Most periodicals and many serials are on subscription or standing order. Hence, communication with Acquisitions is key to insuring correct processing of these.

• General policy

  • To the extent possible, SUL follows national standards, conforming to CONSER conventions and judgment concerning serial treatment, title variation, and form of description. SUL does not attempt to bring all serial records into current record formats, but obvious errors should be corrected.

  • Whenever possible, we eliminate records from SUMMIT catalogued under “latest title” conventions (records are recognizable through the presence of value S/L 1 in the fixed field and the presence of fields 247 and/or 547 among the variable fields). In cases where the only record in OCLC in latest title and SUL does not own any volumes of the earlier title, we will use that record. We will create a new master record on OCLC for the earlier title if we own volumes of it.

• Special considerations (Periodicals):

  • If a new title appears to be somehow "ephemeral", in the nature of a brief newsletter or a title whose content seems of current interest only, the area bibliographer should be queried to see if the title is a candidate for limited retention. Such titles are fully catalogued, but not classified.

  • Call numbers and locations: If the call number would shelve the title and its current issues in a location in a branch other than that which submitted the order, verify with the bibliographer that this is appropriate. For example, if science submits and order for a title classified in a Bird call number, we need to make sure this will meet service needs, since the call number determines where both the current issues and bound volumes are shelved.

Periodicals received via firm orders or as gifts:

•  

  • Firm orders:

    • Occasionally, the Library orders periodical backsets or a run of a dead title via firm order. These are processed (catalogued and/or added) in Cataloguing in order to update the LHR.

    • Backruns and/or entire titles may be ordered on microfilm or microfiche. Film and fiche are catalogued on the same record as print.

  • Gifts

    • The Library also receives gifts of periodical runs, which also need to be added and/or catalogued. The Library does not add scattered, individual issues of periodicals, but will add complete volume(s).

• Special considerations (serials)

  • Firm orders and/or gifts:

    • Serials are often ordered as firm orders either because the subject bibliographer does not want a standing order, or because they were unaware that the title is a serial. Titles are catalogued as OPEN serials when the situation warrants—-CONSER or other authenticated record. SUL does not treat these as monographs simply because they are not on standing order. If the title was ordered on a monographic record, change the OCLC number to reflect the serial and overlay the record.

    • Reference titles: In order to better track titles, SUL prefers serial treatment to monographic. If conflicting treatment is found, refer title to your supervisor. In this case, we will use a non-CONSER serial record in preference to DLC monographic records.

• Local holdings records (LHRs)

  •  

    • Generally we add all serial gift volumes even if it is the only volume we have.

  • Only titles on ssbuscription or standing order are considered currently received when creating LHRs. Serials received on firms orders or as gifts are coded “not currently received” on the LHR. In addition, on SUMMIT, a non-public 866-field is created on the MARC holdings record indicating the title is not on standing order and informing the cataloger that the LHR must be updated each time a volume is added:

    • 866 … |x NOT ON STANDING ORDER; revise LHR when new volume added.

• Determining choice of treatment

There is rarely any ambiguity about periodicals (fixed field SrTp p) and newspapers (SrTp n). SUL defines a periodical as having a frequency of 2 or more issues per year.

Serials, however, can represent more of a challenge in terms of selecting the appropriate cataloguing treatment. Serials encompass true serials (similar to periodicals except in terms of frequency--annual or less), monographic series, and titles whose nature shifts over time.

In the past, SUL catalogued a number of monographic series as serials creating a number of retrospective projects to add the appropirate title-level access to SUMMIT. Today, we endeavor to get it right from the start.

• New titles: Display the SUMMIT record. If SUMMIT has a local record, search OCLC, for both collective (and individual titles, if present).

  • Titles having serial records:

    • SrTp : [blank] indicates the record describes a serial (OPEN decision on MFHD). If the record is CONSER or otherwise authenticated in field 042, see serials cataloguing procedures and catalogue the title. Be aware of any distinctive titles, however. The publication may have changed over time. If in doubt, verify OPEN decision you’re your supervisor.

