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DATE: May 23, 2024
REVISED:
NAME: Redefining Subfield $b in X00 Fields in the MARC 21 Authority and Bibliographic Formats
SOURCE: PCC Standing Committee on Standards
SUMMARY: This paper proposes redefining subfield $b (Numeration) in X00 Fields in the MARC 21 Authority and Bibliographic Formats to allow the recording of forms of numeration other than roman numerals.
KEYWORDS: Subfield $b, in X00 Fields (AD, BD); Numeration (AD, BD); Regnal numbers (AD, BD)
RELATED:
STATUS/COMMENTS:
05/23/24 – Made available to the MARC community for discussion.
06/25/24 – Results of MARC Advisory Committee discussion: MAC was generally supportive of the use case, although there remained reservations about actual deployment under the revision regarding defining "regnal" and the format of possible entries, e.g., whether spelled out forms were suitable. There were also concerns regarding potential consequences with respect to legacy data. The question of the use of "regnal" and the formulation of numbers vs. numerals was pursued. There was a question regarding whether the use case was theoretical or actual; it was confirmed that there are current practices and projects for which the proposed change would be beneficial. Request was made that the term "regnal" be clearly and properly defined in the subfield $b definition should it be implemented. The paper will return as a proposal.
Subfield $b (Numeration) is defined in the X00 (Personal Names-General Information) field documentation in the MARC Formats as follows:
MARC Authority Format X00 (for use in Authority fields 100, 400, 500, 700):
$b - Numeration (NR)
Roman numeral or a roman numeral and a subsequent part of a forename. It is used only when the entry element is a forename (first indicator, value 0).MARC Bibliographic Format X00 (for use in Bibliographic fields 100, 600, 700, 800):
$b - Numeration (NR)
Roman numeral or a roman numeral and a subsequent part of a forename. It is used only in a forename heading (first indicator, value 0).
The current definition of subfield $b restricts its use to roman numerals along with any subsequent forename elements. This definition reflects a bias toward Western languages and Anglo-American cataloging traditions, and does not correspond to the principle of representation; that is, to use what we find on the resource, in its original script.
AACR2 (22.1A) instructed catalogers: "Treat a roman numeral associated with a given name (as, for example, in the case of some popes, royalty, and ecclesiastics) as part of the name."
RDA (9.2.2.18) similarly instructs catalogers: "Treat a roman numeral associated with a given name as an integral part of the name (e.g., in the case of some popes, royalty, and ecclesiastics)."
The proposed revisions seek to allow other numbering systems to be used, and also seek to clarify that the use of subfield $b is for regnal numbers, regardless of the numbering system used; that is, ordinal numbers used to distinguish holders of the same office (e.g., monarchs and other royalty; popes and other ecclesiastics) who bear the same name, and not other types of numbers that may be associated with or part of a personal name. Though regnal numbers are commonly expressed in roman numerals, especially in Latin script and Western European language sources, this is not true of all languages and scripts.
Unlike regnal numbers, numerical designations of familial descent or relationship are accommodated instead in subfield $c in X00 fields in the MARC Formats. For such words and numbers indicating relationships, which follow surnames, AACR2 instructed catalogers to omit terms like Jr. from a name unless needed for differentiation. RDA (9.2.2.9.5) however instructs catalogers to retain them: "For languages other than Portuguese, record similar terms (e.g., Jr., Sr., fils, père) and numbers (e.g., III) following the person's given name or names, preceded by a comma." Subfield $c accommodates qualifying information more broadly, including, but not limited to, "a roman numeral used with a surname." As written, subfield $c does not exclude other forms of numeration, so changes are not needed to that subfield. For example, it is already possible to record this variant:
100 1# $a Wright, Tommy, $c III
400 1# $a Wright, Tommy, $c the Third
The use of subfield $b is also not inclusive of numbers, numerical words, or roman numerals used as part of names consisting of a phrase (including those constructed according to RDA 9.2.2.22), which are recorded in subfield $a and are not separately parsed into either subfields $b or $c. These types of names consisting of a phrase are most commonly encountered in stage and pen names. The numbers in these names do not denote a regnal number or any familial or descendant relationship to other people. For example:
100 0# $a Andre 3000, $d 1975-
100 0# $a Lil Nas X, $d 1999-
100 0# $a Quinn XCII $c (Musician), $d 1992-
100 0# $a Raúl the Third, $d 1976-
Subfield $b is either defined differently or undefined in other heading fields (X10, X11, X30, etc.) No separate subfield is used for a regnal number appearing as part of titles or names other than personal names, as in these examples:
110 2# $a Catholic Church. $b Pope (1003-1009 : John XVIII)
110 1# $a Norway $b Sovereign (1991- : Harald V)
111 2# $a Pope John Paul II Memorial Lecture
130 #0 $a Private life of Henry VIII (Motion picture)
151 ## $a Lac Léopold II (Congo : District)
Neither AACR2 nor RDA appear to contain additional instructions for (or examples of) regnal numbers in other numerical forms associated with names, nor do they explicitly instruct catalogers to convert other numerals associated with names into roman numerals in order to consider them part of the name. Rather, RDA (8.5.3) more generally instructs catalogers: "When recording a name, record numbers expressed as numerals or as words in the form in which they appear on the source of information."
