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Dissertation Information for Richard P. Smiraglia

NAME:
- Richard P. Smiraglia
- (Alias) Richard Smiraglia
- (Alias) Richard P. Smiraglis

DEGREE:
- Ph.D.

DISCIPLINE:
- Library and Information Science

SCHOOL:
- University of Chicago (USA) (1992)

ADVISORS:
- Don R. Swanson
- Arlene G. Taylor

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
- D. Kathryn Weintraub
- Abraham Bookstein
- Dagobert Soergel

MPACT Status: Fully Complete

Title: AUTHORITY CONTROL AND THE EXTENT OF DERIVATIVE BIBLIOGRAPHIC RELATIONSHIPS

Abstract:
This dissertation is about authority control (the means by which
access terms are controlled and associated in a bibliographic retrieval
system) and derivative bibliographic relationships (associations among
families of works that are derived from a common source). A major
problem in the structure and use of bibliographic retrieval systems is
an absence of explicit linkages. Understanding the derivative
bibliographic relationship and incorporating that relationship as
linkage would contribute a great deal to improving a bibliographic
retrieval system. Descriptive survey research method was employed to
investigate derivative works. A sample of 411 works was drawn from the
online catalog of the Georgetown University Libraries. Most works are
contained in printed, textual materials (books and serials), of which
most are published in the U.S. or U.K. in English and have dates of
publication later than 1965. 49.9% of all works were derivative, but
between 40% and 63% of the derivative relationships are not apparent
from bibliographic records. Few bibliographic characteristics can be
used to predict which works are likely to be derivative. The strongest
predictor is the age of the work. The mean number of members per
bibliographic family for all works in the sample was 4.7. The majority
of bibliographic families have successive derivations and only a few
have extractions, amplifications, or performances. Almost a third of
the bibliographic families have only two members--a progenitor and one
derivation. Works of history are associated with simultaneous and
successive derivations, and literary works are associated with
amplification and performance derivations. Age of the progenitor is
associated with large numbers of derivations in a bibliographic family.
Only a few members of any bibliographic family are held by Georgetown.
Less than 10% of the ideational nodes of control were controlled by LC

authority records. Although bibliographic families are in many cases
quite complex in their node structure, few contain variant identifying
features (such as title-changes). A reconceptualization that would
allow the authority record for a heading to become an authority record
for an ideational node could greatly improve syndetic depth in the
current online catalog. However, to effectively increase the explicit
control of works will require even greater changes to our bibliographic
system.

MPACT Scores for Richard P. Smiraglia

A = 3
C = 2
A+C = 5
T = 3
G = 1
W = 3
TD = 3
TA = 0
calculated 2008-07-07 10:57:42

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