As a result of the change of name of Zaire to Democratic Republic of the Congo, the former heading for this country (Congo (Democratic Republic)) has been reinstated as the heading for the current jurisdiction. Revisions to the name authority records for local places within the country will be done as needed.

With Hong Kong reverting to China, a new heading has been created (Hong Kong (China)).

In descriptive cataloging practice, all former and current headings are valid, depending upon the usage in the item being cataloged.

In May 1998 the official languages of Hong Kong remain Chinese and English. Because there is uncertainty about English remaining an official language, all government bodies of Hong Kong (China) will be established provisionally (008/33 = value c ). If the item being cataloged shows the government body's name in Chinese only, establish the body in Chinese and code the name authority record provisional. If the item being cataloged shows the government body's name in English, establish the body in English and code the record provisional. If the item being cataloged shows the body's name in both Chinese and English, establish the body in English (according to AACR2 24.3A1) and code the record provisional. Do not revise a provisional heading for a government body established in either Chinese or English if the form in the other language becomes available later.

The heading Zaire is no longer to be used in subject cataloging. Following the principle of assigning only the latest name of a jurisdiction as a subject, only the form Congo (Democratic Republic) should be used both as a subject heading and as a geographic subdivision.

Also, the heading Hong Kong is no longer to be used in subject cataloging. The heading Hong Kong (China) should now be used. As a geographic subdivision Hong Kong is divided through China.

Cleanup of the subject authority file, bibliographic database, and subject cataloging documentation will follow, as will instructions on the treatment of these places in the Library of Congress Classification.

There is no change in the MARC country code for Democratic Republic of the Congo (cg). The MARC country code for Hong Kong (hk) is no longer valid and will be deleted from the code list. The appropriate fixed field in bibliographic records should now be coded for China (cc).

There is no change in the geographic area code for the Democratic Republic of the Congo (f-cg). The Library of Congress will begin assigning a new code (a-cc-hk) for Hong Kong on June 20, 1998.

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