Policies on Handling Author Info

[Brian]

I am a rookie librarian. I've read the manual and several "tips", but want to be sure I "do no harm". Here's what I found, steps I've done and question on last step.

by C.L. Sulzberger lists as "author" three variants of the author's name. I found four variants in wider search.

1. C.L. Sulzberger
The above is the Library of Congress Authorized Heading.

2. C.L. Sultzberger (incorrect spelling, merged to above)

3. C. L. Sulzberger (Space bewteen initials corrected.

4.Cyrus Leo Sulzberger II
This is step I want to verify. Do I just merge this with #1? Thanks.

I did eliminate variants from the book, using the author listed on book (which is also LOC listed).

[Cait]

In this particular case, the next thing to check would be how the author is credited on the books in question. Are there any books under the "Cyrus Leo Sulzberger II" profile which use that form of the author's name, or do they all actually say "C.L. Sulzberger"? If none of them actually say Cyrus Leo II, then just merge the authors. If some of the books do have the name that way, then it's a question of whether that form of the name is well enough known that we should maintain an alternate profile for it -- but we can cross that bridge if we come to it; just from a quick glance, I see only books credited to C.L. on that book list, so it may not be an issue here.

[Brian]

Thanks for quick reply. I'll tread softly. I don't want to do create work by making errors.