I agree with Gary's proposal except for the last paragraph of it.
Instead, I would rather see the birth date given in a newly establishe
heading any time it is known.  This would obviate the need to have to
change that heading later when it comes into conflict with another
heading.  Otherwise, I think Gary's proposal limiting the addition of
dates on already established headings to these situations is a good one:

1) any kind of date or dates need to be added to previously established
heading to break a conflict with another established or newly established
heading

2) death date added to established heading with an open date of birth (so
we don't look foolish; those libraries who receive notifications or new
copies of changed headings should not have much extra work to do for a
change like this if the change of the authority heading automatically
propagates to the corresponding bib. records)

3) open data of birth on established heading changed to "b." date
if known that the person has died but date of birth unknown (again,
changed so that we don't look foolish and those libraries with an
authority service that receive notifications or copies of changed records
that already matched one of their bibs. should have a fairly simple time
getting their matching bib. records changed)

--Adam

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Adam L. Schiff
Principal Cataloger
University of Washington Libraries
Box 352900
Seattle, WA 98195-2900
(206) 543-8409
(206) 685-8782 fax
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http://faculty.washington.edu/~aschiff
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