"From the Majors to the Minors: Playing the Game as the Rules are Changed" by Jim Cole

In this article, Cole gives an overview of the evolution of Anglo-American cataloging rules and how the rule changes would affect publishers and aggregators if they were to use them to organize electronic journals. He concludes that since cataloging code is continually changing regarding title changes, it does not make the best model for publishers and aggregators to follow. He suggests instead, "when a serial changes its title, if the change involves an important word in the title or if the new title could potentially be separated from the old title in a comprehensive A-Z listing of serials from multiple publishers and aggregators, the new and old titles should each be listed separately. References would be needed between the two titles, and these could be given on each title's own Web page. He then asserts that full cataloging of online journals should not be needed--brief records with a title and url should be sufficient. However he does not discuss the ramifications of the loss of several access points by doing so.

Published in: the Serials Librarian, vol. 55, no. 1/2 (2008), pages 45-58.