HKCAN


About HKCAN 

HKCAN is a collaborative Chinese name authority project under JULAC and managed by JULAC Bibliographic Services Committee. 

Background

In January 1999, a group of academic libraries in Hong Kong agreed to set up among themselves the Hong Kong Chinese Authority (Name) (HKCAN) Workgroup for establishing a union database that would reflect the unique characteristics of Chinese personal and organizational names.  This project was spearheaded by Lingnan University Library and the Chinese University of Hong Kong Library.  The original HKCAN membership included all JULAC libraries except the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Library.  In July 2005 an agreement was reached with OCLC, making HKCAN records available to all OCLC libraries.   In July 2017 when all 8 JULAC libraries standardized their cataloguing practice on the shared Alma platform, the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Library joined HKCAN as the 8th member.  HKCAN Workgroup was dissolved as all JULAC libraries have become members of HKCAN.  Since then, HKCAN Project and database have been managed directly by JULAC Bibliographic Services Committee.  In August 2018, HKCAN database was migrated into Alma Community Zone for sharing with other Alma users.  HKCAN data are also accessible by the public via CNASS of CCCNA and as linked open data.  In addition, all Library of Congress Name Authority File (LCNAF) records updated in HKCAN will be synchronized automatically with LCNAF.  As at March 2019, the database contains more than 310,000 authority records.

Mission

With goal modeled after the Programme for Cooperative Cataloguing, the HKCAN Project aims to improve and streamline Chinese name authority control operations, in order to make them “Better”, “Faster”, and “Cheaper” while producing “More”.

Terms of Reference

  1. To facilitate collaboration among participating libraries in the development and maintenance of HKCAN database that reflects the characteristics of Chinese personal and organizational names in Hong Kong.
  2. To create and maintain a multilingual, multi-script, centralized, and union dataset in JULAC’s shared Alma integrated library system.
  3. To set up standardized China name headings, including personal names, corporate names, meeting/conference names, uniform and series titles, etc.
  4. To identify applications and interfaces that would allow multilingual retrieval via remote access to HKCAN database for members and non-members.
  5. To set up principles for selection of Chinese authority records.
  6. To monitor the ongoing maintenance and updating of HKCAN database, and the distribution of work among participating libraries.
  7. To identify related reference and production tools that would benefit the Project.
  8. To enhance resource sharing and to promote cross-straits co-operation with other libraries on Chinese name authority control.

Revised May 2019

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