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)