New Concepts: Nomens and Appellations

RDA New Concepts Series: Nomens and Appellations
RDA New Concepts Series
Nomens and Appellations
July 17, 20191
Robert L. Maxwell
July 17, 2019

RDA New Concepts Series: Nomens and Appellations July 17, 20192
The 2020 RDA – Where
does it come from?
• A major revision of RDA,
based on
• IFLA Library Reference
Model (2017) = “LRM”

LRM
• LRM is a consolidation of
• Functional Requirements for
Bibliographic Records (FRBR)
(1997)
Authority Data (FRAD) (2009)
Subject Authority Data (FRSAD)
(2019)

LRM
• A conceptual model of the bibliographic
universe
• Based on the entity-relationship model
developed for databases
• Also geared toward linked data models

LRM
• LRM includes a new entity called
“nomen”
• But it’s actually not so new …

Development of nomen:
FRBR (1997-2009)
• In Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records “labels” for
entities were conceived of as attributes
• Work: Title of the work
• Expression: Title of the expression
• Manifestation: Title of the manifestation ; Manifestation identifier
• Item: Item identifier
• Person: Name of person
• Corporate body: Name of the corporate body
• Concept: Term for the concept
• Object: Term for the object
• Event: Term for the event
• Place: Term for the place

FRAD (2008)
• Functional Requirements for Authority Data introduced several
new entities, including
• Name
• A character, word, or group of words and/or characters by which an entity is known.
• Identifier
• A number, code, work, phrase, logo, device, etc., that is associate with an entity, and
serves to differentiate that entity from other entities within the domain in which the
identifier is assigned.
• Controlled access point
• A name, term, code, etc., under which a bibliographic or authority record or
reference will be found.

FRAD (2008)

FRAD (2008)
• Attributes of name in FRAD
• Type of name
• Name string
• Scope of usage
• Dates of usage
• Language of name
• Script of name
• Transliteration scheme of name

FRAD (2008)
• New relationship
introduced:
appellation

FRSAD (2011)
• Functional Requirements for Subject Authority Data introduced a
new entity: Nomen
• Definition: “Any sign or sequence of signs (alphanumeric, characters,
symbols, sound, etc.) that a thema is known by, referred to, or addressed
as.”
Thema = “any entity used as a subject of a work”, i.e., any of the FRBR
entities.
• Nomen was a “superclass” encompassing the three FRAD entities
• Name
• Identifier

FRSAD (2011)
• Attributes of nomen in FRSAD
• Type of nomen
• Scheme
• Reference source of nomen
• Representation of nomen
• Language of nomen
• Script of nomen
• Script conversion
• Form of nomen
• Time of validity of nomen
• Audience
• Status of nomen

FRSAD (2011)
• The relationship of nomen to thema (i.e., everything else) =
appellation

LRM (2017)
• Definition: An association between an entity and a designation
that refers to it.
• The designation is called a nomen string, which is an attribute of
the entity nomen.
• Any entity has to be named through at least one nomen. An entity
might be associated with more than one nomen.
• More than one nomen can be associated with the same nomen
string, but an instance of nomen can only be associated with one
instance of any entity.
• A nomen string can consist of two or more parts. These parts may
be derived from existing nomens.

LRM (2017)
• Examples of nomen strings
“Heart of darkness”[Latin characters that may refer to a novel by Joseph Conrad]
“黑暗之心” [Chinese characters that may refer to an expression of Heart of
darkness]
“Joseph Conrad” [Latin characters that may refer to the author of Heart of
darkness]
“Conrad, Joseph” [Latin characters that may refer to the author of Heart of
darkness]
“‫קונראד‬ ‫”ג׳וזף‬ [Hebrew characters that may refer to the same author]
“1857-12-03” [A string of digits that may refer to Conrad’s birth date, a time
span]
“1857-1924” [A string of digits that may refer to Conrad’s life span, a time
span]
“9780008343668” [A string of digits that may refer to a 2019 manifestation of
Heart of darkness]

