Hi all,

We recently received the 2014 Peters world map published by ODT Maps (OCLC #894259592), and I’m a bit befuddled by how the area scale is expressed on the map, and how it should be transcribed in a catalogue record. There are two squares showing equivalent areas in square kilometres and square miles, accompanied by the statement “Area scale 1:542,000,000 million”. This was transcribed in the 255 field of the aforementioned OCLC record as “Area scale [1:542,000,000,000,000]”, which seems a bit on a the tiny side. Measuring a side of one of the squares and calculating a linear scale myself yields approximately 1:23,000,000, which turns out to be close to the square root of 542 trillion. How should these scales be transcribed in the record? As our local policy is to include a number representing the scale within the call number itself, the calculated linear scale is more meaningful within the context of how our collection is organized. I haven’t run into this before – while the concept of an area scale makes a lot of sense, in practice the vast difference between the area and linear scales is confusing.

Any advice would be appreciated!

Thanks,

Jordan

Jordan Hale

Original Cataloguer & Reference Specialist

Map & Data Library

University of Toronto

(416) 978-5346

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http://mdl.library.utoronto.ca

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