The "Contribution", "Subject" or "Genre, form" fields can be used to link documents to controlled authorities/entities (people, corporate bodies, topics, places, temporals, works) in different ways:
- Remote entities: links to external repositories (IdRef, GND, etc.) aggregated by the MEF system.
- Local entities: entities registered directly in RERO ILS
- Textual entities: textual access points (with or without identifiers) recorded in document metadata
The Catalog > Entities menu lets you search for external or local entities (but not textual entities).
Remote entities
Entities (people, corporate bodies, topics, places, temporals) that can be used for cataloguing in RERO ILS are aggregated from different repositories by the MEF system. Links are established directly to external entities that are managed in their respective systems. Their metadata is imported into the RERO ILS indexes and periodically updated.
Correspondences between entities in external repositories are established by the MEF system. This mechanism enables catalogers to use the repository of their choice, and users to view entities in the language of their choice.
Local entities (deactivated in the RERO+ network)
The "pro: entity management" role enables a librarian to manage entities in RERO ILS. Use the Catalog > Entities menu and filter with the Source > local facet to consult or add local entities.
To link a document to a local entity:
- Choose "Link to an entity" in the "Contribution", "Subject" or "Genre, form" fields.
- Choose the desired entity type and use autocomplete to find an existing entity (Link to local entity)
- If the entity does not yet exist, create it using "Add a local entity". The link to the document is made automatically.
Textual entities
Entities can be referenced textually by means of an access point and, where appropriate, an identifier. For reasons of data integrity and consistency, this option is not recommended outside certain specific cases, such as:
- An entity does not (yet) exist in external repositories and is temporarily referenced in text form
- We wish to keep imported data referring to entities not available in MEF but without creating local entities.