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A recently-added feature of the authority toolkit builds 046 $f from a statement giving a person's age as of a certain date:

http://files.library.northwestern.edu/public/oclc/documentation/#tab046calculatebirth


Gary L. Strawn
Northwestern University Libraries, 1970 Campus Drive, Evanston IL 60208-2300
e-mail: [log in to unmask]     
voice: 847/467-7240 (office)  847/467-4619 (storage facility)<--NEW!
authority toolkit documentation: http://bit.ly/1Hl1jST
Forsan et haec olim meminisse iuvabit. 


-----Original Message-----
From: Program for Cooperative Cataloging [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Ian Fairclough
Sent: Tuesday, June 07, 2016 2:49 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [PCCLIST] Coding of uncertain birth and death dates using EDTF

PCCLIST readers,

A recent exchange of emails discussed the coding of birth and death dates using EDTF.  I recently had a case where the given information was the age at death and date of death.  Assuming that the information is correct, you can calculate the year of birth as one of two years, and record it as being between two exact dates.

You've got to be a little careful, though.  For example, I've heard it said that Sir Winston Churchill died aged 91.  He was born in 1874 and died in 1965.  Subtract 1874 from 1965 and you do indeed get 91.  But he was born in November and died in January, aged 90.  To be sure in any such case, it's advisable to calculate.

Here are results of calculations using an Excel worksheet in which I experimented to find the earliest and latest possible birth dates for a man who died on Jan. 16, 2007 aged 62.  (I hope the columns line up for you! The five-digit number is the number of days in his life; the next is the number of years expressed with a decimal, and the last is his age at death.)

1/15/1944	1/16/2007	22996	63.00273973	63
1/16/1944	1/16/2007	22995	63		63
1/17/1944	1/16/2007	22994	62.99726027	62
12/31/1944	1/16/2007	22646	62.04383562	62
1/15/1945	1/16/2007	22631	62.00273973	62
1/16/1945	1/16/2007	22630	62		62
1/17/1945	1/16/2007	22629	61.99726027	61
1/18/1945	1/16/2007	22628	61.99452055	61
12/31/1945	1/16/2007	22281	61.04383562	61

In case you want to replicate this calculation: the formula in the third column is =SUM(B7,-A2,-15) subtracting 15 to adjust for leap years.   The fourth column has =PRODUCT(C7,1/365) and the fifth =TRUNC(D7)

I recorded field 046 thus:
046  ǂf 1944-01-17/1945-01-16 ǂg 2007-01-16 ǂ2 edtf

I also added subfield d to the variant access point, thus:
ǂd 1944 or 1945-2007

(Why didn't I add that to the authorized access point?  Good question, and it has a good answer!  The NAR is n  83213769 and the AAP Chudnovsky, Daniel)

If a response is called for, please reply to PCCLIST.

Sincerely - Ian

Ian Fairclough
Cataloging and Metadata Services Librarian
George Mason University Libraries
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