NACO-Music Project Intro

The NACO-Music Project (NMP) is a funnel configuration comprising a group of librarians at various institutions who cooperatively contribute name and name/uniform title authority records to the national authority file. It is administered by a coordinator who plans member training and oversees administrative matters. The NMP Coordinator is Mark Scharff (mscharff@wustl.edu).

New participants are selected on an ongoing basis via an application process overseen by the NMP Advisory Committee. The committee includes the NMP Coordinator, representatives from the Library of Congress and the MOUG Board, and two at-large members. Current committee members are listed in the Directory of NACO-Music Project Participants.

Newly admitted NMP participants are trained and reviewed via e-mail by an NMP mentor, who is assigned by the Coordinator. Training and reviewing procedures vary; precise routines are determined by the reviewer in consultation with the participant. Participants remain under review until they achieve independent status, which confers the authority to contribute name and/or name-uniform title authority records without review. A participant may achieve independent status for either name or name/uniform title headings by submitting a quantity of self-selected records, over an unspecified time period, in either or both categories, with a ninety percent rate of accuracy. Independent status for an NMP participant is achieved through NMP review, not through the status of the home institution. Participants may choose to be reviewed indefinitely rather than seek independent status.

Participation in NMP is granted to the combination of individual and institution. A participant who leaves an institution may have his/her future participation at a new institution reviewed by the NMP Advisory Committee. Participation by the participant's former institution may also be reviewed by the Advisory Committee.

The NACO Music Project has an electronic mail list, NMP-L, which is used for various purposes: to ask general questions about establishing a heading or citing information in the authority record, to make announcements of interest to all NMP participants, to announce new developments or revised documentation. Project statistics from the Library of Congress are also communicated via NMP-L.

NMP is sponsored by the Music OCLC Users Group (MOUG). Membership in MOUG is encouraged, but not required, for participants in NMP. Click the link above for more information about MOUG and to download an application form.

Questions regarding the NACO-Music Project or the application procedure may be directed to any member of the NMP Advisory Committee.

Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules, Second Edition (2002 Revision with 2005 Update)
Library of Congress Rule Interpretations
MARC 21 Format for Authority Data (http://www.loc.gov/marc/authority/ecadhome.html)
Descriptive Cataloging Manual, Chapter Z1 (http://www.loc.gov/catdir/pcc/naco/z1.pdf)
NACO Participants Manual, 3rd ed. (http://www.loc.gov/catdir/pcc/naco/npm3rd.pdf)
Types of Composition For Use in Music Uniform Titles (http://www.library.yale.edu/cataloging/music/types.htm)
OCLC Authorities: Formats and Indexes (if you are an OCLC participant; http://www.oclc.org/support/documentation/worldcat/authorities/authformat/default.htm)

Ordering information for the items above which must be purchased from LC's Cataloging Distribution Service is available at http://www.loc.gov/cds/
All of the items above except the OCLC Authorities document are also available via Cataloger's Desktop.