This is a question as to whether the publisher or readers think "Al Qaeda" is now an English word. The rules for transcribing a title are in AACR2 1.1B. They do not mention initial articles because titles are transcribed as found on the title page or chief source of information. If you were cataloging an Arabic book with "al-Qaeda" you would use systematic romanization and not alphabetize the "al."
If you had an English book with the title, "Hasefer : learning about libraries," you would alphabetize it under "H" not "s" because , "Hasefer" is used as an English word. If you are using a heading for a corporate body look at AACR2 24.5. The rule says to ignore the initial article. Daniel Stuhlman Chicago, IL 60645 dstuhlman @ stuhlman biz http://home.earthlink.net/~ddstuhlman/liblob.htm Librarian's Lobby http://stuhlman.biz Home page Messages and opinions expressed on Hasafran are those of the individual author and are not necessarily endorsed by the Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL) =========================================================== Submissions for Ha-Safran, send to: Hasafran @ lists.acs.ohio-state.edu SUBscribing, SIGNOFF commands send to: Listproc @ lists.acs.ohio-state.edu Questions, problems, complaints, compliments;-) send to: galron.1 @ osu.edu Ha-Safran Archives: Current: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html History: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/history.html AJL HomePage http://www.JewishLibraries.org
