For an introduction to the Entity Management Cooperative (EMCO), see the EMCO home and the Description & Background pages.

The PCC Identity Management Advisory Committee is eager to hear input from the entire GLAM (and others outside GLAM) community. To provide feedback on the planning process or express interest in joining the EMCO Early Adopter Phase, please complete this survey: https://bit.ly/EMCOfeedback.

Q. What is the rationale for an identity management "track" or program in the PCC, functioning in parallel to NACO and SACO?

A. There are many more entities in our bibliographic data than are currently receiving entries in the LCNAF.  Identifiers are vital to support discovery in linked data environments.  A greater proportion of the entities in our bibliographic data will receive identifiers if new contributors from a wide range of individuals and institutions, using a range of different registries, are drawn into the effort.

Q. Will there be an 'EMCO file' created by this program?

A. No. The EMCO program will coordinate, through documentation and the support of communities of practice, the use of registries (e.g., Wikidata, ISNI, etc.) that are not in the editorial purview of the Library of Congress and the PCC.

Q. Does the PCC approve or recommend particular registries for use in identity management work?

A. No, the PCC supports work in the registries to which people are drawn. Considerations for selecting a registry may include a sufficient amount of data for successfully matching and differentiating among entities, the likelihood that maintenance will be done on contributed data, similarity of goals and purpose of the registry to that of alternatives.

Q. Is there a minimum contribution level expected of those who want to contribute?

A. No, contributors may contribute to (id)entity management work as they can.

Q. Is it necessary to coordinate or connect (id)entity management work from alternative registries to the LCNAF?

A. There is no need to search the LCNAF for already-existing data, link to any data there, or create a corresponding record in the LCNAF.

Q. Do contributions in an alternative registry need to be labeled for compliance with RDA?

A. No, it is sufficient to follow the registry's community of practice.

Q. When working in alternative registries, what happens with the historical obligation to have all the access points in BIBCO/CONSER records "backed up" in the LCNAF?

A. BIBCO and CONSER participants will continue to follow stated policy.

Q. If allowed by the alternative registry, can EMCO participants use characters from the full Unicode character set, without the restrictions to MARC-8 that NACO and SACO currently enforce?

A. EMCO will not enforce character set restrictions on alternative registries. An EMCO Early Adopter Phase will consider whether to require Unicode compliance of EMCO participants.

Q. Do participants have to be affiliated with a library of have MARC or other cataloging experience?

A. No. All individuals and institutions, including all GLAM and other institutions of all kinds, are welcome to participate. We believe that more perspectives lead to deeper, more nuanced practice and a better understanding of the linked data environment.