Especially in cases involving multiple languages and scripts, it may be useful to record other forms of numeration found with the name in its original script and language context, even if these are not roman numerals. In authority records in the Library of Congress Name Authority File (LCNAF) and in bibliographic records using LCNAF access points, this change would be most relevant in the case of variant forms in Authority field 400, including variants in non-Latin scripts available in the MARC-8 character repertoire (Arabic, Chinese, Cyrillic, Greek, Hebrew, Japanese, Korean), as in the majority of examples below. This is consistent with RDA 9.2.3.9 instructions: "If a name recorded as a preferred name for person has one or more alternative linguistic forms, record them as variant names." While instructions for authorized access point formulation would not change, the primary goal of this discussion paper is to allow subfield $b to contain a form of numbering consistent with the language and script of the rest of the variant access point rather than romanizing or converting it to a roman numeral.
Though the immediate use case in the LCNAF is limited to field 400, the definition of subfield $b exists in the more general X00 documentation, so the authors also wish to consider how subfield $b may be used in other X00 fields. The form of numeration recorded in X00 subfield $b may vary across implementations, depending on reference sources used, the language and script of the cataloging agency, available character sets, or the cataloging conventions being followed to construct the access point in that authority file or vocabulary. In other authority files besides the LCNAF, non-roman numeration may also be represented in subfield $b in other X00 fields in addition to 400, including as part of authorized forms recorded in Authority fields 100 and 500. Other authority files may also be able to use non-Latin character sets outside the MARC-8 repertoire, that are not currently available for use in the LCNAF, and those authority files may not include romanized forms at all. These authorized forms from other sources may also appear in Bibliographic fields 100, 600, 700, or 800, and/or in field 880 (Alternate Graphic Representation) paired with one of those X00 fields. We therefore include examples below from other authority files as well as bibliographic examples using access points based on other authority files or unauthorized forms.
To summarize, this paper suggests that the definition of X00 subfield $b should be revised to accommodate regnal numbers represented in numbering systems other than roman numerals. This could include another form of numeration, a spelled out number, a combination of a numeral with a word, abbreviation, ordinal suffix or symbol, etc.
3.1. In X00 (Personal Names-General Information) in the MARC Authority Format, update the definition of subfield $b as follows:
$b - Numeration (NR)
ARomanregnal numeral or aromanregnal numeral and a subsequent part of a forename. It is used only when the entry element is a forename (first indicator, value 0).
3.2. In X00 (Personal Names-General Information) in the MARC Bibliographic Format X00, update the definition of subfield $b as follows:
$b - Numeration (NR)
ARomanregnal numeral or aromanregnal numeral and a subsequent part of a forename. It is used only in a forename heading (first indicator, value 0).
Example 1:
100 0# $a Nebuchadnezzar $b II, $c King of Babylonia, $d -562 B.C.
400 0# $a נבוכדנצר $b השני , $c King of Babylonia, $d -562 B.C.
400 0# $a נבוכדנצר $b 2-ה, $c King of Babylonia, $d -562 B.C.
400 0# $a نبوخذ نصر $b الثاني ، $c King of Babylonia, $d -562 B.C.
