Place of Publication in RDA & AACR2 & MARC 21 Examples

Place of Publication in Resource Description and Access (RDA) & Anglo-American Cataloging Rules (AACR2) with MARC 21 Examples

Table of Contents:

• CORE ELEMENT
• How is Place of Publication defined
• Where are Rules for Place of Publication in RDA
• What are the Sources of Information for Place of Publication in RDA
• How is Place of Publication Transcribed / Recorded in Resource Description and Access (RDA)
• More than One Place of Publication
• Language or Script
• Place of Publication Not Identified

CORE ELEMENT: Place of Publication is a core element; if more than one place of publication appears on the source of information, only the first recorded is required.

How is Place of Publication defined: According to the Glossary of Library and Information Science of Librarianship Studies and Information Technology blog, the place of publication is the place associated with the publication, release, or issuing of a resource or document. There are the special set of rules for transcription and recording of the name of the publisher in library cataloging standards, e.g., RDA rules for place of publication is given in chapter 2 (RDA Rule 2.8.2) of Resource Description and Access (RDA). In Anglo-American Cataloging Rules 2nd edition (AACR2), rules for the date of publication, distribution etc. for books are given in chapter 2 (2.4C).
A place of publication is a place associated with the publication, release, or issuing of a resource. (RDA Rule 2.8.2.1)

Where are Rules for Place of Publication in RDA: Look at instruction 2.8.2 in RDA Toolkit

What are the Sources of Information for Place of Publication in RDA: Take places of publication from the following sources (in order of preference):

a) the same source as the publisher's name

b) another source within the resource itself

c) one of the other sources of information specified under 2.2.4

How is Place of Publication Transcribed / Recorded in Resource Description and Access (RDA): Transcribe places of publication in the form in which they appear on the source of information. Include both the local place name (city, town, etc.) and the name of the larger jurisdiction (state, province, and/or country) if present on the source of information.

• An optional addition in 2.8.2.3 allows you to add a larger jurisdiction if it doesn’t appear on the resource. LC takes no position on this option -- use cataloger judgment.

More than One Place of Publication

Only the first place is “Core.” There is no requirement to record a place in the “home country.”

Language or Script

If the place of publication appears on the source of information in more than one language or script, record the form that is in the language or script of the title proper. If this criterion does not apply, record the place name in the language or script that appears first.

Place of Publication Not Identified

If the place is not identified, supply the place of publication or probable place of publication.

LC-PCC PS 2.8.2.6 instructs catalogers to supply a place of publication if possible, rather than record “[Place of publication not identified]” (remember that the Latin abbreviation “S.l.” is not permitted by RDA). Supply a probable place of publication if possible rather than give “[Place of publication not identified].”

Examples of Supplying Place:

Known local place: [New Delhi]

Probable local place: [Berlin?]

Probable local place: [Boston, Massachusetts?] 

Known country, state, etc.: [India]

Probable country, state, etc.: [England?]

RDA vs AACR2: 3 Changes from AACR2 Regarding Place of Publication 

• only the first place of publication is "Core" 
• "[S.l]" is no longer permitted 
• do not correct incorrect information; instead, make a note to explain

MARC 21 Field 264: 264 - Production, Publication, Distribution, Manufacture, and Copyright Notice (R)

First Indicator

Sequence of statements

# - Not applicable/No information provided/Earliest

2 - Intervening

3 - Current/Latest

Second Indicator

Function of entity

0 - Production

1 - Publication

2 - Distribution

3 - Manufacture

4 - Copyright notice date

Subfield Codes

$a - Place of production, publication, distribution, manufacture (R)

$b - Name of producer, publisher, distributor, manufacturer (R)

$c - Date of production, publication, distribution, manufacture, or copyright notice (R)

$3 - Materials specified (NR)

$6 - Linkage (NR)

$8 - Field link and sequence number (R)

Subfield Code

$a - Place of production, publication, distribution, manufacture

264 #1$a Boston : $b [publisher not identified], $c 2010. [On source: Published in Boston, 2010]

264 #3$a Cambridge : $b Kinsey Printing Company [On source: Cambridge -- Kinsey Printing Company; No distribution information]

RDA Examples of Recording Place of Publication in MARC 21 Field 264:

Example of three Places of Publication: On resource: London -- New York – Boston

264 #1 $a London or

264 #1 $a London ; $a New York ; $a Boston

264 #1 $a Red Oak [Iowa] (addition OK, but not required)

264 #1 $a [Place of publication not identified] (Generally, no! LC-PCC PS says to supply a place, even if just the country)

Example: On resource: Chicago, IL, U.S.A.

264 #1 $a Chicago, IL, U.S.A.

Example: On resource: Chicago, IL, USA

264 #1 $a Chicago, IL, USA

Example: On resource: New York, New York

264 #1 $a New York, New York

Example: On resource: New York

264 #1 $a New York

Example: On resource: New York, N.Y.

264 #1 $a New York, N.Y.

Example: On resource: Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

264 #1 $a Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

In AACR2 cataloging it should be given as 260 #1 $a Victoria, B.C. (AACR2 1.4B4 and 1.4C3 prescribes to use abbreviations found in appendix B, in RDA abbreviations should be used only if given on the source of information.)

Example of inaccuracy in Place of Publication: On resource mentioned as: London (but actually published in Oxford, information on source of information is given incorrectly)

264 #1 $a London : $b Oxford University Press, $c 2015.
500 ## $a Actually published in Oxford.

In AACR2 cataloging it should be given as 260 #1 $a London (i.e. Oxford)  : $b Oxford University Press, $c 2015.

Example of abbreviation in Place of Publication: On resource mentioned as: Bs. As.

264 #1 $a Bs. As.
500 ## $a Published in Buenos Aires.

In AACR2 cataloging it should be given as 260 #1 $a Bs. As. [Buenos Aires]

Source : Based on information from Library of Congress, RDA Blog, and RDA Toolkit

See also:

• RDA - Production, Publication, Distribution, Manufacture, Date - MARC 264 (Visit and Bookmark this RDA Blog post for important links to Resource Description and Access and AACR2 Cataloging Rules and Examples on PUBLICATION PRODUCTION MANUFACTURE DISTRIBUTION ETC., MARC-260, MARC-264, and DATE applying guidelines from RDA RULES-CHAPTER 2 and LC-PCC PS)
• Questions and Answers : Place of Publication
• Production, publication, distribution. Manufacture, and copyright notice : MARC to RDA Mapping

This article is updated in RDA Frequently Asked Questions

Author: Salman Haider [Revised 2016-02-13 | Written 2015-11-29]

Thanks all for your love, suggestions, testimonials, likes, +1, tweets and shares ....

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