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MADS is a MARC21-compatible XML format for the type of data carried in records in the MARC Authorities format. Each individual record is contained within <mads></mads>, and groups of MADS records can be contained within a MADS Collection (<madsCollection></madsCollection>). Consistency with MODS was a goal as much as possible.
A MADS record includes one or more items. (The term "item" is used for vocabulary convenience and is not present in the xml schema or instance.) An item is an <authority>, <related>, or <variant> element. There must be exactly one <authority> and there may be any number of <related> and/or <variant> items. The items are followed by miscellaneous additional elements.
Each item has one or more descriptors; each descriptor is
one of the following elements:
<
name>, <titleInfo>, <topic>, <temporal>, <genre>, <geographic>,<
hierarchicalGeographic> or <occupation>, described as follows:
More than one of these descriptors may be combined within an <authority> tag to control an authoritative heading that consists of multiple parts. Examples are name/title headings and subject strings with various components (e.g. <topic> and <geographic>).
Each record may also have elements that contain references to the authoritative heading. These may be descriptors of the element <related> or <variant>. Both these elements are composed of the same descriptors as used under <authority>: name, titleInfo, topic, temporal, genre, geographic, hierarchicalGeographic, occupation.
The <related> element includes a name or term that has some relation to the authoritative form. It is not a variant because it is a legitimate, authoritative heading on its own. These are equivalent to "see also" references in library catalogs. The type attribute designates the type of relationship with the following values:
earlier - used for the earlier form of a name, especially
corporate bodies that have changed name over time.
later - used for the later form of a name, especially
corporate bodies that have changed name over time.
parentOrg - this is a name heading that gives the
parent organization of a corporate name heading. There can be more
than one parent organization reference on a record, as in the case
of jointly held corporations.
broader - this type of reference is for subject authorities,
and indicates a hierarchical relationship between two headings.
narrower - this related reference also indicates a
hierarchical relationship between subject headings. There may be many
narrower headings in a record.
equivalent - a heading which is equivalent to one
in another catalog or thesaurus
other - a variant that does not have a specified related
type. This should be used with an unspecified type of relationship
or a general see also reference.
<variant>
The <variant> element includes a reference as a name or term that is not considered the authoritative form. For example, if the person's authoritative name is John J. Jones, but he is sometimes referred to as J.J. Jones, then J.J. Jones can be entered as a name reference under <variant>. In library catalogs, variant headings are only used as "see" references and are not used on the catalog's bibliographic records; only authoritative headings (under <authority> in MADS) are used in the bibliographic metadata record, and the variant headings lead users to the correct heading. The type attribute designates the type of variant with the following values:
acronym - an acronym which is considered a variant of the
name in <authority>. Used most frequently for corporate names.
Corresponds to MARC Authority 4XX $w/0, value "d".
abbreviation - abbreviation generally applies to titles,
when an abbreviation may be used for indexing or identification. It
does not have an equivalent in the MARC Authority format, but relates
to the field 210 in the MARC Bibliographic format.
translation - a variant which is a translation of the
authoritative name or title. These are not distuinguished from other references
in the MARC Authority record.
expansion - an expanded form of the name in <authority>.
other - a variant that does not have a specified
variant type.
There is one note field in MADS with with a "type" attribute. The attribute is a text string and can have any value. However, there are specific type attribute values that correspond to three specific notes fields in the MARC Authorities format.
The element affiliation allows for encoding the full affiliation and contact information for a person or organization, including position, organization name, address, phone and fax numbers, email address, and a date that the contact information was valid. This can be used to carry one or more affiliations related to a personal name. There is not an exact equivalent in the MARC 21 Authority format.
Includes any URL associated with the entity described in the record. Examples are an organization's Web site or a personal home page. Note that standard identifiers associated with the entity (e.g. ISTC) are included in <identifier> field.
Includes an identifier associated with the entity described in the record. The type attribute specifies the identifier scheme, which is an uncontrolled list. Example of an identifier type appropriate for a MADS record is "istc".
A field of endeavor or business, area of expertise, area of competence, etc. of a person or organization.
Extension is used to provide for additional information not covered by MADS. It may be used for elements that are local to the creator of the data, similar to MARC 9XX fields.
<recordInfo> is a wrapper element that contains subelements relating to information necessary for managing metadata. The same information is given in MADS as in MODS recordInfo.
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