LC Converts to Pinyin System
for Romanization of Chinese Characters
The Library of Congress has completed its conversion to the Pinyin system for the romanization of Chinese characters, replacing the Wade-Giles system that has been used by American libraries for the last century.
Pinyin is used by United States government agencies, including the Board of Geographic Names, the body that governs the form of geographic names used in Library of Congress cataloging. LC notes that most American library users are familiar with the Pinyin system, so the switch, which took effect October 1, will make it easier for them to locate material, as well as facilitating the exchange of data with libraries internationally.
In changing to Pinyin, LC worked with OCLC and the Research Libraries Group to address the conversion of the millions of Chinese-language bibliographic records in their respective databases that were romanized according to Wade-Giles, including the headings established from Chinese works that exist in non-Chinese records, such as translations of works by Mao Zedong (called “Mao Tse-tung” under Wade-Giles).
Posted October 16, 2000.
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