Geographic qualifiers

Direct or indirect subheading

Modifying terms

Name changes

Other qualifiers

Subordinate bodies

UN bodies

- AACR2, Chapter 24: Headings for Corporate Bodies

- See also, MARC21 format standards in the UNBIS Reference Manual.

Geographic Qualifiers

Qualifier: information added in parentheses after a name for the sake of clarification

One way in which UNBIS practice has differed from AACR2 is in the addition of geographic qualifiers not only to conference names but also to some categories of corporate names.

The location of a corporate body is indicated unless it is an international body or the name contains a geographic component. If an organization is national in character, add the name of the country.

If the place name is Geneva, New York [City] or the capital of a country, do not include the name of the country in the qualifier. The Map Library website has a «Country Information» feature, which lists the capital of each country. For cities in the United States, use the abbreviations for U.S. states found in AACR2, Appendix 14.B. We do not, however, use abbreviations for place names in Australia and Canada, nor do we specify states or provinces. Thus, for example: Sydney, Australia and Vancouver, Canada. For place names in the UK, add England, Northern Ireland, Scotland or Wales, as appropriate. The English conventional form of the place name is preferred (e.g., Vienna, not Wien; Santiago, not Santiago de Chile).

International Monetary Fund
International Accounting Standards Board
International Union of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences
World Chlorine Council
Cinzano (Firm : San Juan, Argentina)
Instituto de Relaciones Internacionales (Buenos Aires)
Fundación Miguel Lillo (San Miguel de Tucumán, Argentina)
Fundación Friedrich Ebert en Argentina
Universidad de Buenos Aires. Centro de Estudios Avanzados
McCoubrey Centre for International Law (Hull, Canada)
John Bartholomew and Son (Edinburgh, Scotland)
Ford Foundation (New York)
Faxon Company (Boston, Mass.)

(Note: # = Blank)

111 2#$aConference "Oil and Gas in the 1990s : Prospects for Cooperation" (1991 : Isfahan, Islamic Republic of Iran)

not: (1991 : Isfahan, Iran (Islamic Republic of))

Other Qualifiers - (see also, AACR2, 24.4)

If the name alone does not convey the idea of a corporate body, add a general designation in English. Note, however, that this practice seems to be diminishing-see the last three examples. Or at least it may not be necessary if the first element in the heading is clearly a corporate body.

110 2#$aSocial Science Monographs (Firm : Boulder, Colo.)
110 2#$aMinneapolis Star (Firm)
110 2#$aEngenderHealth (Firm)
110 2#$aGeoprojects (Firm : Reading (England))
110 2#$aWorld Tel (Firm : Canada)
110 2#$aHuman Rights First (Organization)
110 2#$aAfrican and Middle East Refugee Assistance (Organization : United Kingdom)
110 2#$aSTOP (Organization : India)
110 2#$aAsia Cooperation Dialogue (Organization)
110 2#$aGS1 (Organization)
110 2#$aMa Qualcuno Pensi ad Abele (Organization)

But

110 2#$aIBRD. Africa Technical Families
110 2#$aUN. ECE. Committee on Economic Cooperation and Integration. Public-Private Partnerships
110 2#$aUNDP. Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States

Proposed bodies

Add «Proposed» in parentheses after the name and update the heading, as well as all ancillary headings, if the body comes into being, for example, when it is established by a resolution.

110 2#$aDisaster Management International Space Coordination Organization (Proposed)

UN bodies

One of the difficult things about establishing the heading for a new UN body is that the final form of its name may not be decided upon for some time after it is first discussed. For example, it could be proposed first in draft resolutions, then established by a General Assembly (or other major organ) resolution, where it may still only be referred to in terms of its function, e.g., Committee to Consider … ; sometimes only later, when the new body starts to meet and issue documents will the final form of the name emerge. The trick is to recognize all the variant forms by which it was referred in the germination process and bring them all together in one record. The ancillary records with subfield g modifiers (e.g., «Terms of reference») must also be updated when the final version is known.

Names of UN bodies are often very long, especially when subordinate bodies and sessional information is added on. In some cases, at the request of the Indexing Unit, a shorter form of a name has been established. For example (in this case, a conference):

111 2#$aReview Conference of the States Parties to the Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons

411 2#$aReview Conference of the States Parties to the Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons Which May Be Deemed to Be Excessively Injurious or to Have Indiscriminate Effects

In general, corporate bodies are entered subordinately to a parent body when the name contains a term that implies that the body is part of another, e.g., a department, division, committee or group of experts. This has been applied rather loosely to UN names, however, at least in part because of their often unwieldy length. Thus, in UNBIS one will often find a division or an ad hoc group appended directly to the top term in the hierarchy, viz., the UN.

