In order to justify the creation of a "see" reference from "SPMS," follow the guidance of AACR2:

26.1B. See references 
26.1B1. 
Make a see reference from a form of the name of a person or a corporate body or title of a work that might reasonably be sought to the form that has been chosen as a name or uniform title heading, or as a title entry.

Since SPMS is a form that might "reasonably" be searched by your users, you are permitted to include it as a "see" reference.  Add a 670 to indicate that this form is commonly used at your institution.

Louise Ratliff
Social Sciences Cataloger
UCLA


-----Original Message-----
From: Program for Cooperative Cataloging [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Casey A Mullin
Sent: Tuesday, April 13, 2010 8:17 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Acronym references for corporate body NARs

Indeed, one sees these kinds of references all the time in corporate 
body NARs, and I think the logic is as follows:

In this case, the body is entered subordinately in the heading, as it 
fits "Type 5" in 24.13. The acronym, if chosen as the heading, would 
also be entered subordinately, as it does not by itself convey the idea 
of a corporate body (fitting "Type 4"). However, since it is being 
traced as a reference, an exception in LCRI 24.4B kicks in, specifically 
that acronyms/initialisms given as references do not require qualifiers 
unless needed to break a conflict. Thus, by this interpretation, "SPMS" 
(as a reference) does not require the name of the higher body to help 
convey corporateness, and therefore can be traced directly.

This is, anyway, how I understand it based on my recent training. Any 
other insights?

Casey

Radha Asundi wrote:
> Dear Collective Wisdom,
>  
> One of our NACO team is having a great deal of difficulty identifying 
> a rule or an RI that precludes the addition of the following see 
> reference:
>  
> 110 2  $aNanyang Technological University. $b School of Physical and 
> Mathematical Sciences
> 410 2  $aSPMS
>  
> Within the university, we are aware and can confirm that this school 
> is known by the acronym, SPMS, but when we received training in 
> preparing NARs for corporate bodies, we were informed that since, in 
> this case 'SPMS' did not refer to the entire name in 110, that it was 
> not an appropriate reference.  Specifically, in this case SPMS is part 
> of NTU but the NTU is not seen in publications as part of this 
> acronym/name.
>  
> Understandably, the cataloguers at NTU would like this acronym and we 
> are most pleased to satisfy their wishes in this regard but not at the 
> expense of creating an incorrect reference.
>  
> Thanks!
>  
> Radha Asundi
> Authority/NACO Coordinator
> SILAS (Singapore Integrated Library Automation Services)
> Singapore

-- 
Casey A. Mullin
Discovery Metadata Librarian
Metadata Development Unit
Stanford University Libraries
650-736-0849 
[log in to unmask]
http://www.caseymullin.com

--

"Those who need structured and granular data and the precise retrieval that results from it to carry out research and scholarship may constitute an elite minority rather than most of the people of the world (sadly), but that talented and intelligent minority is an important one for the cultural and technological advancement of humanity. It is even possible that if we did a better job of providing access to such data, we might enable the enlargement of that minority."
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