Author

2 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.

3 NUMBER OF AUTHORS

The STCV records as wide a gamma of 'authors' as possible. This means: all persons or authorities that were involved in the contents or artistic realisation of the book, and who can be traced on the basis of that. Authors mentioned on the title page(s), in the approbation, the privilege or on the engravings, are recorded as much as possible; people to whom the work was dedicated and that are mentioned in prefaces and dedications, are not. Mentioning all these 'passive' authors would lead us too far. Authors of liminary materials, poems and praise of the author or the work, prefaces, short commentaries, critical apparatus or short biographies of the main author(s) are also not recorded individually.

4 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

5 TYPES OF AUTHORS

1 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.

2 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'.

6 CHOICE OF PERSONAL AUTHOR

1 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.

2 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'.

3 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.

4 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').

5 Primary versus secondary author

For the STCV, the function-indication is more important than the difference between primary or secondary author. In a work that is published for its illustrations (e.g. a collection of engravings with a title page), one could consider the illustrator as 'primary author'. However, the illustrator in this case is indicated as 'ill' to reflect his actual relation to the work. For summaries and adaptations, the summariser or adaptor is also always indicated as such (adp). If known, the original author is always 'primary author' (aut).

6 Special cases

6.1 Editors of magazines

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

6.2 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.

6.3 Travel narratives

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

6.4 Orations

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

6.5 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.

7 INPUTTING PERSONAL AUTHORS IN BROCADE

1 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.

2 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.

3 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)

4 The biographical scope note

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

5 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.

[...] -> rest naar de stappenplan

8 SPECIAL CASES OF PERSONAL AUTHORS

Identifying and choosing personal authors is not always easy. This section offers rules on dealing with a number of special cases:

• different alphabets
• kings and ruling monarchs
• pseudonyms
• vague or general author indications
• false or dubious names
• multiple authors
• anonymously published works
• mottoes and devices

☞ Main article: Special Cases of Personal Authors

9 CHOICE OF CORPORATE AUTHORS

How and when to choose corporate authors in a STCV description.

☞ Main article: Choice of Corporate Authors

10 INPUTTING CORPORATE AUTHORS IN BROCADE

Details for STCV cataloguers on how to construct main forms and transcribe reference terms in Brocade. An overview of common corporate authors (worldly and ecclesiastical) and a list of common monastic/convent orders and their abbreviations.

☞ Main article: Inputting Corporate Authors in Brocade