Subsumed Headings

Some authority records include a note in the 667 field that says: The following heading for an earlier name is a valid AACR2 heading: [heading]. What does this note mean, especially in the absence of an authority record for the heading in question?

At the time of retrospective conversion of pre-AACR2 authority records to AACR2, such notes were added to existing authority records for corporate and geographic names to signal the presence of an access point that earlier had the status of an authorized heading. Under earlier cataloging policies, when a place or corporate body changed its name, a new authority record for it was not created. Instead, the authorized form of the heading was changed to reflect the new name, and the previous name would become a variant access point on the same authority record. All bibliographic records would be revised to use the newer name. These situations were identified by a note in the 667 field of the relevant authority records: "The following earlier name is a valid AACR2 heading: [earlier name or names in AACR2 form]." See LCRI 26.3.

Another, although less common, situation involved variant access points in another language being added to already existing authority records without justification; this occurred when a cataloger was aware of a change in the name of a corporate body or a place, but didn’t have the actual item or available reference sources to confirm it. At a time when the Internet was not yet widely used, such practice was considered acceptable and helpful.

Such headings were referred to as “subsumed headings”.

Examples (in MARC format): 110 2 Društvo pravnikov LRS

410 2 Društvo "Pravnik" [subsumed heading]

410 2 Društvo pravnika N.R. Slovenije

410 2 Društvo pravnika NR Slovenije

410 2 Društvo pravnikov L.R.S.

410 2 Drustvo pravnikov L.R. Slovenije

410 2 Društvo pravnikov LR Slovenije ǂw nna

667 The following heading for an earlier name is a valid AACR2 heading: Društvo "Pravnik"

670 Its Ljudski pravnik, 1949.

670 Moj svetovalec, zv. 2, leto 1961: ǂb t.p. (Društvo pravnikov LRS) [Info. from MH]

151 Kalush (Ukraine)

451 Kałusz (Poland) [subsumed heading]

451 Kalush, Ukraine ǂw nnaa

667 The following heading for an earlier name is a valid AACR2 heading: Kałusz (Poland)

670 Havryliv, O. S. Obriï novoho Kalusha, 1976.

670 GeoNames, algorithmically matched, 2009 ǂb (ppl; 49°01ʹ00ʺN 024°22ʹ00ʺE)

This practice was still in place when the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia broke up and the names of many corporate bodies and geographic places changed to reflect the form used in the new independent states. In the example below, the current authorized form of name for the Museum of History in Baku is in the 110 field. There is a 410 field for the form of its name used during the Soviet period, “Muzeĭ istorii narodov Azerbaĭdzhanskoĭ SSR.” This heading was an authorized heading once, but not presently as no authority record exists for it. Please note that probably all variant access points in the Russian language in this record are actually variant access points for the earlier (subsumed) heading in Russian, not variant access points for the authorized heading in Azerbaijani.

Example (in MARC format):

110 2 Azärbaycan Tarixi Muzeyi (Baku, Azerbaijan)

410 2 Azärbaycan Elmlär Akademiyası. ǂb Azärbaycan Tarixi Muzeyi

410 2 Azărbai̐jan Elmlăr Akademii̐asy. ǂb Azärbaycan Tarixi Muzeyi

410 2 Azărbai̐jan Elmlăr Akademii̐asy. ǂb Museum of History of Azerbaijan

410 2 Azărbai̐jan Tarikhi Muzei̐i (Baku, Azerbaijan)

410 2 Azărbai̐jan Tarikhi Muzei̐i (Baku, Azerbaijan S.S.R.) ǂw nne

410 2 Muzeĭ istorii narodov Azerbaĭdzhanskoĭ SSR (Baku, Azerbaijan S.S.R.) [subsumed heading]

410 2 Музей истории народов Азербайджанской ССР (Baku, Azerbaijan S.S.R.)

410 2 Azărbai̐jan SSR Elmlăr Akademii̐asy. ǂb Azarbai̐jan Tarikhi Muzei̐i

410 1 Baku (Azerbaijan). ǂb Azărbai̐jan Tarikhi Muzei̐i

410 2 Akademii︠a︡ nauk SSSR. ǂb Azerbaĭdzhanskiĭ filial. ǂb Azărbai̐jan Tarikhi Muzei̐i

410 2 Muzeĭ istorii Azerbaĭdzhana (Baku, Azerbaijan)

410 2 Gosudarstvennyĭ muzeĭ istorii Azerbaĭdzhana (Baku, Azerbaijan)

410 2 Museum of History of Azerbaijan (Baku, Azerbaijan)

410 2 Baku. ǂb Muzeĭ istorii Azerbaĭdzhana ǂw nnaa

667 The following heading for an earlier name is a valid AACR2 heading:

Muzeĭ istorii narodov Azerbaĭdzhanskoĭ SSR (Baku, Azerbaijan S.S.R.)

667 Pakhomov, E. A. Chaĭkendskiĭ klad ... 1941

670 Azärbaycanda dövlätçilik vä onun rämzläri, 2000: ǂb t.p. (Azärbaycan Elmlär

Akademiyası. Azärbaycan Tarixi Muzeyi) t.p. verso (... Muzei︠a︡ istorii

Azerbaĭdzhana)

670 Milli Azärbaycan Tarixi Muzeyi, 2008.

As of December 1st, 2015, 1251 such records still remained in the LC Name Authority File. What should a cataloger do when encountering authority records with subsumed headings?

The Library of Congress instructions are (see LCRI 26.3) to retain these variant access points (correcting to RDA form, if necessary) until an item is received that requires the use of one of these earlier names as an access point. At that time, establish a new authority record for the subsumed heading and delete the 667 field note from the old authority record. The former subsumed heading may be handled differently in the old authority record, depending on the nature of the relationship with the entity in the 1XX field. If an immediate earlier/later relationship between them is confirmed, change the 4XX field to 5XX, and add the appropriate relationship designator, for example, Predecessor. If a relationship between the two entities is not certain, delete the 4XX field from the old authority record.

Examples (in MARC format):

Existing record:

110 2 Društvo pravnikov LRS

410 2 Društvo pravnika N.R. Slovenije

410 2 Društvo pravnika NR Slovenije

410 2 Društvo pravnikov L.R.S.

410 2 Drustvo pravnikov L.R. Slovenije

410 2 Društvo pravnikov LR Slovenije ǂw nna

510 2 ǂi Predecessor: ǂa Društvo "Pravnik" ǂw r [former subsumed heading; changed from 410; add relationship designator “Predecessor” if nature of relationship is confirmed]

667 The following heading for an earlier name is a valid AACR2 heading: Društvo "Pravnik" [DELETE]

670 Its Ljudski pravnik, 1949.

670 Moj svetovalec, zv. 2, leto 1961: ǂb t.p. (Društvo pravnikov LRS) [Info. from MH]

670 Pol stoletja Društva "Pravnik”, 1939: ǂb t.p. (...Društva "Pravnik”) [a resource being cataloged that required the establishment of an authorized access point for the subsumed heading]

New record:

110 2 Društvo "Pravnik" [former subsumed heading]

510 2 ǂi Successor: ǂa Društvo pravnikov LRS ǂw r [access point for later related body added]

670 Pol stoletja Društva "Pravnik”, 1939: ǂb t.p. (...Društva "Pravnik”)

670 Moj svetovalec, zv. 2, leto 1961: ǂb t.p. (Društvo pravnikov LRS)

Revised: Nov. 29, 2015