Definition

A personal name used as an authorized access point. The access point is assigned according to various cataloging rules to give access to the bibliographic record from personal names.

Use for the following types of personal names:

• Names of persons
• Phrases having the structure of forenames or surnames
• Phrases used to indicate a person
• Names of families
• Persons named in sacred scriptures or apocryphal books
• Fictitious and legendary persons or characters
• Real non-human entities, such as named animals

OCLC also makes available nonstandard MARC fields to use for additional access points not supported by cataloging rules (e.g., donor or gift information or variant form). Enter information in fields 696, 790, 796, or 896 as you would in the corresponding standard MARC fields. These fields are not retained in the WorldCat record. However, they are retained in exported records and records delivered via other services.

This page does not cover the title portion of personal name/title access points. Refer to the Preferred Titles--General Information for further information on constructing title access points and title related subfields.

For information on punctuation, see the Punctuation section below.

Guidelines

Guidelines and links to guidelines for applying all content designators are given below. A field-specific list of content designators and guidelines for applying the 1st and 2nd indicator positions are provided under the description for fields that contain a personal name.

For current cataloging, construct personal names according to Resource Description and Access (RDA), Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules, 2nd edition (AACR2), Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH), and Library of Congress/Program for Cooperative Cataloging (LC/PCC) practice. Search the OCLC Authority File to verify forms of authorized access points. Use the current RDA, AACR2, or AACR2-compatible forms of the authorized access points. If an access point is not found, construct it according to RDA or AACR2.

For retrospective cataloging, search the OCLC Authority File to verify forms of authorized access points. Use the current RDA, AACR2, or AACR2-compatible forms of the authorized access points. If an access point is not found, you may enter the pre-RDA form, but you are encouraged to construct the access point according to RDA or AACR2.

For help in coding ambiguous access points, see the Subject Headings Manual, H 405.

If constructing personal name access points according to pre-RDA instructions, make the following modifications to dates used with a personal name:

• Spell out the names of months
• Use active instead of fl.
• Use approximately instead of ca.
• Use century instead of cent.
• Use complete dates, e.g., 1886 or 1887-1945 instead of 1886 or 7-1945
• Use hyphens when indicating a birth date, e.g., 1972- instead of b. 1972
• Use hyphens when indicating a death date, e.g., -1901 instead of d. 1901

1st Indicator

Type of personal name entry element. Value that identifies the form of the entry element of the field. The values distinguish among forenames, surnames, and family names used as the entry element.

2nd Indicator

The definition of the 2nd indicator position is specific to each field.

Undefined. The 2nd indicator position is undefined and contains a blank.

	Undefined

Thesaurus. The thesaurus or established subject terminology used in constructing the subject access point. For more information about subject access points, see 6xx Introduction.

Type of added entry. The values distinguish between no information provided and an analytical entry.

Subfields

Punctuation

Punctuation of the subelements of an access point is generally dictated by descriptive cataloging or subject system/thesaurus rules. These input conventions clarify MARC punctuation practices. Fields 100, 600, 700, and 800 may optionally end with terminal punctuation. Terminal punctuation consists of one of the following: ellipsis, hyphen, period, closing parenthesis, exclamation point, and question mark. Currently, the control heading process adds terminal periods to access points. If the final subfields are subfield ǂu, ǂ0, ǂ1, ǂ2, ǂ3, ǂ4, or ǂ5, the terminal punctuation precedes the first instance of those subfields. If the final subfield is ǂe, add a comma after the access point unless the access point ends with an open date. Separate multiple relator terms with commas and add a period after the last subfield ǂe.

A personal name portion of a name/title access point ends with terminal punctuation. When an authorized access point ends with a quotation mark, the terminal punctuation is placed before the quotation mark.

In the case of a personal name input as a subject access point and followed by a subject subdivision, omit the terminal punctuation following the name unless the name ends with an abbreviation or initial/letter. See also 6xx Introduction for specific subject access point guidelines.

• Precede a title of royalty, nobility, or other term indicative of rank, honor, or office by a comma and a space
• Precede the term Saint, a title of religious rank, or a term of address for a person of religious vocation by a comma and a space
• Precede a term of address such as Mrs. by a comma and a space
• Precede a word indicating relationship such as Jr. by a comma and a space
• Precede a date or range of dates by a comma and a space
• Separate a date of birth and a date of death by a hyphen. If a date of birth is not followed by a date of death, follow the date of birth with a hyphen. If a date of death is not preceded by a date of birth, precede the date of death by a hyphen.
• Enclose the term Spirit in parentheses
• Enclose a fuller form of name in parentheses
• Enclose a term indicating occupation or profession in parentheses
• Enclose a designation for a person named in a sacred scripture or an apocryphal book in parentheses
• Enclose a designation for a fictitious or legendary person in parentheses
• Enclose a designation for a real non-human entity in parentheses
• Enclose additions to the name of a family in a single set of parentheses, separating each addition by a space, colon, space
• Separate multiple relator terms with commas

For more information on punctuation, including OCLC policy, see section 2.8, Punctuation.

Indexing

For indexing and searching information, see Searching WorldCat Indexes for fields: 100, 600, 700, and 800.

MARC 21

For more information, including content designator history, see MARC 21 Format for Bibliographic Data, x00.