A black border around a personal name indicates that the person involved died just before publication. This is a common practice in Russia, the former Soviet Republics, and Eastern Europe.
Example (in MARC format):
There is no need to reflect this information in descriptive cataloging.
This information can be used in authority work (for example, in differentiating between two people with the same name, one of whom is still alive). In such cases, the presence of the black border is recorded in the 670 field of the authority record as [deceased].
670 Istorii︠a︡ Afriki v drevnikh i srednevekovykh istochnikakh, 1990: ǂb t.p. (L.E. Kubbelʹ, [deceased])
Revised: Oct. 7, 2015