RDA 5.2

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. NAF Conversion documentation X00 $d (pdf). The main exception is expanding month names in X10, X11, and X30 fields. RDA App. B (html)

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. We have backed away from offering this last option as it contradicts LC policy and it poses a very probable risk that the heading would not find a match against LC authorities since LC does not use born as part of the heading.

Current LC policy is to add the hyphen after the birth date: LC-PCC PS for 9.3.2.3 (html)

 
 original field:
   100 1  $a Mort, Paul R., $d b. 1894.
  
 updated field:
   100 1  $a Mort, Paul R., $d 1894-               LC policy
 

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. Similar to above, we have backed away from offering this last option to clients, unless they specifically request it.

Current LC policy is to add the hyphen before the date: LC-PCC PS for 9.3.3.3 (html)

 
 original field:
   100 1  $a Lewis, Georgina King, $d d. 1924.
  
 updated field:
   100 1  $a Lewis, Georgina King, $d -1924.       LC policy
 

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. Similar to above, we have backed away from offering this last option to clients, unless they specifically request it.

Current LC policy is to change these to active: LC-PCC PS for 9.3.4.3 (html)

 
 original field:
   100 1  $a Brown, John, $d fl. 1854.
  
 updated field:
   100 1  $a Brown, John, $d active 1854.          LC policy
 

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. RDA App. B (html)

Abbreviated	Expanded		Abbreviated	Expanded
Jan.	January		Aug.	August
Feb.	February		Sep.	September
Mar.	March		Sept.	September
Apr.	April		Oct.	October
Jun.	June		Nov.	November
Jul.	July		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: LC-PCC PS for 9.3.4.3 (html)

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

5.1 - 5.2 - 5.3 - 5.4 - 5.5 - 5.6 - 5.7

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