LRM (2017)
• Identical nomen strings can exist in separate nomen instances. But each instance
of a nomen can refer to only one entity.
“Heart of darkness” [Latin characters that may refer to a novel by Joseph Conrad]
“Heart of darkness” [Latin characters that may refer a screenplay by Orson Welles based
on the Conrad novel]
“Heart of darkness” [Latin characters that may refer to a 1993 TV movie based on the
novel by Joseph Conrad]
“Heart of darkness” [Latin characters that may refer to an opera by Tarik O’Regan]
“Heart of darkness” [Latin characters that may refer to an episode of The Vampire Diaries]
“Heart of darkness” [Latin characters that may refer to a song by The Headstones]
“Heart of darkness” [Latin characters that may refer to a concept in Zoroastrian religion]
“Heart of Darkness” [Latin characters that may refer to a British-bred race horse]

LRM (2017)
• Nomen strings can be composed of parts derived from other nomens.
“Conrad, Joseph”
[Latin characters that may refer to the author of Heart of darkness]
“1857-1924”
[A string of digits that may refer to Conrad’s life span]
“Heart of darkness”
[Latin characters that may refer to a novel by Joseph Conrad]
“Conrad, Joseph, 1857-1924”
[An alpha-numeric string that refers to the authorized access point for
Conrad, derived from two nomens]
“Conrad, Joseph, 1857-1924. Heart of darkness”
[An alpha-numeric string that refers to the authorized access point for
Conrad’s work, derived from two (or three) nomens]

LRM (2017)
• Attributes of nomen in LRM
• Category
• Nomen string
• Scheme
• Intended audience
• Context of use
• Reference source
• Language
• Script
• Script conversion

LRM (2017)
• Relationship models
LRM
Compare FRSAD

Short excursus on linked data
RDF
• Linked data is a term used to describe a widely-used framework
that links data from different data sources on the Web.
• This framework is called Resource Description Framework or
RDF.
• RDF is usually written in XML, and is designed to be understood
by computers. It is not designed to be displayed to people. But:
• RDF triples are a translation of the XML that is comprehensible
to humans.
• Linked data consists of a series of triples, many of which may be
needed to fully describe a particular entity.

RDF Triples
• An RDF triple is a statement about a particular
element in the description of an entity.
• It follows a quasi-English-language syntax
Subject => Predicate => Object
A person => Has a name => John

RDF Triples and RDA
Subject (the Domain) => Predicate (the Element) => Object (the Range)
Person (an RDA entity) => has date of birth => Timespan (an RDA entity)
Terry Pratchett => has date of birth => April 28, 1948

Metadata description sets
• New vocabulary for what we have in the past called
“records,” e.g., “authority records for persons,” etc.
• RDA Glossary definition:
• One or more metadata statements that describe and
relate individual instances of one or more RDA
entities.
• A metadata statement is “a piece of metadata that
assigns a value to an RDA element that describes an
individual instance of an RDA entity.”

• An RDF triple is an example of a metadata
statement
• So a set of RDF triples that when combined to
describe an entity is a metadata description set
• Examples in the Toolkit labeled “View in Context
Example” are metadata description sets
• There is an example under the “biographical
information” element

Another possible element:
has authorized access point for person –
Stöcker, Helene, 1869-1943

Nomen in RDA
• Definition: A designation that refers to an RDA entity.
• Compare LRM: An association between an entity and a designation
that refers to it.
• RDA de-emphasizes “association”—nomen is an entity, not a
relationship, but that entity has associations (i.e. relationships)
with all other RDA entities.

Nomen in RDA
• Any entity referred to in an RDA context is named through at least
one nomen.
• A description of a nomen contains (as an element) a nomen string,
which consists of a combination of signs and symbols in a
particular order.
• Variations in the symbols used or their order results in a new
nomen string and this usually results in a different nomen.
• However, variations in the visual representation of the string (e.g.
different fonts or sizes of characters) does not result in a different
nomen.

Nomen in RDA:
Descriptive elements
• Descriptive elements for nomen
• Category of nomen
• Context of use
• Intended audience of nomen
• Nomen string
• Note on nomen
• Reference source
• Scheme of nomen
• Script of nomen
• Status of identification
• Undifferentiated name indicator

Nomen in RDA:
• Category of nomen
• A type to which a nomen belongs
• Examples:
• Personal name
• Common name (e.g. “Joseph Conrad”)
• Browse name (e.g. “Conrad, Joseph”)
• Work title
• Spine title
• Identifier
• Pseudonym
• Married name
• Preferred name
• Variant name
• Nickname
• Stage name

