NAME: Definition of Subfields in Fields 043 (Geographic Area Code) and 044 (Country of Publishing/Producing Entity Code) to accommodate indication of Subentities in the USMARC Bibliographic, Community Information (043 only), and Authority (043 only) Formats.
SOURCE: Library of Congress, OCLC, USMARC listserv
SUMMARY: This paper proposes defining new subfields to accommodate codes for subentities below the country level in USMARC records. It suggests the definition of one new subfield in field 043 (Geographic Area Code) to record local extensions of the GAC list and two new subfields in field 044 (Country of Publishing/Producing Entity Code) to record the ISO subentity code or a local subentity code below the country level.
KEYWORDS: Field 044; Field 043; Geographic Area Code; Country of Publishing/Producing Entity Code; Subentity code
RELATED: DP98 (February 1997)
STATUS/COMMENTS:
5/1/97 - Forwarded to the USMARC Advisory Group for discussion at the June 1997 MARBI meetings.
6/29/97 - Results of USMARC Advisory Group discussion - Approved as amended. Subfield $2 should be added to field 044 to indicate the source of a local subentity code. In field 043, $b was changed to Local GAC code, since it includes the basic GAC as well as an extension. Subfield $2 was changed to Source of local GAC, rather than source of extension.
8/21/97 - Result of final LC review - Agreed with the MARBI decision.
PROPOSAL NO. 97-11 Definition of Subfields in
Fields 044 and 043
1. BACKGROUND
As MARC use expands, some countries would like to be able to code
for subentities under the country level in the geographic area and
country codes. Australia uses them and a query recently came to
the Network Development and MARC Standards Office inquiring about
the use of them for Brazil. It is likely that additional countries
will request such expansion. In order to interchange records
without preprocessing and to have customers in other countries
inputting to other systems, the MARC bibliographic format will need
to accommodate this. It is desirable to standardize subentity
codes as much as possible to make them useful to the larger
community.
Discussion Paper No. 98 (Subentity Codes for Country of Publication
and Geographic Areas) was discussed at the USMARC Advisory Group
meetings in February, 1997. It explored the issues concerning
establishing subentity code lists to be used in MARC records.
Discussion favored defining two subfields in field 044 (Country of
Publishing/Producing Entity Code), one for the ISO subentity code,
and the other for a local subentity code. This would allow
institutions to use the ISO list if desired or to use another local
list, and by using separate subfields, to identify which type of
subentity code is used. MARBI suggested that a new subfield for
field 043 (Geographic Area Code) be defined for local expansions of
GAC codes. It was requested that LC come back with a proposal to
define these new subfields.
2. DISCUSSION
Country of publication
The USMARC Code List for Countries contains a list of places with
their associated two- or three-character lowercase alphabetic codes
for presently existing national entities. In addition, subentity
codes (i.e., for entities below the country level) for states of
the United States, provinces and territories of Canada, divisions
of the United Kingdom, and internationally recognized dependencies
are included. The list allows the designation of place associated
with an item. Country codes are used in 008/15-17 (Country of
publication code) or field 044 (Country of Publishing/Producing
Entity Code) to indicate Country of publication. Field 044 is
presently defined as follows:
044 COUNTRY OF PUBLISHING/PRODUCING ENTITY CODE (NR)
Indicators
Both undefined; each contains a blank (#)
Subfield Code
$a Country of publishing/producing entity code (R)
GAC codes
The USMARC Code List for Geographic Areas contains a list of
geographic areas and their associated one- to seven-character
alphabetic codes. These include separate codes for countries,
regions, and geographic features. In addition it includes first
order political divisions of the United States, Canada, the United
Kingdom, China, and Australia. The geographic area code is used in
field 043 (Geographic Area Code). Field 043 is presently defined
as follows:
043 GEOGRAPHIC AREA CODE (NR)
Indicators
Both undefined; each contains a blank (#)
Subfield Code
$a Geographic area code (R)
Expansion for subentities
Country of publication may be used in some systems to qualify
searches. The three subentity lists in the USMARC Code List for
Countries use one character for the country and two for the
subentity. Because the 008 only has three character positions for
country code and only 26 subentity lists could be accommodated
using the current pattern, it is preferable to establish a subfield
on field 044 for subentities.
In the GAC list only two characters are used for subentities. The
GAC country codes are about 98% the same as the country of
publication codes, and the GAC subentity codes are the same as
those in the country of publication code list where they exist in
the latter.
ISO subentity code standard
A Draft International Standard for country subdivision codes, ISO
3166 part 2 (_Codes for the representation of names of countries
and their subdivisions. Part 2: Country subdivision codes_) was
balloted between November 1996 and April 1997. It allows one, two,
or three characters for the codes that can either be alpha or
numeric. It has been up to the country concerned to choose and
suggest their own codes for the standard. There is not a
consistent syntax for establishing them, although there are
limitations, nor is there consistency as to at what level they are
established. Some countries use numerics, others alphas in the
subentity code which is appended to the ISO country code (ISO 3166
part 1). Examples of the ISO subentity codes:
FR-A France, (Region) Alsace
FR-89 France, (Metropolitan department) Yonne
MX-AGU Mexico, (State) Aguascalientes
TR-01 Turkey, (Province) Adana
The USMARC Code List for Countries does not use the same country
codes as the ISO list for countries, although it does remain entity
compatible.
Additional subfields needed
A model for using separate subfields for the country and subentity
codes is found in field 052 (Geographic Classification Code), which
includes subfield $a for Geographic classification area code (a
number derived from the _Library of Congress Classification--Class
G_) and subfield $b for Geographic classification subarea code.
Following this model two new subfields could be defined in field
044 for geographic subentities:
$b Local subentity code
$c ISO 3166-2 subentity code
It might be considered whether subfield $2 needs to be added to
indicate the source of the list if using $b for a local subentity
code, if there is some reason to identify this.
For geographic areas in field 043, two subfields would be needed:
$b Local GAC extension
$2 Source of extension
The $2 subfield would contain a code for the local publication that
specifies the extension of the GAC codes to cover more specific
subareas of a country. The _USMARC Code List for Relators,
Sources, Description Conventions_ would require a new section to
register the titles of local GAC extension tables. The
instructions would recommend that standard USMARC GACs also be
included in the record for international exchange and
understanding.
3. PROPOSED CHANGES
In the USMARC Bibliographic format:
- Define in field 044 (Country of Publishing/Producing Entity
Code):
$b Local subentity code (R)
$c ISO 3166-2 subentity code (R)
In the USMARC Bibliographic, Community Information and Authority
formats:
- Define in field 043 (Geographic Area Code):
$b Local GAC extension (R)
$2 Source of extension (R)
Library of Congress