What do Sort by $w, RDA Sorting and Name before Name/title do?

Question

MARC Field Ordering Rules contain a few sort options with names that don't fully explain what they do. What do Sort by $w, RDA Sorting and Name before Name/title do?

Answer

• Sort by $w: Put the fields in order first by the first character of subfield $w (assuming "n" if none), and then in ascending alphabetical order.
• RDA Sorting: Used only when 336, 337, and/or 338 is within the sorting options. Puts the fields in order first by the contents of subfield $2, then by tag.
• Name before Name/title : Put plain names before name/title headings in the 700, 710, 711 fields. Name/title is detected by the presence of $t, so 700, 710 and 711 without a $t will come first.

Article last edited: 11-May-2016