Metadata description sets:
Category of nomen
Nomen
has nomen string Lewis Carroll
has category of nomen Common name ; Pseudonym ; Preferred name
Nomen
has nomen string Dodgson, Charles Lutwidge
has category of nomen Browse name

Nomen in RDA:
•Context of use
•The circumstances or situation in which an
appellation of an RDA entity is used.
• Examples:
• Literary works
• Mathematical works
• Detective novels
• Critical works

Context of use
Nomen
has nomen string Lewis Carroll
has category of nomen Common name ; Pseudonym ; Preferred name
has context of use Literary works ; Works for children ; Humorous
works
Nomen
has nomen string Charles Lutwidge Dodgson
has category of nomen Common name ; Preferred name
has context of use Mathematical works

Nomen in RDA:
•Intended audience of nomen
•A class of users for which a nomen is
intended.
•Examples
• Chinese speakers
• Children

Intended audience
Nomen
has nomen string ‫קונראד‬ ‫ג׳וזף‬
has category of nomen Common name
has intended audience Hebrew speakers
Nomen
has nomen string Mister Rogers
has intended audience Children
Nomen
has nomen string War and peace
has category of nomen Preferred title [in LC Children’s subject heading list]
has intended audience Children

Nomen in RDA:
• A language of an appellation.
• Examples
• http://id.loc.gov/vocabulary/iso639-1/hi.html [URI for Hindi in id.loc.gov]
• Hindi [natural language form of the language]
• hin [MARC code for Hindi]
• Script of nomen
• A set of characters or symbols with which an appellation is formed.
• Examples
• Tibetan
• Cyrillic
• Latin

Language and Script of nomen
Nomen
has nomen string ‫קונראד‬ ‫ג׳וזף‬
has language of nomen heb
has script of nomen Hebrew
Nomen
has nomen string Voĭna i mir
has category of nomen Preferred title
has language of nomen rus
has script of nomen Latin
Nomen
has nomen string Война и мир
has category of nomen Variant title
has language of nomen rus
has script of nomen Cyrillic

Nomen in RDA:
•Scheme of nomen
•A scheme in which an appellation is established.
• Examples
• AACR2
• RDA
• LCMPT
• ISO 8601
• Extended date and time format

Scheme of nomen
Nomen
has nomen string flute
has category of nomen Medium of performance name
has scheme of nomen lcmpt [Library of Congress medium of performance
thesaurus]
Nomen
has nomen string Mister Rogers
has scheme of nomen RDA
Nomen
has nomen string War and peace
has scheme of nomen Library of Congress children’s subject headings

Nomen in RDA:
Relationship elements
•Relationships to nomen
• Appellation of RDA entity of [relationship to any RDA
entity]
• Assigned by agent
• Date of usage
• Derivation of
• Part of nomen

Nomen in RDA:
Relationships
Nomen
Agent
is assigned by agent
RDA entity
is appellation of RDA entity
Timespan
has date of usage
Nomen
has derivation /
is derivation of
Nomen
has part nomen /
is part of nomen

Metadata description sets: Relationship
Assigned by ; Date of usage
Nomen
has nomen string Konrant, Tzozeph, 1857-1924
has category of nomen Variant access point
is assigned by agent Princeton University Library
(Nomen to Agent relationship)
Nomen
has nomen string Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis
has category of nomen Preferred name
has date of usage [1968..]
(Nomen to Timespan relationship)

Appellations
• Relationship elements that link a nomen to an entity identified by
its nomen string are called Appellation elements in RDA. The
names of the broadest of these elements are formed “Appellation
of [entity]”
• Narrower elements:
• Access point for [entity]
• Authorized access point for [entity]
• Identifier for [entity]
• Name of [entity]
• Preferred name of [entity]
• Preferred title of [entity]
• Title of [entity]
• Variant access point for [entity]
• Variant name of [entity]
• Variant title of [entity]

Appellation
Relationship
Nomen
RDA entity
is appellation of RDA entity/
has appellation of RDA entity

Metadata Description Set
Example
Work
has preferred title of work The wizard of Oz
has category of work Fantasy films ; Action and adventure films ; Musical films ;
Fiction films
has date of work 1939
has variant title of work El mago de Oz
has variant title of work Ο μάγος του Οζ
has variant title of work O magos tou Oz
has authorized access point Wizard of Oz (Motion picture : 1939)
for work
has variant access point Mago de Oz (Motion picture : 1939)
for work
has variant access point Μάγος του Οζ (Motion picture : 1939)
for work
has variant access point Magos tou Oz (Motion picture : 1939)
for work
Appellation elements

