We have identified a number of cases in which an existing authority record for a Congressional committee needs to be split into two records. These represent situations where the committee used one name (let’s call it Name A) for a period
of time, then changed to a different name (Name B), then reverted back to the previously held name (Name A). Under AACR2, we were expected to follow LCRI 26.3B-C and use Name A to represent both the earlier and later instances of the name. Under RDA PCC policy,
the two bodies need to be differentiated. Here is an example:
Existing record (n 79043116):
110 United States. $b Congress. $b Senate. $b Committee on Public Lands
According to our reference source, this name was used from Dec. 10, 1816-Apr. 18, 1821, and then again from Jan. 2, 1947-Jan. 2, 1948. So, in the RDA environment, we would need two access points:
110 United States. $b Congress. $b Senate. $b Committee on Public Lands (1816-1821)
110 United States. $b Congress. $b Senate. $b Committee on Public Lands (1947-1948)
We have done some research to identify which Congressional committees are affected. Using reference sources, we have also come up with the chronological qualifiers that could be used to differentiate the bodies. According to LC PCC Policy
Statement for 11.13.1.1, a qualifier would get added to each of the names. The changes would carry down to the names of any subcommittees established under these committees as well.
However, before we start making changes to authority records and embarking on what will be a huge in-house maintenance project for us (and presumably for many other libraries and OCLC as well), we’d like to get feedback on a few questions:
1)
Should the date qualifier be the date range? RDA 11.13.1.5 simply says “Add a date or dates associated with the body …” We prefer to use a date range but have come across examples in existing authority records where only one of the two
access points has been qualified and only the beginning of the date range has been used to differentiate, e.g.:
n 79029813:
110 1# United States. $b Congress. $b House. $b Committee on Science and Technology
no2007035638:
110 1# United States. $b Congress. $b House. $b Committee on Science and Technology (2007)
2)
There isn’t any movement afoot to introduce an LC-PCC PS to revert back to the old LCRI practice, is there? It seems doubtful, but we don’t want to go to the trouble of making these changes only have to undo them down the road.
3)
If an existing authority record needs to be split into two, rather than updating the existing record and creating one additional record, wouldn’t it be better to create two new records, then have the existing record deleted? That way
incorrect heading flips could be avoided. The situation seems very similar to subject heading splits.
4)
Anything else we should be sure to do (or not do)?
Thanks,
Manon
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Manon Théroux
Head of Technical Services
U.S. Senate Library
SR-B15 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510-7112
202-224-3833 (phone)
202-224-0879 (fax)