#648 Please map z39.50 au to Bib-1 Use Code 1003
In Frameworks/yaz.framework/Versions/A/Resources/objc_default.bib you use the CCL qualifier encoding 'au u=1'. This follows the yaz default, but is problematic. As described at http://www.indexdata.com/yaz/doc/bib1.tkl, u=1 sets au to look for Personal-name, which as http://www.loc.gov/marc/bibliographic/bd70x75x.html suggests maps to MARC lines beginning with 700. I've verified this with several searches.
The trouble is, 700 is an "Added Entry Field", ie not required. Indeed, at http://www.loc.gov/marc/bibliographic/examples.html we see that it is only occasionally used. The Bib-1 Use code to use is 1003, ie 'au u=1003'. The yaz implementation got this one wrong, I think. 1003 is what is used by EndNote, and changing obj_default.bib to use it returns the expected results.
I don't know much about this, and I cannot find what MARC fields are searched for u=1. I doubt though that it's just 700. For instance, also the main entry field 100 is named "personal name". I would expect that these (lower) entries in table 1 do some meta-search for several relevant entries.
Also, you don't indicate any problem, so do you have one?
Hence I haven't really got a reason not to trust the yaz defaults.
Ok, it turns out that Library of Congress interpret u=1 as expected. My library doesn't. This means that any record in my library's catalogue without a 700 line doesn't get returned in a search including author. This makes the z39.50 feature of BibDesk next to useless, for me. And for anyone using libraries similar to my library. No idea how many that is, but EndNote using 1003 (for Author, they also have 1 for Personal Name) suggests 1003 is considered standard by some.
I have to admit, I don't know what the general answer should be, as every time I look at something, different libraries are doing slightly different things. I've hacked my obc_default.bib, and provided you keep this info in a file I can get around this problem. However, I can well imagine users getting confused by this and giving BibDesk up. I'm glad I don't have to give it up, as there are a number of nice features elsewhere. Maybe having an option, or an extra field code ('auth u=1003' as well as 'au u=1'), would save some users some confusion.
Another thing you can do is to edit the search group server file for your library (it should be located in ~/Library/Application Support/BibDesk/SearchGroupServices, otherwise read the Wiki). You can add an extra option named "queryconfig" to override objc_default.bib. Try copying (drag&drop) a Columbia University search group for an example, it even has exactly this override.
Christiaan's solution is correct; in fact, that's the only reason there's a Columbia University search group! It's not possible to handle attribute mappings in a way that fits all libraries.
The canonical examples are in BibDesk's bundle, in the plist shown here:
http://bibdesk.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/bibdesk/trunk/bibdesk/SearchGroupServers.plist?view=markup
The comments in the plist should be enough to get you going.