WHSO simplified field structure

WHSO simplified field structure

Below is a simplified field structure for bibliographers who are unable to convert their bibliographies into the WHSO recommended field structure. This simplified database makes it easier to enter bibliographic citations into a searchable format. With minimal conversion, even bibliographies in flat text formats can be made searchable with this structure.

In order to create this simplified structure, a record must be made for each citation. The full citation and abstract should then be included in the citation and abstract field. The other fields must then be entered for indexing purposes: title; contributors (authors, editors, etc.); year of publication; subject terms; language; and document type.

The fields are identical to the fields in the recommended structure, with the exception that the full citation is added to the abstract field. All fields are required.

Required fields	Book (A)	Chapter (B)	Journal article (C)	Literature Review (B or C)
1. Record identifier (unique)	X	X	X	X
2. Document type (fixed)	X	X	X	X
3. Title	X	X	X	X
4. Year of publication	X	X	X	X
5. List of contributors (subdivided)	X	X	X	X
6. Subject index terms (subdivided; standardized)	X	X	X	X
7. Language	X	X	X	X
8. Full citation and abstract	X	X	X	X

Notes: (1) The record identifier must be unique to each record in the database. No duplicates should be permitted.

(2) The document type should be fixed to the above four categories—“book,” “chapter,” “journal article,” and “review.” Individual databases may find it necessary to create other citation forms on occasion, but any new citation types will need to be clearly explained.

(5)(6) List of contributors and subject index terms are subdivided fields.

(6) Subject index terms should be standardized. At least a few major classification terms should be drawn from the English WHSO thesaurus. All named subjects should be drawn from the WHSO thesaurus. See section on thesaurus for information about making additions to the thesaurus. Non-English subject terms are permissible. WHSO will try to help provide a resource for standardization of non-English terms, if individual bibliographers will help.

(*) A note on diacritic marks and special characters. If at all possible Unicode should be used to enter all characters; if this is impossible a standard set of marks indicating diacritics needs to be used and that encoding should be clearly labeled and be accessible to all users of the bibliography. Suggested formatting for diacritics: “<o’>” for ó; “<U”> for Ü; etc.

Example of a book citation (edited collection) using the simplified field structure

2005.431001.Isis. Jaroslav Flota (editor), Studie o technice v Českých zemích 1945-1992 (translated titles: Studies in technology in Czech lands, 1945-1992, Studien zur Technik in den tchechischen Ländern 1945-1992), Sborník Národního technického muzea v Praze, no. 32, (3 vols.: 2877 pp.), Praha: Encyklopedický Dum, 2003.

Detailed account of developments in Czechoslovak industries and technologies. Includes detailed summaries in English (pp. 2349-2532) and German (pp. 2533-2733). Partial contents: Květa KORVASOVÁ, Výpočetní technika, pp. 569-585; Antonín KOVÁŘ, Stanislav KLIME, Milič JIRÁČEK, Jarosav ĒJNOHA, Karel HODER, Zdeněk KLOS, Metrologie, pp. 603-635; Luděk HOLUB, Chemická technologie, pp. 927-1047; Pavel DRÁBEK, Technologie farmaceutického prumyslu, pp. 1048-1061.

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1. Record identifier: 2005.431001.Isis

2. Document type: Book

3. Title: Studie o technice v Českých zemích 1945-1992

4. Year of publication: 2003

5. List of contributors: Korvasová, Květa; Kovář, Antonín; Klime, Stanislav; Jiráček, Milič; Ējnoha, Jarosav; Hoder, Karel; Klos, Zdeněk; Holub, Luděk; Drábek, Pavel

6. Subject index terms: Czechoslovakia // 20th century, late // Technology // Industry

7. Language: Czech

8. Full citation and abstract: Jaroslav Flota (editor), Studie o technice v Českých zemích 1945-1992 (translated titles: Studies in technology in Czech lands, 1945-1992, Studien zur Technik in den tchechischen Ländern 1945-1992), Sborník Národního technického muzea v Praze, no. 32, (3 vols.: 2877 pp.), Praha: Encyklopedický Dum, 2003.

Field descriptions

(All fields are the same as corresponding fields in the WHSO recommended database structure with the exception that the abstract field now includes the complete citation of the bibliographic item.)

· 1. Record identifier (unique)

o this must be unique for all items in the database; suggested format would be one-, two-, or four-digit year followed by sequence number, followed by bibliography identifier, thus: 2005.123456.Isis

· 2. Document type (fixed)

o should be one of four types (book, chapter, journal article, review); other types can be added as agreed upon by the committee (electronic sources, audio-visual material, and archival material, for example)

· 3. Title

o both title and subtitle should be included

· 4. Year of publication

o four-digit year

· 5. List of contributors (for creating an author index) (subdivided)

o this field contains the names of all authors, editors, and contributors to the volume using the format discussed below

o full names should be used; surnames should be clearly demarked from given names; authors should be clearly subdivided from each other; suggested punctuation; “surname 1, given-name 1; surname 2, given-name 2; …”

o the surname should not, in most cases, begin with a prefix such as “von,” “da,” or “de”; use AACR2 authority for all name forms

o corporate authors should be indicated as such; suggested usage: “CorpName: [United States Department of Agriculture]”; if possible use AACR2 as the standard.

o some discretion is used in determining which names to include; generally editors of a volume are not included in the contributor list for individual chapter entries.

· 6. Subject index terms (for creating a subject index) (subdivided; standardized)

o all terms should be separated by a consistent delimiter so that they can be pulled out for indexing

o names of persons and institutions should be entered, where possible, as they are found in the WHSO thesaurus or the Library of Congress subject terms

o subject index terms other than proper names should be entered using English; where non-English terms are used, their English equivalents should be entered separately; where possible, terms should follow already established terminology in HSTM

· 7. Language

o The language or languages of the work should be supplied.

· 8. Full citation and abstract

o contains the full citation of the entry as well as any descriptive notes

o for edited works, this can be used for a table of contents of separately authored papers (ideally the table of contents will include author, title, and page numbers)

o in order for chapters in an edited work to be fully searchable, they should be entered as separate chapter records, in addition to being listed in the abstract field of a book entry.