I know others have responded already and I agree with giving the Arabic form (“15, 418 pages”) in the “main” extent statement, but I usually also give a parallel field with the Greek numeral in these cases.
This isn’t a case of RDA 3.4.5.2—the Greek numeral isn’t a word, it’s a numeral, so this isn’t an example of pages numbered in words, and so the basic RDA instruction would apply but in current North American practice we romanize (if turning a Greek numeral into an Arabic numeral can be called “romanization” ☺) following RDA 1.4 alternative and the ALA-LC Greek romanization table (http://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/romanization/greek.pdf) and optionally give a parallel field with the vernacular. Bob Robert L. Maxwell Head, Special Collections and Formats Catalog Dept. 6728 Harold B. Lee Library Brigham Young University Provo, UT 84602 (801)422-5568 "We should set an example for all the world, rather than confine ourselves to the course which has been heretofore pursued"--Eliza R. Snow, 1842. From: Resource Description and Access / Resource Description and Access [mailto:RDA-L@LISTSERV.LAC-BAC.GC.CA] On Behalf Of Benjamin A Abrahamse Sent: Tuesday, May 07, 2013 11:55 AM To: RDA-L@LISTSERV.LAC-BAC.GC.CA Subject: [RDA-L] Non-"arabic", non-roman numerals I have a Greek book, with the preface numbered in Greek numerals (cf. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_numerals). I assume that I would follow RDA 3.4.5.2, "Record pages, etc., that are numbered in words by giving the numeric equivalent" and record: 15, 418 pages and add a note: "Pages 1-15 (first sequence) numbered with Greek numerals." Though it looks like the record will validate in OCLC if I record: ιεʹ, 418 pages. Is there a preference? I would note that there are other instances in which a books page numbers would be recorded in other numeral systems: Arabic (using real Arabic numerals, not our so-called "Arabic numerals"), Hebrew, Devanagari, etc. Thanks, Ben Benjamin Abrahamse Cataloging Coordinator Acquisitions, Metadata and Enterprise Systems MIT Libraries 617-253-7137
