I believe that the preferred practice wherever applicable is to use terms from some source of controlled terms, and to identify that source in subfield $2.  For place names, two obvious sources are naf and lcsh.

Now that the door is ajar, I'll intrude with another curmudgeonly reminder: the code in subfield $2 identifies the source from which the term is taken.  The fact that a geographic name found in naf might also be a valid lcsh subject heading is irrelevant; if the term is found in naf, then the $2 code should be naf, not lcsh.

	Wrong: 370 ## $a Xenia (Ohio) $c United States $2 lcsh
	Right: 370 ## $a Xenia (Ohio) $c United States $2 naf

Gary L. Strawn, Authorities Librarian, etc.           Twitter: GaryLStrawn
Northwestern University Library, 1970 Campus Drive, Evanston IL 60208-2300
e-mail: [log in to unmask]   voice: 847/491-2788   fax: 847/491-8306
Forsan et haec olim meminisse iuvabit.       BatchCat version: 2007.25.428


-----Original Message-----
From: Program for Cooperative Cataloging [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Hall, Jack
Sent: Wednesday, May 21, 2014 9:45 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [PCCLIST] BL Guide to RDA Name Authority Records on BL website

I'm curious about various "final practices." When I had the online training from LC, late 2012, we were instructed to use the authorized forms (place names with qualifiers in parentheses in 370, actual LCSH forms (Pianists, not Pianist) with |2 lcsh in 374. 

Jack Hall
Music Cataloger
Metadata and Digitization Services
University of Houston Libraries
Houston, TX 77204-2000
A Carnegie-designated Tier One public research university
phone: 713 743 9687
fax: 713 743 9748
email: [log in to unmask]


-----Original Message-----
From: Program for Cooperative Cataloging [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Chris Baer
Sent: Wednesday, May 21, 2014 9:19 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [PCCLIST] BL Guide to RDA Name Authority Records on BL website

Not to nit-pick, but I noticed that for the 370 "Associated place" field, the BL Guide is using the exact NAF form of name with parentheses, e.g., "London (England)" or "Philadelphia (Pa.)," whereas the RDA Toolkit shows "London, England" or "Philadelphia, Pa."  I know that the community has gone back and forth on this issue, along with "U.S." versus "United States" in the $c subfield. Can you confirm what the latest and presumably final practice is to be, or is this a local practice that will vary among different countries?

Christopher T. Baer
Assistant Curator
Manuscripts and Archives
Hagley Museum and Library