Week 3

This week I spent more time working on ETDs, name authority records, and Wikidata items on my own before meeting with Cate to review my work together. I practiced more subject analysis and dove deeper into using OCLC Connexion and Classification web to understand when and how to use different LCSH terms and subdivisions.

I came across a challenge when I researched the author of the ETD I was working on and could not find anything about her anywhere online. There were people who shared the same name but they were all definitely not the same person as the author of this specific ETD. I finally was able to locate her by searching the entire dissertation title and discovered she had since changed her last name! I was unsure what name to use in this case so I set up a Wikidata item with the name provided by the ETD and set it aside to ask Cate about. We didn’t have time to get to it this week, but I will provide an update once I have learned how to approach name changes in Wikidata as well as in NARs.

I also got to set up a Wikidata item for a corporate body that a student and professor were associated with but which hadn’t been set up yet. To do this, Cate showed me how to move properties and values from one item to another and we were able to do a lot of it that way. I then followed the application profile for corporate bodies that the UW PCC Wikidata Pilot Project set up to ensure I included all the required properties.

Lastly, I got to learn how to merge Wikidata items, as I came across two items that described the same person. One of them had incorrect information attached and the other was just very bare bones. We merged the two and then deleted the incorrect information and I was sent on my way to work on enhancing the item with all the information I had about the person. Overall I still feel like I’m moving slowly, but I’m encountering new scenarios and learning more and more with each record I work on.