H 836 Geographic Subdivision Information
in Subject Authority Records
BACKGROUND: In February 1999, the Library of Congress began
using the 781 field (Subdivision Heading Linking Entry–Geographic Subdivision)
in subject authority records for new geographic subject headings that may also
be used as geographic subdivisions. This field is used to record the geographic
subdivision form in a format that is both eye-readable and manipulable
for purposes of machine validation. For geographic subject headings that are
not appropriate for use as geographic subdivisions, the Library began adding a
667 field stating that the heading is not valid for use as a geographic
subdivision to their subject authority records.
Prior to February 1999, subdivision treatment decisions for
selected geographic subject headings that fell outside the scope of the
standard rules, or whose geographic status was ambiguous or not readily
apparent, were recorded in 680 fields in the subject authority records for
those entities, as in the following example:
151 ## $a
680 ## $i As
a geographic subdivision, this heading is used directly.
A project was begun in 1999 to convert 680 fields of this
type that appear in subject authority records created prior to February 1999 to
781 fields, and to add either a 667 or 781 field to all other subject authority
records for geographic headings established before that date. If geographic
subject authority records are encountered that lack either a 667 or 781 field,
catalogers may report them by sending a printout to the Subject Headings
Editorial team.
For all newly proposed geographic subject headings that may
be used as geographic subdivisions, catalogers are now required to add the 781
field. For those headings that are not appropriate for use as geographic
subdivisions, such as celestial bodies and certain entities located in cities,
catalogers are required to add a 667 field to the record stating that the
heading is not valid for use as a geographic subdivision.
This instruction sheet describes the procedure for adding
this 781 or 667 field to a newly proposed geographic subject heading.
Instructions on adding this field to records for jurisdictional names that are
established as name headings are provided in H 835.
1. 781 field. When establishing a
new geographic subject heading that may be used as a geographic subdivision,
determine the form in which the heading is used as a geographic subdivision
following the guidelines in H 830. Enter the text of the geographic subdivision
form in a 781 field with second indicator 0. For a geographic heading that is
used directly, enter the data in a single $z subfield. For a geographic heading
that is used indirectly through a larger geographic entity, enter the data in
two successive $z subfields. Examples:
151 ## $a
781 #0 $z
151 ## $a
781 #0 $z
2. 667 field. For a geographic
subject heading that may not be used as a geographic subdivision, such as a
celestial body, a structure or park in a city, etc., add a 667 field to the
record containing the following text:
667 ## $a This heading is not valid
for use as a geographic subdivision.
Examples:
151 ## $a Andromeda Galaxy
667 ## $a This heading is not valid
for use as a geographic subdivision.
151 ## $a
667 ## $a This heading is not valid
for use as a geographic subdivision.