How to Use Contributors

Revising Contributor Information in BibCite

When contributors are credited (added) within a bibliographic entry, they will appear in the Contributors list. To revise contributor (e.g., Contributor, Editor, Translator, Advisor) information in BibCite:

  1. Sign in to your account.
  2. Go to the Contributors link in the Navigation block.
Screenshot of Navigation block with the contributors link.
Figure 1: Contributors Link in Navigation Menu in BibCite (logged in as Content Manager) 
  1. When a user clicks on the link, they see the full list of contributors. You can click on a contributor's name to view their full details.
  2. A content manager can use the editing overlay to correct contributor information.
Screenshot of the editing overlay with contributor prefix, first name, middle name, last name, and suffix fields
Figure 2: Edit Contributor Overlay
  1. See Table 1: Edit Contributor Information Fields and Best Practices in BibCite for a field and data behavior reference. Examples follow.
  2. When revising information, remember to choose Save.
  3. The fixed name field is for when you have contributors like corporate names, partial names, or names that use the Do Not Reformat option, so they display exactly as it is in the fixed name field.
Table 1: Edit Contributor Information Fields and Best Practices in BibCite
FieldDataNote(s)Formatting Example(s)
Prefix
  • Use for Mr., Mrs., Miss, Ms, Dr., Rev., Sir, Lady, Baron and other formal titles, OR
  • Use for articles (a, an, the) in corporate, group names or pseudonyms.
 1, 2, 3
First Name
  • Use for full First Name (or initial) AND any middle name or initial
 3, 4, 5, 6
Middle Name⚠ Do not use this field. Place any middle initials or names in the First Name field instead. This field is set to cutoff any text greater than 8 characters. Best practice: Put the entire non-family name of a contributor in the First Name field instead. Additionally, if you do use a full middle name, it will render poorly in the bibliography by inserting a period after the first letter.The contributor name parser will autofill this field. It is best to check any new contributor entry to ensure this field is avoided. 
Last Name
  • Use for last names, pseudonyms, groups, organization, subsidiary and corporate names.
  • The first character(s) in this field controls where the name appears the alphabetized list. Last names using de la, le, von and other articles in foreign languages will alphabetize by initial capitalization. For example, van Beethoven will be found under the letter B. but Van Horn would be categorized as “V”; le Clair = C, Le Clair = L; etc.
 All (1-6)
Suffix
  • Use for Jr., Sr., III, M.D., LL.D., Ph.D. and any other credentials/titles such as advisor number mentioned at the end of a contributor’s name.
  • (optional) Some content providers using this system use this field to notate pseudonyms. If an entry is a pseudonym, they indicate that in this Suffix field with [pseud.] listed as the last item in the field.
 1, 2, 6

Contributor Name Formatting Examples

Example 1 – Group name with article: The Friends of the Utopian Park System
Prefix: The
Last Name: Friends of the Park System
Do not reformat: Checked (Left unchecked the name lists as ‘Friends of the Utopian Park System, The’. When checked (not reformatted), the full name will still alphabetize under the letter F.

Example 2 – Pseudonym with alphabetization based on first letter of a last name: Dr. Seuss [pseud.]
Prefix:.Dr.
Last Name: Seuss
Suffix: [pseud.]
Do not reformat: Checked
Left unchecked this would appear in the Contributors List as ‘Seuss, Dr., [pseud.]’

Example 3 -- Standard anglicized name prefix and suffix/credentials: Mrs. Jane Q. Public, Ph.D.
Prefix: Mrs.
First Name: Jane Q.
Initial: [blank]
Last Name: Public
Suffix: III, Ph.D.
Do not reformat: UNchecked (i.e., Public, Mr. John Q., III, Ph.D.)

Example 4 – First name as Initial: W. Somerset Maugham
First Name: W. Somerset
Last Name: Maugham
Do Not Reformat: UNchecked (i.e., Maugham, W. Somerset)

Example 5 – Annotated Middle Name: E[dward] P[almer] Thompson
First Name: E[dward] P[almer]
Last Name: Thompson
If P[almer] is placed in the Middle Initial field, it will be reformatted to E[dward] P. [almer] in the bibliographic entry.

Contributor Groups and Merging

Contributor Groups

Contributor Groups are good for linking contributors who either use pseudonyms or may have publications under different spellings of their name. Adding contributors into a contributor group will allow content authored by all versions of a contributor’s name to appear in searches when one or the other is searched.

For example, Mark Twain and Samuel Clemens.

Creating Groups

For these instances, you need to create a contributor group.

  1. Go to Content: Bibliography: Contributor: Contributor Groups
  2. Add Contributor Group
  3. Look up both (or all) names.
  4. Click save.
Screenshot of contributor group overlay with Mark Twain and Samuel Clemens selected.
Figure 3: Contributor Group Overlay 
Screenshot of the Mark Twain/Samuel Clemens group.
Figure 4: Successful Contributor Group Overlay 

Editing Group

  1. Go to Content: Bibliography: Contributor: Contributor Groups
  2. Find the group in the list and click edit
  3. Add or remove names!

Merging

Sometimes a contributor may be listed in the contributor list multiple times. If they are the same person and have the exact same spelling of names (Shel Silverstein and Shel Silverstein), they can be merged.

Do this only if you know they are the same person.

Screenshot of contributor names.
Figure 5: Multiple entries of Shel Silverstein 
  1. Click on the contributor’s name and select merge.
  2. Type in contributor’s name to bring up all instances of their name. Each instance will have its own ID, so be sure to pay attention to which one you are merging so you don’t try to merge the same one into itself!
Screenshot of Shel Silverstein merging.
Figure 6: Merge contributor screen 
  1. Select the name that you wish to merge into the contributor.
  2. If you select the same version of the name to merge into itself, you will get an error:
Screenshot of error message with an unsuccessful merge.
Figure 7: Merge Unsuccessful Overlay 
  1. If you select the correct version, they will merge!
  2. Verify and click confirm
Screenshot of the successful Shel Silverstein merge.
Figure 8: Merge Successful Overlay