Jonathan, thank you, in full accord.  Yes, the crux of the matter is Names
(NAF being the more expensive library subscription
and the one not available for free like http://id.loc.gov

At http://orlabs.oclc.org/Identities/ I searched Œclapton, eric¹ and wonder:

* are all WorldCat+NAF 49 retrieved headings there helpful? do we need in
the list  Œclayton, cecile¹ (etc.)
* Names that haven¹t made it into an authority record are definitely
helpful, but can we suggest a way to sort and rank them more usefully (for
the user) on the page?

Your thoughts? 
Ya¹aqov 






On 3/19/10 2:35 PM, "Jonathan Rochkind" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> I don't think the inclusion of non-NAF headings in Identities is a flaw, it's
> a benefit to the purpose of Identities not to be held back by the somewhat
> glacial pace of change in NAF.  But you're right, the right tool for the job,
> I don't know that any of the existing OCLC "free" (or included with other OCLC
> membership/services) services are the right tool to replace any existing
> purchased authorities tools or sources. It depends on what you're using them
> for, of course.  I agree that the brochure statement was potentially
> misleading, but these (Identities, Terminologies, Research Terminologies) are
> still very interesting and useful services.
> ________________________________________
> From: Code for Libraries [[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Ya'aqov Ziso
> [[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Friday, March 19, 2010 2:14 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] WorldCat Terminologies
> 
> Karen,
> Seems like pulling-teeth was worth it. Thank you for these updates and for
> making them available for all interested.
> Essentially, given your 6 months latency compared to http://id.loc.gov) and
> the inclusion of NAF and non-NAF headings in Identities,
> both Terminologies and Identities are not yet at a level of databases that
> libraries can go for, forgoing what they currently need to buy, load, and
> maintain locally.
> Your withdrawal of the brochure statement is justified and apology accepted.
> Ya¹aqov
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On 3/19/10 1:35 PM, "Karen Coombs" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> 
>> > Ya¹aqov,
>> >
>> > Identities is not based on a name authority file it is based on name data
>> in
>> > WorldCat. These two are not the same thing. Names within Identities come
>> from
>> > several different fields within the WorldCat MARC records including 1xx,
>> 6xx,
>> > and 7xx fields. This is why Identities contains names which have not made
>> > their way into a name authority file
>> > (http://www.worldcat.org/identities/np-levan,%20ralph%20r). Also Identities
>> > doesn¹t contain authority records, it contains Identity records. Identity
>> > records contain different information from Authority records.
>> >
>> > There are name authority projects going on within OCLC Research. The most
>> > active is VIAF http://www.viaf.org/ . This service contains name authority
>> > information from several national libraries, not just Library of Congress
>> and
>> > right now not all of NACO has been loaded, only differentiate personal
>> names.
>> > More information on the VIAF project is available at
>> > http://www.oclc.org/research/activities/viaf/
>> >
>> > Regarding up to dateness of Terminologies as I said in my previous message
a
>> > schedule for updates was posted to the Developer Network listserv and the
>> > Developer Network wiki
>> > (http://worldcat.org/devnet/wiki/Terminologies_Updates). Andrew Houghton >>
has
>> > also informed you that information about how recently a given terminology
>> is
>> > located on the Experimental Terminologies page (
>> > http://tspilot.oclc.org/resources/index.html).
>> >
>> > Karen