[Koha] Authorities help

[Ben Ide]

Hi!  I'm Ben.  Long time lurker, first time malcontent.  I mean poster.  ;-)

We use authority records rather extensively here.  The best example
that I can use to explain why would be "Mark Twain."

Samuel Longhorn Clemens chose the name Mark Twain as a writing
pseudonym, but his pen name became so widely recognized that nearly
everyone refers to him that way.

Having an authority record would allow you to redirect people looking
for "Samuel Longhorn Clemens" to the recognized name "Mark Twain."

...or "Sam Clemens," or "Marc Twain," or one of the other pen names
that he used.

It gets more useful for people like Tchaikovsky, who has multiple
recognized alternate spellings of his name.

We also use it to pull together iterations of musical works, which can
get more byzantine.  (How many "symphony no.3" titles are there?)

Hope this helps.

-- Ben

On Thu, Sep 17, 2009 at 12:05 PM, scott <scott at sedc.k12.ut.us> wrote:
> What are the authorities for? I cant find a explanation for them, I am
> trying to edit the 100 $a field, i figured out how to add authorities,
> do a search for that authority to stick it in the 100$a field, but whats
> the point? I could just turn them off, would it have a great affect on
> things?
>
> Thanks. For those that reply.
>
>
> -Scott
>
>
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