CTP/CJM Joint Working Group on ALA-LC Japanese Romanization Table

• Membership
  
  
  • Membership:  Yoko Kudo (Chair, UC Riverside), Rob Britt (U. Washington), Keiko Suzuki (Yale), Chiaki Sakai (U. Iowa), Hikaru Nakano (U. Florida) (-May 19, 2014), Mieko Mazza (Stanford)
  
  
  • CTP & CJM chairs, ex-officio:  Michiko Ito (Mar. 2014-, Committee on Japanese Materials), Setsuko Noguchi (Sep. 2013-Mar. 2014, Committee on Japanese Materials), Erica Chang (Mar. 2014-, Committee on Technical Processing), Shi Deng (Sep. 2013-Mar. 2014, Committee on Technical Processing)
  
  
  • Advisors/Consultants/Collaborators:  Bruce Johnson (LC), Hisako Kotaka (OCLC), Japanese linguistic specialists
  
  Term: September 2013-August 2015


• Charges  (also available in .docx format: get the file here )
  
  
  1. The CTP/CJM Joint Working Group represents the CEAL community and works closely in consultation with them on matters concerning revisions and updates to the ALA-LC Japanese Romanization Table (RT).
     
     Specifically, the Working Group:
     • Informs the CEAL community of its activities, including any proposed changes to the RT
     • Seeks the CEAL community’s feedback on the impact of any proposed changes
     • Shares with the CEAL community feedback from other stake holders
     • Communicates with LC, OCLC, ALA, ISO and the ISSN Centers on behalf of the CEAL community
  
  
  2. Upon the release of LC’s upcoming revised ALA-LC Japanese Romanization Table (RT), the Working Group will:
     • Facilitate and seek feedback from the CEAL community on the new RT
     • Coordinate database cleanup necessitated by the RT, as needed
  
  
  3. Always aware of future needs and cleanup issues, the Working Group will consider ideas for RT revision based on:
  • The feedback and concerns of the CEAL community and other stakeholders
  • Issues identified by the CTP/CJM Joint Task Force on the LC Proposal for Japanese Romanization. (See the TF documentation on the web:https://www.eastasianlib.org/ctp/index.htm)
  • LC documentation, such as:
    • “Procedural Guidelines for Proposed New or Revised Romanization Tables” (http://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/romguid_2010.html)
    • “Romanization Landscape” (http://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/romlandscape_Oct2011.html),
  • The goal of coordination with International standards and the groups that create them, such as:
    • The International Standards Organization, and the German group working on a revision of the ISO Japanese Romanization standard ISO 3602: draft revision
    • ISSN Centers
  
  
  4. The term of the Working Group will be September 2013-August 2015. If needed, the CTP/CJM chairs may request an extension to this term, which would require the approval of the CEAL Executive Board.
  
  
  5. Membership
     • Members shall be selected in consideration of geographical location, specialty/research interests, size of East Asian collections, and length of membership in CEAL.
     • At least one representative from public services.
     • Invite representatives from LC, OCLC, and Japanese linguistics scholar to serve as advisors


• Annual Reports
  
  • 2014-2015 (DOCX file)
  • 2013-2014 (DOCX file)
  
  
• Final Report
  


• Japanese Romanization Table: Significant Changes in the 2012 Revision (Mar. 19, 2014)


• Announcement (Dec. 20, 2013)   (view it in its own page )

  The Committee on Technical Processing (CTP)/Committee on Japanese Materials (CJM) Joint Working Group on the ALA-LC Japanese Romanization Table was formed in September 2013 to continue the work of the previous task force with regard to revisions and updates to the ALA-LC Japanese Romanization Table. It has been a year since the revision of the Japanese Romanization Table was approved and distributed. The Working Group would particularly like to raise the Japanese cataloging community's awareness that the current Table (linked above) specifies the use of the apostrophe | ' | (Unicode 0027) rather than the alif | ʾ | (Unicode 02BE) (see examples under "Diacritic Marks, 2").
  

  What You Need to Know

  • OCLC regularly updates Worldcat BIBLIOGRAPHIC records to the new standard, using an automated program to replace any alifs in Japanese cataloging with apostrophes (listserv post from Ms. Kotaka of OCLC).
  • OCLC does not update AUTHORITY records. This is because the data management/control for LC/NACO authority files is in LC/NACO hands. As a result, pre-2012 authority records may still include the alif in romanized Japanese text.
  • In bibliographic records, if the "control headings" feature is used with authority records that include the alif, the alif will be re-introduced. Alifs in controlled fields will be corrected when the linked authority records are updated with the apostrophe.
  • Because of the normalization process, mixed use of these two diacritics will not cause any hindrance to searchers in WorldCat. However, it is still important to update authority records in order to maintain consistent use of diacritics in the records, as well as to prevent any search problems from occurring in local systems after importing records from OCLC.

  What You Can Do

  OCLC

  • NACO (Name Authority Cooperative Program of the PCC) libraries : If you are a trained NACO contributor working for a NACO library, please update authority records by replacing any alifs with apostrophes in romanized Japanese, whenever time allows.
  • Non-NACO libraries are not authorized to update the records. However, you may make a change request to the Working Group. Click here or above to submit a request form. (No more requests are accepted after the working group term ended. The link: https://docs.google.com/a/newschool.edu/forms/d/15aKfyAc4zMSTk7JVcq_bzL7vuLngUXJzppjeWhTQrdw/viewform was removed as of Mar. 2016)
  • Joel Hahn's macro for converting alifs to apostrophes, "AlifAyn2Apostrophe" (see links above) may be used in OCLC Connexion to update either bibliographic OR authority records.
  • For more background on macros for this purpose and other related issues, see Erica Chang's presentation, "Using macros in Connexion for CJK materials webinar, Advanced session" (11/2012), linked above.
  • Subject authority records may also include alifs, when they include romanized Japanese text. If your institution is a SACO library, ask your SACO coordinator to make a change proposal to LC. Non-SACO libraries may contact the Working Group using the request form link above.

  Local Systems

  • Be aware of the use of the alif in bibliographic records you download to your local integrated library system (ILS). You may want to replace any alifs with apostrophes in OCLC Connextion before exporting records to your local system.
  • LC has kindly shared their alif-to-apostrophe macro for the Voyager ILS. For more information, please contact the Working Group chair, Yoko Kudo at yoko.kudo@ucr.edu
  • For other local systems, each library must develop their own policy with regard to this issue depending on local needs and priorities. The effect of the mixed use of the alif and apostrophe may vary from system to system.

  If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact Yoko Kudo (yoko.kudo@ucr.edu), or any other Working Group member.