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Another difference is the milieu (peer sources)—ISNI contributors are not only other libraries but also property rights organizations, publishers, information aggregators, etc.) , so we are placed in a much larger/global environment. (In ISNI, "source" refers to the contributing member organization (e.g., HARV), not the part of an information resource from which information is transcribed or recorded.)
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- Party: a person, fictional character, or a legal entity (a party can have more than one Public Identity)
- Public Identity: the name by which a Party is publicly known. Each Public Identity for a separate Party shall have a separate ISNI.
- An author who publishes under several different names:an ISNI will be created for each name or party: example: Ruth Rendell/Barbara Vine
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There are two levels of records:
- Provisional/Suspect
- Assigned
Whether the ISNI receives Assigned status or not depends in large part on a complex algorithm that takes into account the:
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One or more of the following actions may satisfy the algorithm and turn a provisional ISNI into an assigned one:
- adding our source, e.g. PCC, as an identifier
- adding a distinguishing bit of data like a birth date
- adding an external link. It isn't necessary to include more information once an ISNI has been assigned, because the ISNI is designed to link to other information on the web about the identity.
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Search results are sorted by relevance; for example: Results for John Huston:
- APH: 8 (direct order)
- APH: 14 (surname, forename) and (surname forename –no comma)
- NA: 1 (direct order)
- NA: 14 (surname, forename) BUT surname forename – no comma=0)
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ISNI is designed to uniquely identify an entity; it is not intended to provide access to comprehensive information about a public identity. It can provide links to sources where detailed information is held, and provides a link for occurrences of the public identity across databases on the web.
- Expected: Fields in the Sources/Marc21 formats are arranged in numeric order
- Unexpected: there There is no 1XX field because there is no “authorized form” as we know it and are used to seeing in the NAF. Instead, the “Name” appears in the 7XX field, and there can be multiple 7XX fields (one from each source).
- Each form of the name in the 7XX field is followed by a code for the source.
- The 4XX fields (which precede the 7XX fields) are the name variants as determined by the institution institutions that contributed the data. It also doesn’t matter if the forms repeat, or if the same form appears in both the 7XX and 4XX field…what is important is the source of the data (who says so and how many). In the end, all of the forms of the name in this record are linked to this one specific ISNI.name variants are fine: spellings, middle name, with and without birth and death dates
- We cannot change data contributed by any other source. If we have data that contradicts what is already in a record, we can add it. We can notify the central QT of an error, if we think it is important. For example, a contemporary architect listed as born in 1850 was reported; the difference of two years in a birth date probably would not be.
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Select Add an identity: Person or fictional character, or: Add an identity: Organisation Organisation
- The template is pre-populated with Identifier type which is a code for the contributing institution: XXXX; for PCC contributors, this code is PCC
- Identifier (number): leave blank
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- Name is required! (even when editing an existing record and the name is the same as the name already supplied by another source)
- This form of name will appear as the 700 field in the record
- Forename and surname as found in the source, plus other information that you have
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- Filled in fields will be assigned a source code in subfield $2 associated with the sign-on of the user
- Fields with a + sign are repeatable; click on the sign to open another blank field
- Where there are codes for an element, these are indicated by a pull down box (Creation role) or by the “i” Information icon next to a field that contains information about the data that can be entered.
Heading:
Creation Class (defines the repertoire such as musical, a-v, textual similar to RDA’s content type. Some examples are given if you hover over the “i” information icon, but according to the ISNI data element values document creation class is not yet defined; the default is “cre” BUT it is an optional field and most of us are choosing not to enter any value in this field.)
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General note: messages for the ISNI quality team, such as information that should be deleted from a record, records that should be merged or separated, etc.
When completed, click SAVE Save Changes. (Not necessary to Save save after adding information in each tab)
Results:
- When a new name is entered, the ISNI algorithm checks the database for possible duplicates. If a possible duplicate is found a record with status provisional is entered and presented on the screen with its possible dup. If you are able to resolve the duplicate you will get an assigned ISNI (16 digits).
- If there is no potential duplicate identified, the ISNI server checks for completeness, so if data required for assignment is missing, the status of the record is set to Provisional. Instead of an ISNI number, the record will present with its Record no.
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- Find existing record created by other source
- Check record status: provisional/assigned
- Add institutional identifier (e.g. HARV, PCC) and the Name; Save. This may be sufficient. If record status is still provisional, then
- Add its the entity's web page as additional information, for example
How to enhance your institution's record
- Find existing XXXXPCC-created record
- Add a Relationship (Related; Relationship Type); Save
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- Find existing record > (Related; Relationship)
- Add relationship. If related identity is also in ISNI, follow the prompts to:
- search; compare/choose; add see also or colleague/collaborator relationship; link); Save
Identify and report problems and duplicates
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- Your search results list contains a possible duplicate in ISNI, and ISNI has flagged it for comparison
- click Compare, and decide, as per ISNI Web Interface Usage Guidelines - version 20161216 (page 19)
- Your search results list contains an obvious duplicate in ISNI, but ISNI has not flagged it
- make a General Note on the External Info & Notes tab of the duplicate record: "Please merge with [isni #]," which generates an email message to the ISNIQT
- Your search results list may contain a duplicate but you’re not sure
- make a General Note on the External Info & Notes tab of the duplicate record: "Please merge with [isni #]," which generates an email message to the ISNIQT
- When you create a new record, the ISNI algorithm sees a possible duplicate and presents it to you
- click Compare, and decide, as per ISNI Web Interface Usage Guidelines - version 20161216 (page 19)
Also make a General note when you have found a mixed identity (names of different persons in one ISNI record), or another error you wish to see corrected.
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For beginners, see in particular the documents noted with "useful!" on the Pilot phase 2017-18 documentation and training page.