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Date: Tue, 20 Apr 1999 13:58:52 +0000 (/etc/localtime)
From: Ken Grabach <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Form subdivisions
Sender: Ken Grabach <[log in to unmask]>
 
To all the map catalogers who use this list:
 
I have just now got to reading the OCLC Cataloging Update for April 1,
1999.  In it are two items of interest for catalogers of maps.  The first
is that Library of Congress will begin using established forms of the U.S.
Board of Geographic Names as the authority for Chinese place names; it
will no longer be Szechwan Province (China), but Sichuan Sheng (China)
instead.  We had already been accustomed to Beijing rather than Peking,
but others will follow.  They say that as authority records are converted
there will be inconsistencies.  They refer to Cataloging Service Bulletin,
no. 83, Winter 1999 for a list of names.  They refer to their web address,
http://lcweb.loc.gov/catdir/china.html during the transition for
information about LC's progress in implementation of changes.  LC is
moving from Wade-Giles in transliteration to pinyin in transliterating to
Roman letters, and this is part of the process.
 
The other item of interest is that as of 17 February, LC has begun to use
a new subdivision code (|v, that is subfield delimiter v) for form
subdivisions that are free-floating divisions.  The delimiter v is
intended to make form subdivisions more easily used in local systems.
They give three records as examples of usage of the new subdivision, none
of which is a map.  I assume that the subdivision "Maps" in subject
headings would fall under this guideline, as would "Atlases" or "Computer
file".  The three records are #40868830, #40869728, and #40869738.  "Form
subdivisions are easily identified in the publication, _Free-Floating
Subdivisions: an Alphabetic Index_ by a special symbol."
 
 
_________________________________________
Ken Grabach         <[log in to unmask]>
Documents and Maps Librarian
Miami University Libraries
Oxford, Ohio  45056  USA
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