    • SrTp : m indicates that the record describes a monographic series. (MFHD cataloguing decisions for monographic series are: NOT TRACED, SERIES, COLLECTED, or OPEN/COLLECTED)

      • If the volume has a distinctive title in addition to the series title, refer to your supervisor. The title will be be set up as a monographic series based on the authority file.

      • If the volume lacks a distinctive title, refer to your supervisor. The title may be catalogued as an OPEN serial or as an OPEN/COLLECTED if there is evidence that some volumes do indeed have distinctive titles. If catalogued as an OPEN, the SrTp m will be changed to [blank] on the bibliographic record to bring the coding into line with the cataloguing decision.

      • Titles catalogued as NOT TRACED, SERIES, COLLECTED, or OPEN/COLLECTED monographic series have authority records on SUMMIT and on OCLC that give the proper form of entry and indicate the cataloguing decision to be followed. The SUMMIT record used for receiving may need to be revised to match the authorized form of entry in field 245, 130, or a combination of 1xx/240.

  • Titles with only monographic records:

    • See: Procedures for cataloguing continuations/multi-volume sets. NOTE: If there is a distinctive author and/or title in addition to the set title, search OCLC for a piece record and the authority file. Verify what is found with you supervisor and establish a cataloguing decision. Multi-volume monographs may be catalogued either as continuations (CONT), or, less frequently as SERIES or COLLECTED titles.

  • Inconsistencies in cataloguing treatment:

    • Both OCLC and SUMMIT have titles with both serial records and monograph records for individual volumes or editions. Most of the time, we will resolve the conflict by examining the records, bibliogrpahic and authority.

    • MIXED TREATMENT: A few titles on SUMMIT have the annotation, "MIXED TREATMENT" on the MFHD, meaning that over time, the title has been treated as both a monographic series and as a serial. Some of these have been recatalogued and made consistent; others will remain mixed because the nature of the title has changed.

OVERVIEW of serial record formats: Most serial records on OCLC and in SUMMIT are follow the AACR 2 record format, described below, or the pre-AACR format, identifiable through punctuation and other conventions (such as no dates in field 260). SUL does not routinely upgrade records in earlier formats to match current conventions.

In 2007, a the CONSER standard record format was adopted (few records as of early 2008 conform to this standard. For details, see:[1]

The AACR 2 CORE serial record

Fixed field: Pay especial attention to:

Lang (language) Ctry (country of publication) SrTp (type of serial)

• p - periodical

• n - newspaper

• m - monographic series

• [blank] – other serial (none of the above; used for OPEN serials)

Freq (frequency)

• a - annual

• q - quarterly

• m - monthly

See online listing for others: http://www.oclc.org/bibformats/en/fixedfield/freq.shtm

DtSt (publication status [for serials])

• c – current (currently being published)

• d - dead (not being published)

• u – unknown (publication status unknown)

Dates (beginning and ending date of publication, if known; matches dates in 362; use u for unknown digits

022 : ISSN (required if available)

$a Current ISSN: Transcribe from piece if not in OCLC record.

$y Incorrect ISSN: If ISSN printed on piece matches that assigned, enter it in sub-field y

040 : Cataloguing source: DLC (LC cataloguing) or other CONSER library is preferred if there are multiple records for a title. For a complete list of CONSER libraries, see: http://www.loc.gov/acq/conser/conmembs.html

042 : authentication code (lcd=LC cataloguing; nsdp=National Serial Data Project--source of ISSNs)

050 or 090 : call number (all permanently-retained titles are classified)

• 100 (personal name): rarely used; see journal title What color is your parachute for an example.

• 110 (corporate name): limited usage, for titles, such as annual reports of organizations, “emanating” from the body.

• 111 (conference name): proceedings entered under the name of the conference.

• 130 (uniform title): If the title proper is generic (i.e., Journal, Newsletter, or Bulletin alone), a uniform title main entry is created in a 130 field. Depending on the type of publication, a place name or corporate body name is used as the qualifier (authorized forms of name are used); dates used if further distinction needed:

  • Examples:

    • Qualify by place:

      • 130 0 Journal (Syracuse, N.Y. : 2001)

      • 245 00 Journal

    • Qualify by corporate body:

      • 130 0 Bulletin (Syracuse University. Dept. of History)

      • 245 00 Bulletin / |c Dept. of History, Syracuse University.