Automatic derivation of name access points in cataloging

This article reports the results of research designed to explore the feasibility of automatically deriving name access points from machine‐readable title pages of English language monographs. Two questions were asked: (1) To what degree is it possible to specify formal criteria for extracting from the title pages of monographs in machine‐readable form the names of those persons and corporate bodies who have contributed significantly to the creation of the monographs in question? and (2) Are title page data adequate for automatically generating name access points from English language monographs in machine‐readable form? Results show that approximately 88% of the access points selected by the Library of Congress or the National Library of Medicine could be automatically derived from title page data. These results have implications for the design of bibliographic standards and online catalogs. © 1990 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.