Persistence of Misromanisationof Japanese Words/Phrases in
Bibliographic Records throughCopy-Assisted Cataloguing at
North American Libraries
European Association of Japanese
Resource Specialists. Conference(16th : 2005 : Kulturen i Lund)

Hideyuki Morimoto

Introduction
Romanisation of bibliographic data incatalogue records
Presentation Organisation• Problem• Literature Review• Methodology• Limitations• Findings/Discussion• Conclusion

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Definition
Romanisation
Copy-Assisted Cataloguing (aka,copy cataloguing, derivedcataloguing)

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ScopeMisromanised Japanesewords/phrases in source
bibliographic records contained in amajor bibliographic utility databaseleft uncorrected by North American
libraries through copy-assisted
cataloguing

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Scope--cont.
Outside Scope• other cataloguing mistakes thanmisromanisatione.g., Appendix 1• misromanisation introduced anew notstemming from source records

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Research Questions
RQ1. Extent of misromanisation ofJapanese words/phrases appearing
in source bibliographic records in a
major bibliographic utility database
RQ2. Extent of misromanised
Japanese words/phrases left
uncorrected by North American
libraries through copy-assisted
cataloguing
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Literature Review
Jai-hsya Tsao, 1994
Fung-yin Simpson, 1998
David Bade, 2002
Jeffrey Beall and Karen Kafadar,
2004
Lei Zeng, 1993
Hee-sook Shin, 2003
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Methodology
WorldCat, expert search:
ln=jpn and yr:2004- and dt=bks andcg:05--> 1,097 records, 5/6/2005• Misromanisation detection processe.g., Appendices 2-3

Japanese romanisation standards
within North American libraries
context
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Methodology--cont.
Misromanisation Categories• RJ1: incorrect phonetic representation(including missing or superfluous
phonetic value, but excluding diacriticerrors)• RJ2: incorrect word division (includinghyphen usage)• RJ3: incorrect, missing, or superfluous
diacritic(s)• RJ4: incorrect case (upper vs. lower)

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Methodology--cont.
Record Source• L: LC record (when DLC and/or DLC-Rappeared anywhere in field 040)
• B: non-LC BIBCO record (when neitherDLC nor DLC-R appeared anywhere infield 040, but when field 042 contained"pcc")• N: neither LC nor BIBCO record
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Methodology--cont.
Set of 1,097 WorldCat masterrecords
1,101 North American holdingsymbols attached, each checked inOPAC (rather than WorldCat)• record source in OPAC field 040• romanisation in OPAC records

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Methodology--cont.
OPAC Situation• m: incorrect romanisation intact• a: incorrect romanisation introducedanew• c: incorrect romanisation corrected• i: incorrect romanisation changed but
still incorrect• e: correct romanisation from earlier
version
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Methodology--cont.
• d: different source of record• ?: no field 040 data displayed in OPAC
• 0: no corresponding record in OPAC
• 1: no OPAC access from outside

Coding Examples, Appendix 4

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Limitations
WorldCat as source of sample set
Examination of OPAC records asapproximation of copy-assisted
cataloguing assessment
Unintended bias possibility fromexclusion of records with no field 040
data in OPAC and OPACs inaccessible
from outside
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Limitations--cont.
As long as misromanisation correctedin WorldCat before 5/6/2005, nocopy-assisted cataloguing activities
associated with earlier misromanised
master record versions captured

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Findings/Discussion
1,097 - 53 - 78 - 1 = 965 WorldCatrecords• exclusion example, Supplement 2

183 misromanisation cases in 136
WorldCat records (14.09%)• Incorrect word division by far the mostfrequent misromanisation• Breakdown: Table 2• Selected Examples: Table 3
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Findings/Discussion--cont.
1,101 - 11 - 59 - 194 = 837 OPACrecords• Breakdown: Table 7• Selected Examples: Table 8

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Findings/Discussion--cont.
over 90% of misromanisation cases
were left uncorrected through copyassisted cataloguing at North
American libraries
48 North American libraries(71.64%) did not correct any
affected misromanisation throughcopy-assisted cataloguing
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Conclusion
Persistence of misromanisation ofJapanese words/phrases inbibliographic records through copyassisted cataloguing at North
American libraries established andanalysed

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Conclusion--cont.
Further Research Possibilities• Causality
Local Cataloguing Policy
Complexity in Romanisation Rules• Treatment of misromanised Japanesewords/phrases in bibliographic records
at libraries outside North Americae.g., Supplement 3

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