Per l'applicazione delle REICAT: i cambiamenti nelle forme dei nomi degli autori

The new Italian cataloguing rules (Regole italiane di catalogazione, REICAT), published in June 2009, are now to be applied in catalogues, revising when necessary obsolete forms of headings and inconsistencies. The article focuses on the main changes in the form of the headings for Persons and Corporate Bodies, in relation to the former code of rules (RICA, published in 1979) and the practice of the national bibliography (BNI) and the national library network (SBN). As a general principle, headings are based on the name or form of name most frequently found in editions of the author's works: e.g. a pseudonym or assumed name, or an incomplete form (with elements of the name omitted or represented by initials). The first part of the article concerns general changes related to the additions to a name and to prescribed punctuation, while the second part describes the main changes for Persons (author’s preference and national usage, completeness variants, transliteration or transcription of names in different scripts, headings for saints) and for Corporate Bodies (name qualifiers, minor changes, subordinate corporate bodies and bodies related to other bodies). The aim of most changes is the removal of special exceptions or inconsistencies and the choice of forms of headings closer to common usage and as clear as possible to catalogue users