RDA 5.2
Contents
RDA 5.2: Date Abbreviations
Date abbreviations
There are many different abbreviations in $d (i.e., date) of 1XX, 6XX, 7XX, and 8XX fields that can be expanded. The majority of these date changes only take place within X00 fields. The main exception is expanding month names in X10, X11, and X30 fields.
Birth date
RDA rules say that there are two possibilities for when the abbreviation b. has been used in a date. The first option is to remove b. and add a hyphen after the birth date. The other option is that b. can change to born. Current LC policy is to add the hyphen after the birth date:
original field:
100 1 $a Mort, Paul R., $d b. 1894.
updated field:
100 1 $a Mort, Paul R., $d 1894- LC policy
OR
100 1 $a Mort, Paul R., $d born 1894.
Death date
As with the birth date, there are also two options for expanding the abbreviation for a death date. When a d. is encountered, a hyphen can be added before the death date with the d. being removed or else d. can be changed to died. Current LC policy is to add the hyphen before the date:
original field:
100 1 $a Lewis, Georgina King, $d d. 1924.
updated field:
100 1 $a Lewis, Georgina King, $d -1924. LC policy
OR
100 1 $a Lewis, Georgina King, $d died 1924.
Flourished > active
There are two different ways that fl. or flourished can be changed using RDA guidelines. The first way is to change these to active in the same position of the $d (typically right before the date). The other way to handle this is to expand fl. to flourished. Current LC policy is to change these to active:
original field:
100 1 $a Brown, John, $d fl. 1854.
updated field:
100 1 $a Brown, John, $d active 1854. LC policy
OR
100 1 $a Brown, John, $d flourished 1854.
Month names
In AACR2, month names were generally abbreviated. In RDA, month names should be expanded. The following table shows the changes that will be made with month names.
| Abbreviated | Expanded |
|---|---|
| Jan. | January |
| Feb. | February |
| Mar. | March |
| Apr. | April |
| Jun. | June |
| Jul. | July |
| Aug. | August |
| Sep. | September |
| Sept. | September |
| Oct. | October |
| Nov. | November |
| Dec. | December |
original fields:
100 1 $a Einhorn, Richard, $d 1952 Aug. 2-
730 0 $a Geneva Conventions $d (1949). $k Protocols, etc., $d 2005 Dec. 8.
updated fields:
100 1 $a Einhorn, Richard, $d 1952 August 2-
730 0 $a Geneva Conventions $d (1949). $k Protocols, etc., $d 2005 December 8.
Other date abbreviations
A few additional abbreviations that can be expanded in date subfields include the following:
| Abbreviated | Expanded |
|---|---|
| ca. | approximately |
| cent. | century |
| cen. | century |
original fields:
100 1 $a Fenton, Geoffrey, $d ca. 1539-1608.
600 10 $a Seghers, Hercules, $d 17th cent.
700 0 $a Raol, $d 12th cen.
updated fields:
100 1 $a Fenton, Geoffrey, $d approximately 1539-1608.
600 10 $a Seghers, Hercules, $d 17th century.
700 0 $a Raol, $d 12th century.
Default
| Make all date changes in X00, X10, X11, X30 ($f & $d), 240, and 151 $y fields. |
links
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