PFAN - PFAN Policy Statements

Chapter 9

9.2.2.5.3, Alternative

Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Cyrillic: Apply the alternative when the first element of the preferred name begins with either a given name or a surname. If a person is likely to appear in general English-language reference sources, search the Encyclopédie Larousse, the Petit Robert and the Encyclopædia Universalis. If the name is found in all three sources in a single form, use that form. If the form varies in these three sources, use the form found in the Encyclopédie Larousse . If the name is not found in all three of these sources, use the systematically romanized form of the name. Exception: For famous persons entered under given name but not found in all three of the general French-language encyclopedias because of specialized fame, consult major specialized encyclopedias (e.g., Le nouveau Théo de Michel Dubost et Stanislas Lalanne, le Dictionnaire de l’Antiquité de Jean Leclant ) to determine if there is a well-established French-language form of the name. ("Found in" the reference source means that there is an article under the person’s name.)

For persons of too recent fame to be included in the three general French-language encyclopedias named above (e.g., new authors, dancers, persons recently becoming famous as political or cultural figures), consult the yearbooks of the encyclopedias and such major newspapers as Le monde and La presse to determine if there is a well-established French-language form of the name.

Hebrew Alphabet: Follow this order of preference in choosing the heading for persons with names in the Hebrew alphabet:

If the name is found prominently in a romanized form in the resource being cataloged in a language using the Hebrew alphabet, use this form.
If the name is found as the heading for an article about the person in Dictionnaire encyclopédique du judaïsme , use this form.
If the name is found in a romanized form in a widely-known and easily-consulted free online source, use this form, especially where a person who writes or is written about primarily in the Hebrew script provides a preferred romanized form of the name in that source (e.g., Facebook, Linkedin) or, failing such a source, a general source (e.g., Wikipédia).
Otherwise, use the systematically romanized form of the name.
However,

If the authorized access point for an author who writes in a language using the Hebrew alphabet reflects the systematically romanized form and a subsequently-received resource containing the name in a Hebrew-alphabet language shows a non-systematically romanized name (i.e., a “found romanization”), generally do not change the authorized access point. This means that only in exceptional cases will systematically romanized names be candidates for change.
If the authorized access point for an author who writes in a language using the Hebrew alphabet reflects a non-systematically romanized form and a subsequently received resource containing the name in a Hebrew-alphabet language shows a different non-systematically romanized form (i.e., a different “found romanization”), do not change the authorized access point until the different form clearly predominates.

All Other Languages Written in Non-Latin Scripts: Apply the alternative to use a well-established form in French as the preferred name if the cataloger’s judgment and experience suggests that the person is likely to be found in general French-language reference sources. Consider providing variant access points for forms not selected as the preferred name.

Last Update: 2020-10-28 Adapted from RDA LC-PCC PS

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