> I'm sure that if there *is* a standard set up for this, then one of you
> folks knows it...:-)
The Library of Congress Name Authority File is a national cooperative
database of standard forms of names. Included are geographic names.
The general source for establishing geographic names is the U.S. Board of
Geographic Names, which uses Dept. of State and U.N. information for forms
of names. Distinguishing between identical place names follows
Anglo-American Cataloging rules, so that any established name is unique.
This is accepted as a library standard. Note that geographic names are
established as names, rather than subjects, so that a search limited to
the online Subject Authority File will not retrieve these. All levels of
geographic names are included (i.e., cities, counties, countries, etc.).
For the dc.coverage.placename we could use scheme=LCNAF (or whatever might
be registered as the accepted qualifier) to indicate that the name follows
the established form in the LC Name Authority File. I would be more
comfortable with repeating the element for each instance of placename.
Rebecca
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
^^ Rebecca S. Guenther ^^
^^ Senior MARC Standards Specialist ^^
^^ Network Development and MARC Standards Office ^^
^^ Library of Congress ^^
^^ Washington, DC 20540-4020 ^^
^^ (202) 707-5092 (voice) (202) 707-0115 (FAX) ^^
^^ [log in to unmask] ^^
^^ ^^
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
|