The Library of Congress discontinued its CDMARC Names and CDMARC Subjects as of December 31, 1996. It continues to maintain and distribute its name and subject authorities in print and tape formats to subscribers, however. Those subscribers include bibliographic utilities, such as GRC International, Inc., OCLC, and RLIN, who receive the data on tape and incorporate them into their systems. GRC International, Inc. also fills the void left by the discontinuation of CDMARC Names and CDMARC Subjects with the Validator Subjects and Names Authority which first appeared in April 1997.
This quarterly CD‐ROM set comes on three discs and contains the complete Library of Congress authority files. The discs cover 4.458 million name records for personal and corporate names, meetings, geographic terms, series, and uniform titles as well as 242,948 subject headings, including terms and subdivision headings created by catalogers at the Library of Congress and at institutions contributing to the file through the National Coordinated Cataloging Operations (NACO). Series authority records include monographic series, multipart items, and series‐like phrases that may be construed to constitute series.
Authority record information is recorded in different fields of a bibliographic record and represents established headings, unauthorized headings and references. Much of the information comes from CIP (cataloging in publication) data which does not get updated upon publication. While a name authority is not likely to change from CIP to publication, titles often do. We found occasional typing errors such as “library” which was entered as “literacy” and words dropped from published titles. These errors emanate from the Library of Congress and remain consistent in all the products based on those tapes.
Catalogers can search either Headings or References or both together. Headings include all MARC 1xx fields while references cover the 4xx See From References. However, we could not find any headings or references that included 5xx fields (See Also references). The toolbar includes filters to limit a search to a single type or a combination of headings or references. Filters include personal name (MARC fields 100, 400), corporate name (110, 410), meeting name (111, 411), uniform title (130, 430), terms (150, 151, 155, 450, 451, 455), and subdivision (180, 181, 182, 185, 480, 481, 482, 485). The filter buttons have been redesigned to enhance the contrast with the rest of the toolbar.
One can browse the database forward or backward or search by keyword using Boolean AND/OR operators. In the subjects database, one can also search by LC classification number. One can set the maximum number of hits a search retrieves (default of 100). Entries display in alphabetic order with a two‐column code to the left of each entry to identify the kind of record (based on the 008 and 009 fields) and whether or not the entry has references. Diacritics do not display in the List of Hits because they interfere with the sort order. Nor do they display in headings and reference lists; but they are included in the record display and when the record is exported. The terms in the List of Hits window are not filed according to the Library of Congress filing rules. Rather, the filing is strictly based on the content of the heading word by word, with a word consisting of a string of letters or numerals set off by spaces and punctuation. Upon exiting Validator with the Exit button, one can save search options (filter, databases, etc.) in an .INI file in the Windows subdirectory.
Catalogers may view records in a tagged or thesaurus display. The tagged format displays the record with its MARC authority tags, indicators, and subfields. Certain data appear only in tagged format, such as tag 670 Source Data Found. The thesaurus option displays the heading and its references, if any. Narrower Terms, which are found in other distinct records, display only in the thesaurus format.
Catalogers can edit the records as desired and print them in the format displayed. However, exporting a record draws the data from the CD‐ROM; so any editing does not get included in the exported record. Exporting transfers the record in the MARC II Communications format to a specified file. Catalogers may define more than one export file; but only one file can be open at a time. They can review the export record file to examine the records exported during the current session. However, if they append to an existing file, only the records for the current session will be visible. The utility of the export file will most likely depend on the import capabilities of a local library system and whether it can import an entire file or whether it must process the data line by line.
Libraries with access to OCLC or other bibliographic utilities will probably not have much use for Validator as they can access the same information through their utilities. However, libraries with no access to a bibliographic utility or branch libraries that want to do name or subject authority work where access to a bibliographic utility may be restricted or nonexistent will find this product useful. For best results, one should have three daisy‐chained drives or a CD‐ROM tower. One could also copy the CDs to a hard disk for faster operation. The product will not run on a single drive. Trying to do so will produce interminable error messages. Minichangers worked well with earlier versions of Validator but are no longer recommended because they may result in slower searching in the View Thesaurus mode. Consequently, potential subscribers must consider the price of the extra hardware in addition to the subscription cost.