Metadata Description
Set Cluster Example
Work
“The Wizard of Oz”
has category of work Fantasy films ; Action
and adventure films ;
Musical films ;
Fiction films
Nomen
has nomen string The wizard of Oz
has language of nomen English
has preferred title of work
Nomen
has nomen string El mago de Oz
has language of nomen Spanish
Nomen
has nomen string Ο μάγος του Οζ
has language of nomen Greek
has script of nomen Greek
Nomen
has nomen string O magos tou Oz
has language of nomen Greek
has variant title of work
Nomen
has nomen string Wizard of Oz (Motion
picture : 1939)
has category of nomen Authorized access point
has authorized access
point for work
Nomen
has nomen string 1939
has category of nomen Date ; Authorized access point
has scheme of nomen EDTF
Timespan
“1939”
has date of work
has authorized access point for timespan
is part of nomen
Is derivation of

Example
Person
has preferred name of person Judy Garland
has date of birth 1922-06-10
has date of death 1969-06-22
has variant name of person Frances Ethel Gumm
has authorized access point Garland, Judy
for person
has variant access point Gumm, Frances Ethel
for person
Appellation
elements

Cluster Example
Person
“Judy Garland”
Nomen
has nomen string Judy Garland
has category of nomen Preferred name ; Stage
name
has context of use Motion pictures ; Acting
has preferred name of person
Nomen
has nomen string Frances Ethel Gumm
has category of nomen Variant name ; Birth name
Nomen
has nomen string Garland, Judy
has category of nomen Authorized access point for
person
Nomen
has nomen string Gumm, Frances Ethel
has category of nomen Variant access point for
person
has variant name of person
has authorized access point for person
Nomen
has nomen string 1922-06-10
Timespan
“1922-06-10”
has date of birth
has date of death
Timespan
“1969-06-22”
Nomen
has nomen string 1969-06-22
has variant access point for person
Timespan
“1935-1969”
has date of usage
is derivation of
is derivation of

Why is RDA doing this?
It seems so complicated!
• Theoretical model calls for it
• Labels, such as names, titles, and terms, have attributes that need to be
recorded.
• Allows for better precision
• Using the nomen entity we can
• Create customized displays based on audience
• Prefer the display and indexing of nomens meant for children
• Prefer the display and indexing of nomens in a particular script (Cyrillic, Chinese, etc.)
• Isolate nomens by attributes such as dates of usage, or context

OK, you’ve convinced me!
How do I do it?
• Implementation of the nomen entity will require major changes to
our communications and exchange standards such as MARC21 and
developing standards such as BIBFRAME.
• Could we create a nomen record in MARC?
• Would require a new 1XX field (for the nomen string) and new fields to
accommodate the other nomen elements
• MARC Advisory Committee could allow partial implementation by
authorizing subfield codes where certain aspects of the
Appellation elements could be recorded

Possible partial MARC
implementation
Record nomen elements as an undisplayed/non-indexed part of access points in authority records:
100 1_ Garland, Judy $% stage name $^ motion pictures $* 1935-1969
400 1_ Gumm, Frances Ethel $% birth name $* 1922-1935
***
430 _0 Μάγος του Οζ (Motion picture : 1939) $@ Greek $# Greek
430 _0 Magos tou Oz (Motion picture : 1939) $@ Latin $# Greek
$% = Category of nomen
$^ = Context of use
$* = Date of usage
$@ = Script of nomen
$# = Language of nomen

Full MARC Implementation
• New 1XX field for nomen string
• New 3XX or other fields for nomen descriptive elements
• Category of nomen (rename 368 beyond person or corporate body?, new
subfield?)
• Context of use (new)
• Intended audience of nomen (385?)
• Language of nomen (377?)
• Note on nomen (667?)
• Reference source (670?)
• Scheme of nomen (040 subfield $e?)
• Script of nomen (expand 348?)
• Status of identification (008/33?)
• Undifferentiated name indicator (expand 008/32?)
• Ability to link to other entities, including related nomens, WEMI,
agents, timespan, place

Thank you!
Questions?
Comments?

New Concepts: Nomens and Appellations

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