Neil,

Sure, you can put content in the top-level "location" element in your
AP. What you cannot do (according to the MODS guidelines and good
metadata practice) is mix-and-match: put content (data) in BOTH
<mods:location> AND <mods:location><mods:physicalLocation> in your AP.

MODS User Guidelines Version 3, Introduction and Implementation, XML
Structures: "Content of elements are included in the lowest level
elements so as to avoid "mixed content", which is when some elements
contain character data interspersed with child elements."

Rhonda Marker
Repository Collection Manager
Rutgers University Libraries

Neil Godfrey wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> We have a query re the use of the top-level "location" element in an
> application profile.
>
> Is it "legal" to use the "location" element as a stand-alone element
> -- that is, not as a container for a subelement such as "url" or
> "physicalLocation" etc.? That is:
>
> <mods:location>British Library</mods:location>
>
> The reason this is under consideration is a technical restraint we are
> facing that prohibits nested structures.
>
> None of us has been able to point to any example of this type of use.
> All sample records we have encountered use "location" as a container
> element.
>
> And we are divided over how to interpret what we read in the "rules"
> and "guidelines" on LOC's MODS pages.
>
> We would appreciate clarification on this.
>
> Many thanks,
> Neil Godfrey
>
> Singapore National Library
>
>
>
>