed by the years for which it is valid
• then: potentially a second piece of information in the same manner
• finally: per main form, all the non-normalised variants found in described editions are added.

To prevent that empty fields are deleted by the system, a hyphen (-) is added.

Example: Mommaert, Jan I

Address	Brussel 1603, 1606, 1608, 1610-1613, 1615, 1617, 1620, 1626-1631 achter het Stadhuis, tegenover Onze-Lieve-Vrouwefontein 1617, 1620 achter het Stadhuis 1608, 1615, 1626, 1628-1629 achter het Stadhuis, in de Stoofstraat 1603, 1611 achter het Stadthuys, teghen ouer onse L. Vrouwe Fonteyne woonende achter t'Stadt-huys achter Stadt-huys achter Stadt-huys, inde stoof-strate
Sign	in de Drukkerij 1603, 1608, 1611, 1628, 1631 in de Druck erije [!] inde Druckerye De l'Imprimerie sub signo Prœlio Typographici
Profession	Gezworen boekdrukker 1606, 1610, 1612, 1630 gezworen boekdrukker der prinselijke stad Brussel 1626-1627 Drukker van de stad 1631 typ. jur. imprimeur iure imprimeur juré ghesworen boeckdrucker der Princelijcker Stadt Brussele Imprimeur jurè de la Ville de Bruxelles Civitatis Typ.

Reproduction: main form

Both the main form and the reference terms of a printer are saved in the printers thesaurus. When creating a new printer in this thesaurus, you need to be mindful that the main form is representative for the printer and that it is possible to distinguish printers bearing the same name.

Ideally, the selected main form is that name under which a printer is best known, either by the frequency or the tradition. The main form can, if need be, always be altered as the choice is arbitrary. Variant name forms or reference terms, however, may never be deleted or adapted: the refer to specific variants present in the books and bibliographical database records.

The following rules are in place for creating a main form:

1. The name is noted in this order: surname, particles, first name, number. Printers with the same name are distinguished by Roman numerals. Further confusion is avoided by adding the dates of birth and death in the biographical scope note.
2. Additional indications like 'widow of', 'heirs of', and so on are recorded in the extension of the name.
3. When multiple printers (often within the family) worked on an edition together and this partnership is evident from the joint presentation of their names in one imprint, a new main form is created for this partnership. The first name is added according to the rules mentioned above, the next names in their natural order. Names of printers that cooperated are connected using an ampersand (&).

Example: main form and reference terms for a printer

Hastens, van, Henrick

Henrick van Hastens

Henrick van Haestens

Henricus Hastenius

Example: main form and reference terms for a printer's widow

Hastens, van, Henrick [Widow]

apud viduam Henrici Hastenii

Bellerus, Petrus [Widow and Heirs]

apud viduam & haeredes Petri Belleri

Example: main form and reference terms for a partnership

Lesteens, Guilliam & Hendrik I Aertssens

prostant apud Guilielmum Lesteenium, et Henricum Aertssens

Reproduction: reference term

As indicated above, each reference term is stored in the printers thesaurus. For the transcription of reference terms, the following rules are in place:

1. The name variant is quoted as it is presented in the printed work.
2. Punctuation and spacing is retained. Even semicolons meant to be comma's or colons meant to indicate abbreviation are retained.
3. Capitals at the beginning of a name are retained, others are reduced to lower case.
4. The real ligatures æ, œ, Æ and Œ are noted as such. Other ligatures are dissolved.
5. The combination of 2 V's is retained, both in upper and in lower case. When the combination 'VV' or 'vv' is meant to suggest 'W' or respectively 'w' by re-cutting one of the letters, the letter is noted as 'W' or respectively 'w'.
6. Variant letter forms are not distinguished. The long ſ is displayed as a normal 's' and ß as 'ss', also in German.
7. Abbreviations are generally retained. A number of common abbreviations indicated by a titulus are resolved between square brackets: 'vandê' becomes 'vande[n]', 'VÂ' becomes 'va[n]'.
8. The gothic (blackletter) capitals I/J and U/V are always read and reduced as I/i and V/v.
9. Cursive is not distinguished.
10. Imprints in non-Latin alphabets are transcribed.
11. For Latin imprints the function-indication present before or after a printer's name, is included in the transcription of the reference term.

Checklist

Authority records for printers are, unlike all the other authority records (personal author, corporate author, geographical code), NOT shared with Anet or any other group within Brocade. STCV has its own set of authority records for printers. They are marked clearly by the STCV-turtle-logo. This means you may only use those records marked as belonging to STCV! If you cannot find an STCV-authority record for a printer but you do find a printer's authority record marked Anet, you may NOT use this. Instead, a separate record for that printer needs to be created for use in STCV. When in doubt, please get in touch.

