Upcoming change to RVM: Removal of administrative geographic terms

5 February 2025

In agreement with the recent decision of the RVM Coordination Committee, supported by the RVM Expert User Committee, administrative geographic terms (e.g., cities, towns, villages, provinces, countries, etc.) will be removed from RVM (Sujets) in the coming months.

There are several reasons behind this decision. On the one hand, the creation of the Programme francophone des autorités de noms (PFAN) by Library and Archives Canada (LAC), Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec (BAnQ) along with 15 university libraries across the province of Québec (by way of PBUQ), in June 2020, allowed participating institutions to contribute to the Canadiana Authority File by taking charge of name authority records, including administrative geographic terms, according to PFAN standards. Being that the Canadiana Authority File is collective, participating institutions may at any time modify records, rendering impossible a timely update in RVM. This is why RVM can no longer be considered a reliable source for administrative geographic authorities. On the other hand, we have observed a lack of uniformity between current Canadiana records and former RVM records because of evolving description standards, a problem that will grow more acute over time.

As soon as the change takes effect, libraries and documentation centres with access to Canadiana will find administrative geographic authorities within the Canadiana Authority File. Other institutions may use the Virtual International Authority File (VIAF), which disseminates data from the authority records created in Canadiana free of charge.

We will keep you informed as we determine the next steps over the coming months. We thank you kindly for your interest in Répertoire de vedettes-matière as the National Indexing Standard in French.