Contains the geographic area code, which is an aid to a subject approach to the item. It provides a hierarchical breakdown of geographical and/or political entities.
Use a maximum of three codes. You may base your code selection on geographic names and/or subdivisions in 6xx subject added entry and index term fields. Enter codes in order of importance, usually the same order as the geographic names and/or subdivisions in the 6xx fields.
Each geographic area code has seven character positions, which use lowercase letters or hyphens. All seven positions must be filled or the field will fail validation; complete any unfilled character positions with hyphens so the entry is seven characters long. See
MARC Code List for Geographic Areas.
If the item deals with an area that is too specific to be represented by a code, assign the code for the next larger jurisdiction or area.
1st Indicator
Undefined. The 1st indicator position is undefined and contains a blank ( ).
Undefined
2nd Indicator
Undefined. The 2nd indicator position is undefined and contains a blank ( ).
Undefined
Subfields
‡a Geographic area code
Geographic area code. Use a separate subfield ‡a for each GAC. Use the following guidelines:
Do not assign geographic area codes for linguistic works. For example, in the subject heading Sermons, German, the adjective applies to the language and does not justify a geographic area code.
Assign a geographic area code if a subject heading assigned to the item has a geographic term in any form or position.
Subject heading
Geographic area code
Great Lakes Region.
043
nl-----
Rabat (Morocco)
043
f-mr---
Oaxaca (Mexico)--Antiquities.
043
n-mx---
Education--Washington (State)--Seattle.
043
n-us-wa
Indians of North America--Southern States.
043
n-usu--
Geology--Northwest Territories--Baffin Island
043
n-cn-nt
Engineers, French.
043
e-fr---
Art, British. [The work is about art created by British artists, of the British school, or located in Great Britain.]
043
e-uk---
Art, British. [The work is about Britishart located in the United States.]
043
e-uk--- ‡a n-us---
Assign geographic area codes if the subject matter warrants, even if the subject heading does not use a specific geographic term.
Subject heading
Geographic area code
Cigarette habit. (Title: Cigarettes: America's no. 1 public health problem.)
043
n-us---
Bathing suits--History. (Title: Women's bathing and swimming costumes in the United States.)
043
n-us---
If several geographic areas are involved, assign multiple area codes, but not more than three. If necessary, assign the code for a larger geographic area in order to avoid using more than three codes.
Copyright--France.Copyright--Great Britain.Copyright--United States. Copyright--Canada.
043
e------ ‡a n------
America.
043
n------ ‡a s------
Assign codes for histories and criticisms of national literatures and for individual or collected works of literature if the subject headings show geographical content.
Subject heading
Geographic area code
English poetry--History and criticism.
043
e-uk-en
Little Big Horn, Battle of the, 1876--Fiction.
043
n-us-mt
Assign codes for collective national and local biographies. Do not assign codes to works of individual biography and autobiography, unless a subsequent subject heading cites the geographic entity.
Subject heading
Geographic area code
New Salem (Sangamon County, Ill.)--Biography. (Title: New Salem; early chapter in Lincoln's life.)
043
n-us-il
Assign geographic area codes for cultural and ethnic features.
Subject heading
Geographic area code
Civilization, Phoenician.
043
aw-----
Hermanos Penitentes.
043
n-us-nm ‡a n-us-co
Hopi Indians.
043
n-us-az
Assign geographic area codes for corporate bodies.
Subject heading
Geographic area code
San Diego and Arizona Eastern Railway Company.
043
n-us-ca
University of Illinois at Urbana--Champaign.
043
n-us-il
‡b Local GAC code
Local expansion of a geographic area code. Use a separate subfield ‡b for each local GAC code. The source of the code is indicated in subfield ‡2 . It is recommended that standard geographic area codes also be included in subfield ‡a for international exchange and understanding.
‡c ISO code
A code taken from the International Organization for Standardization's Codes for the Representation of Names of Countries and Their Subdivisions–Part 1: Country Codes or Part 2: Country Subdivision Codes (ISO 3166).
When creating MARC bibliographic records according to AACR2, see
MARC Code List for Geographic Areas for the list of codes. Each geographic area code has seven character positions composed of lowercase letters and hyphens.
When creating Dublin Core® records, non-MARC code lists may be used.
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