Using an existing authority record

• Find the person you need in the authority records, make sure it is an STCV-record, click on the specific record and select 'bewerk' [edit]
• Unfreeze the record by checking 'Bevries/ontdooi dit record' [freeze/unfreeze this record] and clicking on 'registreer' [register]
• Under 'Lidmaatschappen' [Memberships]:
  • leave everything as is (do NOT uncheck anything)
• Main form:
  • leave as is
  • select when needed
• Reference terms:
  • leave as is
  • select the one you need
  • create a new one if needed (see transcription rules + enter 'STCV' for lidmaatschap [membership])
• Scope notes:
  • Biography: add extra bibliographical references when relevant; otherwise leave as is
  • Address: place where the printer/publisher/bookseller was active
    • check whether the imprint on your copy offers additional information
    • if so, add it (e.g. add year to 'Antwerpen 1624-1628, 1630, 1633-1645'); if not, leave as is
  • Sign: e.g. 'in de rode leeuw'; this often offers a clue to a printer's device
    • check whether the imprint on your copy offers additional information
    • if so, add it; if not, leave as is
  • Profession: professional title or type e.g. bookseller, printer, but also city printer, printer of the archbishop, etc.
    • check whether the imprint on your copy offers additional information
    • if so, add it; if not, leave as is
• click 'registreer' [register]
• check 'Bevries/ontdooi dit record' [freeze/unfreeze this record] and, again, click on 'registreer' [register]
  

All authority records used by STCV should be frozen at all times!

Creating a new authority record

• Double check carefully that the printer is not already available in the existing authority records. This is not always immediately clear in Brocade; check again in the STCV opac to be 100% sure
• Unless you know exactly what you need to do to create a new printer's authority record (ideally with bibliographical references), send an email to us and we will create it for you!

Geographical terms

Reproduction: main form

The main forms are already present in the geographical thesaurus. New place names are added by the cataloguers of the University of Antwerp (Central Library). STCV does not add geographical terms, unless it concerns a fictitious place.

When there is no indication anywhere for a place of publication, 'sine loco' (a::91.0001) is added, with 'extern' as source-indication.

Reproduction: reference term

Each term that is associated with a specific place name, is saved in the authority file. For the transcription of the term, the following rules apply:

1. The place name variant is quoted.
2. Punctuation and spacing is retained.
3. Capital letters at the start of place name or at the start of a significant part of the place name are retained, others are reduced to lower case: 'in den Haag' becomes 'Den Haag', 'sHertogenbosch' remains 'sHertogenbosch', 'GHendt' becomes 'Ghendt'.
4. When a place name start with a lower case letter, this is edited into a capital letter: 'antwerpen' becomes 'Antwerpen'. When the place name is prefaced by a reduced article ('tAntwerpen'), this reduced article remains in lower case.
5. The real ligatures æ, œ, Æ and Œ are noted as such. Other ligatures are dissolved.
6. The combination of 2 V's is retained, both in upper and in lower case. When the combination 'VV' or 'vv' is meant to suggest 'W' or respectively 'w' by re-cutting one of the letters, the letter is noted as 'W' or respectively 'w'.
7. Variant letter forms are not distinguished. The long ſ is displayed as a normal 's' and ß as 'ss', also in German.
8. Abbreviations are generally retained. A number of common abbreviations indicated by a titulus are resolved between square brackets: 'Antwerpê' becomes 'Antwerpe[n]'.
9. The gothic (blackletter) capitals I/J and U/V are always read and reduced as I/i and V/v.
10. Cursive is not distinguished.
11. Prepositions not directly attached to the place name, are neglected. Those particles that are fused with the place name are retained. This way 'tAntwerpen' is retained as 'tAntwerpen' but 'te Antwerpen' becomes 'Antwerpen'.
12. Indications of provinces or countries in place names are retained together with the place name. Thus 'Ipris Flandrorum' is retained as a whole.
13. When a city name consists of two parts, both parts retain a capital letter: e.g. Maes-Tricht, Mosae-Traiectensis, Den Bosch. This obviously does not count for parts such as 's-Hertogenbosch.
14. Imprints in non-Latin alphabets are transcribed.
15. In Latin place names, the locative is retained.

Examples

Imprint	Transcription	Applicable rule
Antwerpen	Antwerpen	1
ANTVVERPEN	Antvverpen	3 and 6
t'Antwerpen	Antwerpen	11
T'ANTWERPEN	Antwerpen	3 and 11
't Antvverpen	Antvverpen	1, 6 and 11
'T Antwerpen	Antwerpen	3 and 11
Thandtvverpen	Thandtvverpen	1 and 11
Tipre	Tipre	1 and 11
TIPRE	Tipre	1, 3 and 11
Tot Yperen	Yperen	11
antwerpen	Antwerpen	4 (first letter becomes capital)
't hantwerpen	Hantwerpen	4 (first letter becomes capital)
in den Haag	Den Haag	4 (first letter becomes capital)
in sGravenhage	sGravenhage	4 (reduced article)
in 'sHertogenbosch	'sHertogenbosch	4 (reduced article)
Lugdunum Batavorum	Lugdunum Batavorum	12 (country -indication)
Middelbvrgi Zelandiæ	Middelbvrgi Zelandiæ	12 (province-indication), 5 and 6