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 [log in to unmask]