Help with Major and Minor Title Changes

A recent discussion on the OCLC-CAT list reminded me of some helpful hints for determining major versus minor title changes in the new CONSER Standard Record Documentation. Pages 13-14 in Appendix A have these bits of advice:

Major vs. Minor Changes

I. Rules of thumb for problematic situations

Resource-type words: If the word can be used with an indefinite article, consider it a resource-type word (using this guideline, newspaper is a resource-type word; news is not a resource-type word). Frequency words are not considered resource-type words (though commonly used that way in English). In case of doubt, consider a word to be a resource-type word.

Minor Word Variations: In case of doubt, consider a different representation to be the same word but use caution and perhaps a dictionary in the case of different grammatical forms because words like man and male are different words with different meanings.

Geographic term or government body?: When the serial is issued by or associated with a government body, consider a geographic term to be a representation of the corporate body’s name (e.g., California facts and figures issued by an agency of the California state government).

Change of meaning or subject matter: Limit the application of this rule to changes that would be reflected in subject headings, and cases where the publisher indicates that the title change reflects a change in scope.

Remember also to consult AACR2 21.2C and related LCRIs when determining if a title change is major or minor.