Example 2:
100 0# $a ʻAbbās Ḥilmī $b I, $c Viceroy of Egypt, $d 1813?-1854
400 0# $a عباس حلمي $b الأول ، $c Viceroy of Egypt, $d 1813?-1854
Example 3:
100 0# $a Nicholas $b I, $c Emperor of Russia, $d 1796-1855
400 0# $a Николай $b Первый, $c Emperor of Russia, $d 1796-1855
Example 4:
100 0# $a John $b XXIII, $c Pope, $d 1881-1963
400 0# $a 若望 $b 二十三世, $c Pope, $d 1881-1963
400 0# $a 요한 $b 23세, $c Pope, $d 1881-1963
400 0# $a ヨハネ $b 23世, $c Pope, $d 1881-1963
400 0# $a Ιωάννης $b ΚΓ΄, $c Pope, $d 1881-1963
400 0# $a יוחנן $b העשרים ושלושה, $c Pope, $d 1881-1963
400 0# $a יוחנן $b 23-ה, $c Pope, $d 1881-1963
400 0# $a ژان $b بیستوسوم ، $c Pope, $d 1881-1963
400 0# $a يوحنا $b الثالث والعشرون ، $c Pope, $d 1881-1963
400 0# $a Іван $b XXIII, $c Pope, $d 1881-1963
400 0# $a Иоанн $b XXIII, $c Pope, $d 1881-1963
400 0# $a Иоанн $b Двадцать Третий, $c Pope, $d 1881-1963
400 0# $a Йоан $b XXIII, $c Pope, $d 1881-1963
Example 5:
100 0# $a Athanasius $b III Dabbas, $c Patriarch of Antioch, $d 1647-1724
400 0# $a Αθανάσιος $b Γ΄ Αντιοχείας, $c Patriarch of Antioch, $d 1647-1724
400 0# $a Αθανάσιος $b Γ΄ Δάββας, $c Patriarch of Antioch, $d 1647-1724
400 0# $a Атанасій $b III Дабас, $c Patriarch of Antioch, $d 1647-1724
400 0# $a Афанасій $b III Даббас, $c Patriarch of Antioch, $d 1647-1724
Example 6:
100 0# $a Gustav $b VI Adolf, $c King of Sweden, $d 1882-1973
400 0# $a Густав $b VI Адольф, $c King of Sweden, $d 1882-1973
400 0# $a Густав $b VI Адолф, $c King of Sweden, $d 1882-1973
400 0# $a Густаў $b VI Адольф, $c King of Sweden, $d 1882-1973
400 0# $a 古斯塔夫 $b 六世·阿道夫, $c King of Sweden, $d 1882-1973
400 0# $a グスタフ$b 6世アドルフ, $c King of Sweden, $d 1882-1973
400 0# $a 구스타프 $b 6세 아돌프, $c King of Sweden, $d 1882-1973
400 0# $a Γουσταύος $b ΣΤ΄ Αδόλφος, $c King of Sweden, $d 1882-1973
400 0# $a גוסטב $b השישי אדולף, $c King of Sweden, $d 1882-1973
400 0# $a גוסטב $b ה-6 אדולף, $c King of Sweden, $d 1882-1973
Example 7:
100 0# $a Gustav $b 2世, $d 1594-1632, $c スウェーデン国王
400 0# $a Gustav $b 2-sei, $d 1594-1632, $c Suēden Kokuō
[Authority from the National Diet Library, Japan]
Example 8:
100 0# $a Pius $b 12世, $d 1876-1958, $c 教皇
400 0# $a Pius $b 12-sei, $d 1876-1958, $c Kyōkō
400 0# $a Pius $b XII, $c Pope
[Authority from the National Diet Library, Japan]
Example 9:
100 0# $a Nebuchadnezzar $b II, $c King of Babylonia, $d -562 B.C. $9 lat
100 0# $a רצנדכובנ $b 2-ה, $c מלך בבל, $d 630-562 לפנה"ס $9 heb
[Authority from the National Library of Israel]
Example 1:
600 07 $a Gustav $b 2世, $d 1594-1632, $c スウェーデン国王. $2 ndlsh $0 (JTNDL)00852585
Example 2:
600 07 $a Pius $b 12世, $d 1876-1958, $c 教皇. $2 ndlsh $0 (JTNDL)00542984
Example 3:
600 07 $a רצנדכובנ $b ה-2, $c מלך בבל, $d 630-562 לפנה"ס $2 nli $0 (J9U)987007300969005171
Example 4:
600 07 $a נבוכדנצר $b ה-1, $c מלך בבל, $d פעל במאה ה-11 לפנה"ס. $2 nli $0 (J9U)987007592408605171
Example 5:
600 04 $a Αλέξιος $b Α' Κομνηνός, $c Αυτοκράτορας του Βυζαντίου, $d 1057-1118.
Example 6:
600 04 $a Κωνσταντίνος $b Ζ' $c Πορφυρογέννητος, αυτοκράτορας του Βυζαντίου, $d 905-959.
The BIBFRAME and MADS conversion programs will not be impacted by this change to $b.
6.1. Do you agree with the proposed changes to the definition of subfield $b in X00 fields in the MARC Bibliographic and Authority Formats?
6.2. Should MAC consider this as a candidate for a fast-track change?
6.3. Are there any potential consequences that this paper does not address?
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