CONSER Operations Representatives Meeting

Outcomes and Action Items from the CONSER Operations Representatives Meeting, held May 6-7, 2010, have now been posted on the CONSER website. Topics covered include:

• ISBD punctuation
• Implementation of new MARC coding
• Multiple character set guidelines
• Open Access Project Task Group report
• Lack of one-to-one correspondence between print and online versions due to changes in title change rules
• Linking field issues
• Changes to uniform titles
• RDA testing
• ISSN-L
• And more!
  

"Serials in RDA: A Starter's Tour and Kit" by Mary Curran

In her Serials Librarian column, "E-Ventures: Notes and Reflections from the e-Serials Field," Mary Curran presents a concise tour of Resource Description and Access (RDA) rules related to serials cataloging. She covers changes from Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules, second edition (AACR2); the text of RDA rules related to those changes; RDA rules regarding major and minor title changes; examples of how RDA data elements will be recorded; serial-related issues that have been deferred for later discussion by the Joint Steering Committee (JSC); examples of FRBR-RDA mapping for selected serials-related data; and examples of MARC record syntaxes.

"Serials in RDA: A Starter's Tour and Kit" is published in the Serials Librarian, vol. 57, issue 4 (November 2009), pages 306-323.

DOI: 10.1080/03615260903218825

MARC Coding for Serials

The North American Serials Interest Group has published a new NASIGuide, "MARC Coding for Serials." The guide was written by Elizabeth McDonald and Beverly Geckle and "focuses on how serial MARC records differ from records for other formats."

A complete listing of NASIGuides is available online and includes others of interest to serials catalogers, such as:

• "ISSN" by Donna Packer
  
• "Serials Holdings" by Frieda Rosenberg
  
• "Title Changes" by Michele Seikel
  

"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.

“Building Connections: A Review of the Serials Literature 2004 through 2005” by Cecilia Genereux

Genereux covers three major aspects of serials trends in her literature review for 2004-2005: cost, management, and access. Serials catalogers will be particularly interested in her coverage of access issues. Specific topics addressed include: FRBR and serials; new rules for major and minor title changes; aggregator-neutral records for online serials; changing roles and responsibilities of serials catalogers brought on by the proliferation of e-journals; cataloging of new types of continuing resources such as zines, e-zines, and blogs; and serials holdings records. As with any literature review, readers will want to consult the original works to learn more about the topics.

Genereux’s article can be found in Library Resources & Technical Services, vol. 51, no. 4 (Oct. 2007), pages 293-304.

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.