"Authority control" is a method used by libraries and archives to organize information consistently. It means that all names of people, subjects, or places always appear in the same form, even if they have different versions. This helps prevent confusion and duplications and allows for more accurate and easier information retrieval.
Photo: Yosef Cohen
Mazal is the Israeli national authority file. It is a database and tool to pool resources that are connected to, relate with, or defined by a certain authority record. In essence, it is a multilingual dictionary that specifies the preferred access point for each authority record to be used consistently in describing resources (by cataloging or archival description) and allowing the collation of the relevant materials. Mazal allows up to four scripts for the preferred access point to be used in parallel: Hebrew, Latin, Arabic, and Cyrillic.
The National Library of Israel manages Mazal, and the database contains roughly four million and a half authority records, divided into 8 types: personal name, family name, corporate body, meeting, title, topical term, geographic name, genre/form. A consortium of 27 libraries is partner in Mazal, and, each month, thousands of new authority records are created and existing records are updates.
Mazal is open for browsing, complies with international standards, refers to coordinating records in other authority files, both national and international, such as ORCID, Wikidata, and VIAF.
Authority records are the entries in the dictionary that is the authority file, and they are like IDs for things in the world. They include the preferred access point for the authority record (composed from the name of the thing, and often includes additional details), additional info about the authority, and other forms of the name.
This is accomplished by:
· Establishing a preferred form – A standardized form for the use of an identity's name. Since there can be many variations (alternative spellings, different languages, multiple names for the same entity), a preferred form is designated to facilitate the consistent cataloging and retrieval of materials related to that identity.
· The preferred form is based on the most commonly known and accepted version of the identity’s name.
· Mazal allows for up to four preferred forms, one in each of the following scripts: Hebrew, Latin, Arabic, and Cyrillic.
· Creating a unique access point, which consists of the preferred form and a qualifier (additional information) to distinguish between entities with similar names.
· Adding variant forms – These include alternative forms of the identity’s name, such as common misspellings or known variations. These variants ensure that relevant search results are retrieved even when the preferred form is not used in the query.
· Providing additional information to help verify the correct identity, such as life dates, periods of activity, associated places, fields of activity, and related entities.
Photo: Yosef Cohen
Photo: Stav Tzur
Mazal manages eight types of authorities:
· Person: Individual figures with names. This includes both living and historical persons, mythological, legendary, or fictional characters, deities, and named animals.
· Family: A group of individuals related by family ties or who define themselves as a family unit (whether by blood or otherwise). This also includes dynasties, tribes, royal houses, clans, and the like.
· Corporate body: Two or more individuals operating under a specific name and acting as a single entity for a common purpose, or bodies defined legally as corporations. This includes companies, partnerships, associations, government entities, bands, expeditions, and more.
· Event: A gathering of individuals for a common purpose, limited by time and place. This includes sporting events, conferences, festivals, fairs, exhibitions, and more.
· Title: A named intellectual or artistic work, whether the name was given by the creator or later by the public. This includes artistic works (literature, theater, cinema, dance, paintings, etc.), legal documents (treaties, constitutions, scrolls), series, and more.
· Subject: A concept, group, or other entities that can be the focus of a resource. This includes tangible items, abstract concepts, philosophical schools of thought, disciplines, activities, processes, biological species, membership groups, fictional places, and more.
· Place: Geographical locations (continents, countries, various settlements, natural sites, landscape features) and astronomical locations (celestial bodies, planets, geographical features on celestial bodies, galaxies, nebulae, etc.).
· Genre/Form: The structure, style, or technique in which the intellectual or artistic content of the work or title is expressed.
On the authority pages, you can find:
· The identity’s name – At the top of the page is the main access point, displaying the preferred form, and further down the page are all variant forms listed in the authority record.
· The identifier of the authority record in Mazal.
· Additional information about the identity, such as life dates, periods of activity, creation dates, associated places (birthplace, place of death, residence, location of the main office), fields of interest, occupation, additional biographical or historical information, and identifiers for the same entity in other authority databases (such as VIAF, Library of Congress, etc.).
· Note: For personal authorities, gender is sometimes indicated. In Mazal, this is used to specify the grammatical gender that should be used when referring to that identity.
· The sources from which the information was derived.
· Related identities.
· The number of records in the National Library catalog associated with the identity, sorted by material type, with links to search those records.
Photo: Yosef Cohen
Do you have additional information about the specified authority? Identified an error? Have comments? Please contact [email protected] with the authority name, its identifier, and the information for addition and/or correction.
