Preferred Author Grouping

This documentation describes the logic and process to create a manual Preferred Author Grouping in Pika.

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Preferred Author Grouping

The Preferred Grouping Author will replace every instance of the Source Grouping Author for any grouped work with that Grouping Author, not just for a single grouped work of interest. This is for legitimate variations on an author where records will have one form of the author and some with another form of the author.  Both forms of the author are right and there is not a normalization or cataloging problem.  In that case, there is more than one way to catalog a work, so the Preferred Grouping Author form is used to add entries into a table when a normalized author will now group with a preferred author.

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Process

Under the Cataloging tab, click on the Preferred Grouping Authors link. Anyone with the cataloging role can populate this information into a form that will change the grouping author. 

Open

You can add a new entry or edit an existing entry.

Open

Click on the Add New PreferredGroupingAuthor button.

The Source Grouping Author is the grouping author that should be replaced.  The Preferred Grouping Author is the normalized author that should replace the source grouping author. The Notes field should include information relevant to the grouping author’s entry. Click Save Changes and Return or Save Changes and Add Another.

Clicking on the Edit link will allow you to edit or delete an entry.  Save your changes.

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Examples

Below are several example scenarios where the Preferred Grouping Authors feature could be used.  

There is an author that is known by different names, such as a pen name. You can decide which author’s name is preferred to make the records group. Here is the same title showing a different author name for the same author.  

Example One

Both forms of the author’s name may be correct. In order for them to be grouped, one will need to be the source and the other the preferred grouping author to make sure these titles will group together.  If you use the Preferred Grouping Authors feature the author can be changed to allow them to group. 

Using the highlighted Preferred Grouping Author entries above, when Pika has a record with a grouping author of “theo lesig” or “theodore le sieg”, the grouping author will be replaced with “seuss”.

Example Two

Here is another example of when the Preferred Grouping Authors feature would be used. There is an author’s name that is listed last name, first name as the grouping author.  However, the author is listed as the first name and last name for the grouping author.  This author gets normalized.

There is an author that is listed at first name, last name (this is incorrect due to the comma between the first and last name) for the grouping author.  However, the author is listed as the last name and first name for the grouping author.  That author also gets normalized.

The author with last name, first name is correct. The author with first name, last name is incorrect. In order for them to be grouped, one will need to be the source and the other will be the preferred grouping author to make sure these titles will group together.  If you use the Preferred Grouping Authors feature the author can be changed to allow them to group.

Example Three

Here is another example of when the Preferred Grouping Authors feature would be used.  There is an author that includes the word “limited.”  This author gets normalized.

There is an author for the same title that does not include the word “limited.”  This author also gets normalized.

Both authors are correct.  However, these records will not group unless the author information matches.  It is important to choose the author variation that will affect a smaller number of potential grouping authors. 

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