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NLM Completes Conversion from Wade-Giles to Pinyin Romanization of Chinese Characters in Bibliographic and Authority Records in LocatorPlus
NLM has completed its multi-year project to convert Wade-Giles romanization of bibliographic records to the romanization scheme known as pinyin. This transliteration system for Chinese has replaced the Wade-Giles system which had been used in U.S. libraries for over four decades. The conversion project was undertaken in conjunction with libraries and bibliographic utilities throughout the United States.
Like Wade-Giles, pinyin is a system for romanizing Chinese characters into the roman alphabet. Pinyin is the official standard for transliteration of Chinese language in the People's Republic of China. It is also widely used by the international community, the United States government and the news media. The examples below show differences between the Wade-Giles (old) and pinyin (new) romanization. The change from Peking to Beijing is perhaps the most familiar, even to those who do not speak Chinese.
| English | Wade-Giles | Pinyin |
| China | Chung-kuo | Zhongguo |
| Peking | Pei-ching | Beijing |
| United States | Mei-kuo | Meiguo |
Current Status of Conversion
As of April 2004, NLM has completed the final phase of this multi-year project, the manual conversion of complex Wade-Giles authority headings to pinyin as well as the review of those authority headings and bibliographic records converted by machine during October 2002 (cf. History section). At that time, NLM utilized the automated services of OCLC (Online Computer Library Center, Inc.) to accomplish a major portion of the Wade-Giles to pinyin conversion for both bibliographic and authority records.
Although NLM has completed the systematic review and automated maintenance from Wade-Giles to pinyin of all headings identified as needing this conversion, users may still encounter Wade-Giles headings which were missed or errors caused by the romanization conversion. Users who notice problems or have questions should notify NLM by contacting custserv@nlm.nih.gov.
History of NLM's Wade-Giles to pinyin conversion
After extensive testing and consultations with OCLC during 2001 and 2002, NLM identified approximately 11,000 candidate bibliographic records and 7,500 related authority records which were likely to require Wade-Giles to pinyin processing. Copies of all "candidate records" (those identified as published in Chinese or in a country where Chinese is a major language) were sent to OCLC for manipulation by the OCLC-designed automated processes, and if Wade-Giles was found in any record, that record was converted to pinyin. The modified records were reloaded into LocatorPlus October 25-26, 2002.
From that time through April 2004, the records converted by OCLC were reviewed by the Cataloging Section. In addition, manual conversion was completed on the records which were determined to be too complex for automated conversion via the OCLC programs. NLM has retained the Wade-Giles romanization of the Chinese title as a Variant Title in those records which were originally created using Wade-Giles. Thus, users will continue to notice a mix of Wade-Giles and pinyin in LocatorPlus records.
To determine if a bibliographic record in LocatorPlus has been fully converted to pinyin, click on the MARC View tab and examine the full MARC 21 bibliographic record. Records fully converted to pinyin contain the MARC 21 field 987 subfield $a with the value "PINYIN" and the subfield $d with the value "c" (=converted) or "n" (=examined, no Wade-Giles present to convert).
As of April 2004, there are approximately 40 bibliographic records in LocatorPlus which still contain 987 subfield $a PINYIN and the subfield $d value "r", indicating they require manual examination. Those remaining records that are for titles NLM plans to acquire will be converted from Wade-Giles to pinyin as the material is cataloged. Those records that represent materials not held at NLM will not be converted to pinyin.
Impact of pinyin conversion on LocatorPlus and citations in PubMed
All title abbreviations (TAs) for Chinese language indexed serial titles have been changed and appear in PubMed in the revised pinyin form. The title abbreviation displays in the HOLDINGS View in NLM's online catalog, LocatorPlus, as well as in the MARC 21 field 210 of the bibliographic record in the MARC View tab.
NLM has retained the Wade-Giles romanized form of the title in the MARC 21 field 246 in the bibliographic record in LocatorPlus, coded with a locally defined subfield 9 containing the value "wg", to assure consistent retrieval for serials and other materials previously cited in that form.
The example below shows a portion of the bibliographic record for the selected Chinese serial in the previous Wade-Giles form and as it now appears in NLM LocatorPlus in the romanized pinyin form.
Previous Wade-Giles form of the title and title abbreviation: Holdings View
| Title Abbreviation: | Fa I Hsueh Tsa Chih |
| Title: | Fa i hsüeh tsa chih. |
Revised pinyin form of the title and title abbreviation: Holdings View
| Title Abbreviation: | Fa Yi Xue Za Zhi |
| Title: | Fa yi xue za zhi. |
Previous Wade-Giles form of the title and title abbreviation: MARC VIEW
| 210 10 ‡a Fa Isueh Tsa Chih ‡2 DNLM |
| 245 00 ‡a Fa i hsüeh tsa chih. |
Revised pinyin form of the title and title abbreviation: MARC VIEW
| 210 10 ‡a Fa Yi Xue Za Zhi ‡2 DNLM |
| 245 00 ‡a Fa yi xue za zhi. |
| 246 3_ ‡a Fa I Hsueh Tsa Chih ‡9 wg |
| 245 3_ ‡a Fa i hsüeh tsa chih ‡9 wg |
Milestones of the impact of pinyin conversion on Catfile, CatfilePlus, and CatfilePlus, and Serfile
May-June 2004: All of NLM’s Chinese bibliographic records are reissued to all Catfile, CatfilePlus and Serfile licensees. Note that as a service to other libraries and until the U.S.-wide pinyin conversion project is declared completed by the library community at large, all distributions of these records will continue to contain the MARC21 field 987 subfield $a with the value "PINYIN" and the subfield $d with the value "c" (=converted) or "n" (=examined; no Wades-Giles present to convert). Serfile licensees only will continue to receive a small number of records for serials not yet cataloged or not held at NLM which contain the $d with value “r” (=review required).
April 2004: NLM completed the manual conversion of complex Wade-Giles authority headings to pinyin as well as the review of those authority headings and bibliographic records converted by machine during October 2002. The large majority of Chinese bibliographic and authority records in LocatorPlus reflect pinyin transliteration.
August 1, 2003: NLM resumed the distribution of ALL Chinese language records to Catfile licensees, as these records were edited as part of regular maintenance.
January 1, 2003: NLM resumed the distribution of ALL Chinese language records to CatfilePlus licensees, as these records were edited as part of regular maintenance. Catfile licensees continued to receive only newly completed records.
November 1, 2002: NLM resumed distribution of newly completed records for Chinese language materials to Catfile and CatfilePlus licensees. Reissuance of older records remained blocked from both Catfile and CatfilePlus.
August 2002: Anticipating the planned automated conversion of most Chinese records, NLM stopped distribution of all Chinese language records to Catfile and CatfilePlus licensees, regardless of the pinyin conversion status shown in field 987. Serfile licensees continued to receive all records for Chinese serials, regardless of their conversion status or Wade-Giles vs. pinyin content.
October 1, 2000: All candidate records which could potentially contain Wade-Giles were blocked from distribution to NLM's Catfile and CatfilePlus licensees. This block was designed to remain in place until such time as each record could be checked, converted (if necessary), and marked with an appropriate 987 field. Serfile distribution was not impacted.
Additional resources:
For general information on the new Chinese romanization guidelines, see: http://lcweb.loc.gov/catdir/pinyin/romcover.html.
For more information about the U.S.-wide pinyin conversion project, see: http://lcweb.loc.gov/catdir/pinyin/pinyin.html.
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Last updated: 02 August 2004
First published: 02 August 2004
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