110 2#$aUN. Programme Planning and Budget Division
410 2#$aUN. Office for Programme Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation. Programme Planning and Budget Division
410 2#$aUN. Office of Programme Planning, Budget and Finance. Programme Planning and Budget Division
410 2#$aUN. Office of Programme Planning, Budget and Accounts. Programme Planning and Budget Division

But:

110 2#$aUN. Programme Planning and Budget Division. Policy Coordination Unit
410 2#$aUN. Office of Programme Planning, Budget and Accounts. Programme Planning and Budget Division. Policy Coordination Unit:

110 2#$aUN Centre for International Crime Prevention

Enter the head of a government acting in his official capacity under the heading for the jurisdiction, followed by the title of the official in the vernacular. Enter the head of an international intergovernmental organization under the heading for the organization, followed by the title of the official. Rule 24.20F stipulates that any other official should be entered under the heading for the ministry or agency that the official represents. Thus, the Library of Congress heading for the U.S. Secretary of State is "United States. Dept. of State". In UNBIS this rule cannot always be strictly observed because more precision may be required. In indexing records, for example, it may be necessary to identify individuals by the position they hold within an organizational framework. Thus there are two separate headings for:

110 2#$aUN. Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations
110 2#$aUN. Department of Peacekeeping Operations. Office of the Under-Secretary-General

This is an unresolved issue and there is no stated UN editorial policy. UN documents reflect the usage of the various bodies whose proceedings are being reported.

Acting Office-holders

Normally, when an individual holds an office on a temporary basis, he nevertheless represents the office and therefore the qualifying term "acting" or "temporary" would not be added to the corporate name heading. An exception is made for the Index to Speeches, in which a speaker must be accurately identified and it is necessary, therefore, to maintain the distinction between a permanent and a temporary office-holder.

Direct or indirect subheading

A subordinate body may be entered as a subheading of the lowest element in the hierarchy that is entered under its own name. One intervening level in the hierarchy may be omitted but the complete hierarchy should be shown in a cross-reference. Names of UN bodies sometimes are so long and complicated, however, that at times liberty is taken with this guideline simply for the sake of expediency.

110 2#$aUN. ECE. Working Party on Agricultural Quality Standards
410 2#$aUN. ECE. Committee for Trade, Industry and Enterprise Development. Working Party on Agricultural Quality Standards

110 2#$aUN. Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space. Legal Subcommittee
110 2#$aUN. ESCAP. Committee on Poverty Reduction. Subcommittee on Statistics

110 2#$aUN. Subcommittee of Experts on the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals

410 2#$aUN. Committee of Experts on the Transport of Dangerous Goods and on the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals. Subcommittee of Experts on the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals

410 2#$aUN. Economic and Social Council. Committee of Experts on the Transport of Dangerous Goods and on the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals. Subcommittee of Experts on the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals

Thus, in the example directly above, «UN. Economic and Social Council» is an established heading, as is the «UN. Committee of Experts on the Transport of Dangerous Goodsand on the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals».

Modifying Terms

In UNBIS bibliographic records, certain modifying terms of an administrative, organizational or procedural nature may be entered in subfield $g of 610 tags in order to create pre-coordinated corporate subjects (UNBIS Manual for Bibliographic Description).

110 2#$aUN. ESCAP. Committee on Regional Economic Cooperation $gWork programme (2002-2003) [auth# 604811]

110 2#$aUN. ESCAP. Committee on Regional Economic Cooperation [auth# 605224]

Very often, corporate bodies will change names. Sometimes the change is very minor, in which case the latest variation on the name is simply added as a cross-reference to the established heading record. If the change is significant, the new name is also established and a reciprocal See Also cross-reference links the two records. To indicate which is the earlier and which is the later form, add subfield w ($w) to each 510 cross-reference, with the value a assigned to the earlier form and b indicating the later form. Ideally, the $w would generate an automatic display, in the author and subject indexes, of «See also earlier heading» and «See also later heading», but unfortunately this has not yet been implemented in the current UNBIS platform. A heading may be linked only with the immediately preceding or the immediately succeeding heading. If it cannot be determined with certainty, do not link the two records.

Note: There may be other reasons for creating reciprocal links between records, in which case there is no explanatory subfield.

111 2#$aConference on Security and Co-operation in Europe
510 2#$wb$aOrganization for Security and Co-operation in Europe

110 2#$aOrganization for Security and Co-operation in Europe
511 2#$wa$aConference on Security and Co-operation in Europe

110 2#$aUN. ECE. Ad Hoc Group of Experts on the Supply of Fossil Fuels
510 2#$wb$aUN. ECE. Ad Hoc Group of Experts on the Harmonization of Energy Reserves/Resources Terminology

110 2#$aUN. ECE. Ad Hoc Group of Experts on the Harmonization of Energy Reserves/Resources Terminology
510 2#$wa$aUN. ECE. Ad Hoc Group of Experts on the Supply of Fossil Fuels
510 2#$wb$aUN. ECE. Ad Hoc Group of Experts on Harmonization of Fossil Energy and Mineral Resources Terminology

Back to the top