Scoping of authority records

[Rosemary Fallon <R dot Fallon at library dot usyd dot edu dot au>]

Although I have read the documentation in the III manual and various 
postings on the IUG & AIUG lists about scoping authority records, I do not 
understand its purpose or how it works.  Would anyone who has scoped 
authorities explain why you do it/how it works please?  (Any advantages or 
disadvantages would be a bonus!)  I think that the term scoping refers to a 
way of pre-limiting an OPAC search: if so, I'm not sure how that applies to 
authority records.  What happens if you don't re-scope authority records at 
least periodically?

Rosemary


Rosemary Fallon
Authority Control
Collection Services Team
University of Sydney Library
Level 5, Fisher Library  F03
University of Sydney
New South Wales 2006
AUSTRALIA

e-mail: r dot fallon at library dot usyd dot edu dot au
telephone: +61 2 9351 5589
fax: +61 2 9351 3689