Article,
Da Chanan / Two Languages: creating bi-lingual name authorities
IFLA Council and General Conference, (2002)
Abstract
With a renewed emphasis on Scottish cultural identity comes a growing interest in the minority languages of Scotland. Many organisations now seek solutions to what is an international concern, creating standard name authorities in a bi-lingual environment. Using as a specific example the project undertaken by the Scottish Poetry Library to create name authorities for Gaelic poets, some with Gaelic and English forms of their names, the issues raised will be examined. The creation of standard name authorities in this situation would be of benefit across all domains in Scotland. The problem of 'provenance' is central as many similar names exist, which makes it difficult to create acceptable, accurate identifiers using dates and local or given names. Similarly, name authorities can accidentally be duplicated where it is unclear that different forms of a name exist, between English and Gaelic versions and where non-standard spellings are common. Ensuring the creation of multiple cross-references for all known variations becomes necessary. Identifying reliable reference sources is of paramount importance.
