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Recording Guidelines for Persons and Organisations

This guidance on recording information about a Person or an Organisation originally appeared in the text of SPECTRUM itself. It was decided during the work on the revision of the standard that it should be moved into SPECTRUM Terminology.

Although Person or Organisation information is often the most common and important information you may need to deal with, names and other related information also be difficult to identify and record on occasions, especially when faced with changes of names and foreign languages. Although these guidelines will not deal with all the problems you will encounter, they are intended to answer some of the more common questions you may have.

Person

These guidelines for recording information about a Person are in accordance with the Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules, Second Edition, (AACR2) 1988 revision.

The purpose of recording a name in a standard form is to enable it to be retrieved as easily as possible and therefore the commonly used version is normally used. Use the form of name already established in your institution.

Form of Name

The way in which the name is recorded is normally based upon the preferred usage of the person themselves or upon the form commonly encountered. This may be established by checking reference sources or books and articles written by or about the person or from documentation indicating the known preference of the person. If the name is new, seek guidance on the preferred form of name first from other catalogues/indexes in the collection and then other published directories. Works such as Who's Who and the Dictionary of National Biography as well as national biographies for France, Italy, Germany, Denmark, Ireland and America among others. Alternatively, you should consult the specialist dictionaries available in the subject area. Do not use sources such as telephone directories or mailing lists except as a last resort. Make cross references from variant forms of name.

Changes of Name

If a person has changed their name, use the most recent version of the name unless there is reason to believe that an earlier version is the one by which they are most likely to be known.

Pseudonyms

If a person uses a pseudonym, choose the name by which he or she is predominantly known, e.g.:

George Orwell not Eric Arthur Blair

Compound Surnames

Record compound surnames in the form known to be preferred by the person. Where this is not known follow the guidelines below.

Where a name is hyphenated, retain the hyphen and record the surname under the first element of the name, e.g.:

Surname: Day-Lewis

Where a compound name does not have a hyphen the name should still be entered under the first element of the compound surname with certain exceptions:

1). Married women who have appended their husband's name. In such cases they should be listed under the second component of the name unless it is known that they prefer to be known under the first part of the name, e.g.:

Forename: Harriet Beecher
Surname: Stowe

2). Portuguese language names. These are normally entered under the second component, e.g.:

Forename: Adelpa Silva Rodrígues de
Surname: Figueiredo

If a name has the appearance of a compound surname but you are not sure, use the last component of the surname if the name is English or a Scandinavian language. Otherwise use the first part, e.g.:

Forename: John Crawford

Surname: Adam

Initials

If the name consists only of initials, then record these as a surname without inverting them, following each initial with a full stop, e.g.:

Surname: P.P.

Surname: H.D.

Prefixes

If a surname is prefixed by an article or preposition different rules apply according to the language of the name. Some examples for commonly encountered languages are given below; if you cannot find the rule you need then consult AACR2.

Dutch Names

Record the surname as the part following the prefix unless the prefix is ver, in which case record the surname under the prefix, e.g.:

Forename: Jan ten

Surname: Brink

Forename: Pieter van der

Surname: Aa

but

Forename: Daisy

Surname: Ver Boven,

English Names

Record the surname under the prefix, e.g.:

Forename: Walter

Surname: De La Mare

Forename: Daphne

Surname: Du Maurier

French Names

If the prefix consist of an article or a contraction of an article and a preposition, record the surname under the prefix, otherwise record it under the part of the name following the preposition, e.g.:

Forename: Gustave

Surname: Le Rouge

Forename: Charles-Marc

Surname: Des Granges

Forename: Simone de

Surname: Beauvoir

German Names

If the prefix consists of an article or of a contraction of an article and a preposition, record the surname under the prefix, otherwise record it under the part of the name following the prefix, e.g.:

Forename: August

Surname: Am Thys

Forename: Otto

Surname: Zur Linde

Forename: Johann Wolfgang von

Surname: Goethe

Italian Names

Record modern surnames under the prefix, but for earlier and medieval names consult a reliable reference source to determine whether a prefix is part of the surname (and should be entered first) or whether it should be entered at the end of the name. If the preposition is sometimes omitted, record under the part following the preposition (de, de', degli, dei, & de li occurring in the early and medieval period are rarely part of the surname and should be given last in the entry), e.g.:

Forename: Lorenzo de'

Surname: Medici

Scandinavian Names

Record the surname under the part of the name following the prefix unless the name is of Dutch origin and the prefix is de, in which case record under the prefix, e.g.:

Forename: Carl von

Surname: Linné

Forename: Gerard

Surname: De Geer

Spanish Names

If the prefix consists of an article only, record the surname under the article. Record all other names under the part following the prefix.

Other Prefixes

If the prefix is neither an article, nor a preposition, nor a combination of the two, then record the prefix first, e.g.:

Forename: Berl

Surname: Ben Maýr

Forename: Seán

Surname: Ó Faoláin,

Nobility

Use the proper name in the title of nobility as the Surname if the person is commonly known by that title. Do this if:

1). The person uses the title rather than their surnames in their works

or

2). They are listed by their titles in common reference sources.

If they do not use their titles in this way then record the name under as normal, e.g.:

John Buchan not Baron Tweedsmuir

John Julius Norwich

If the title appears with the name in reference sources but is not sufficiently used to justify entry as the Surname, use Person's additions to name. Do this in cases of doubt. Disregard reference sources that list members of the nobility either all under title or all under surname.

No Surname

Where the name does not contain a surname or a name performing the function of a surname, refer to your institution's normal practice to determine what form of name to record and use that.

Organisations

Record the name directly (not inverted) by which the organisation is predominantly known.

Remember that this means that an Organisation with initials in the name (e.g. W H Smith) will be filed under W and not Smith.

Record the most specific form of name exclude higher organisational units unless the name is likely to be used by other institutions, e.g.:

Hayward Gallery not Arts Council

Make cross references from variant forms of name.

If the name includes initials, omit or include full stops or other punctuation according to the predominant use of the organisation; if in doubt omit.

Omit initial articles, e.g.:

National Gallery not The National Gallery

If the name of an organisation recorded for collections management purposes changes, record as the new name and make a reference from the previous name.

If the name of an organisation recorded for historical purposes changes, record as the old name and make a reference from the new name.

Do not use abbreviations unless the organisation has formally adopted abbreviations within its name, e.g.:

Marks and Spencer not M&S