ALIA 12th National Library Technicians Conference 2003

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12th ALIA National Library Technicians Conference
9-12 September 2003
Bridging services - embracing reality

'What they changed their name again?' - keeping up with serials

Emma Datson, Australian Institute of Criminology

Abstract

One of the most challenging and rewarding aspects of working with serials is the constant change involved. Those working in the area are confronted with changes in titles, corporate bodies, publications patterns, subscription price, web addresses, electronic access conditions and enumeration systems or cessation of publication. It is very important to keep abreast of these changes and reflect it in your serial records/holdings. If your holdings, links and other bibliographic data are not up-to-date and clear, you are disadvantaging your clients by not giving them the best access to your collection that you can provide. This paper will reflect the author's efforts to ride this wave of constant change whilst working as an accessions officer in the JV Barry Library, Australian Institute of Criminology and the Australian Serials Unit of the National Library of Australia.

Introduction

The 2002 revision of the Anglo American Cataloguing Rules, 2nd edition, included a major overhaul of the rules dealing with seriality. 'The scope of chapter 12, now called 'Continuing Resources' instead of 'Serials', has been expanded to include resources that have either not been covered in the rules or not adequately covered. Chapter 12 now encompasses:

successively issued resources (i.e., serials);
ongoing integrating resources (e.g., updating loose-leafs, updating web sites);
some categories of finite resources (i.e., reprints of serials, resources with characteristics of serials but whose duration is limited, and finite integrating resources).

One of the goals of the revision of chapter 12 was the harmonisation of AACR with the International Standard Bibliographic Description for Serials (ISBD(S)) (to be published as ISBD(CR)) and ISSN guidelines, both of which were also being revised... Agreement was also reached on definitions in the glossary. (Joint Steering Committee for Revision of AACR, 2002)

A bibliographic resource is defined as 'An expression or manifestation of a work or an item that forms the basis for bibliographic description. A bibliographic resource may be tangible or intangible.'

A continuing resource is defined as 'A bibliographic resource that is issued over time with no predetermined conclusion. Continuing resources include serials and ongoing integrating resources.'

A serial is defined as 'A continuing resource issued in succession of discrete parts, usually bearing numbering, that has no predetermined conclusion. Examples of serial include journals, magazines, electronic journals, continuing directories, annual reports, newspapers, and monographic series.'

An integrating resource is defined as 'A bibliographic resource that is added to or changed by means of updates that do not remain discrete and are integrated into the whole. Integrating resources can be finite or continuing. Examples of integrating resources include updating loose-leafs and updating web sites.' (Joint Steering Committee for Revision of AACR, 2002)

This paper will be concentrating on serials as defined by AACR2 above. One of the most challenging and rewarding aspects of working with serials is the constant change involved. Those working in the area are confronted with changes in titles, corporate bodies, publication patterns and frequency, subscription price, web addresses, electronic access conditions and enumeration systems or cessation of publication. It is very important to keep abreast of these changes and reflect them in your serial records/holdings. If your holdings (including shelf items), links and other bibliographic data are not up-to-date and clear, you are disadvantaging your clients by not giving them the best access you can provide. Below the author will explore in more depth the points outlined above, giving examples and some tips on how to ride the constant wave of change involved when your work with serials and to succeed in managing them.

Changes in title and corporate bodies/persons responsible for a work As mentioned previously chapter 12 in AACR2, 2nd ed., has recently been overhauled along with the ISBD (S) (now known as (ISBD(CR)) and the ISSN guidelines. This harmonisation of the standards involved with serials included the 'revision of rule 21.2 to reflect the three way agreement on what constitutes major/minor title changes.' (Joint Steering Committee for Revision of AACR, 2002) Major changes can include a change in the title proper or corporate body. Minor changes can include: A difference in the representation of a word/s anywhere in the title; the addition, deletion or change of punctuation; or the addition, deletion or change of words in the title that link the title to the numbering. This is a brief summary only of major/minor title changes listed in rule 21.2, (Joint Steering Committee for Revision of AACR, 2002), which should be referred to for greater detail. 'A significant recommendation is to change the 'in case of doubt' clause from 'consider the title to have changed' to 'consider the change to be minor'. This change could result in many fewer changes as cataloguers would lean in the direction of not making new records for doubtful title changes.' (Hirons, J. and Reynolds, R. 1999) This recommended change to the 'in case of doubt' clause in rule 21.2 has been accepted and allows for serials cataloguers to use their judgement when a title change is in doubt where before the emphasis was the other way. 'Serial cataloguers and users know how difficult it is to control bibliographically various title changes for the same publication. We sincerely hope that the revised instructions will be easier to apply, and will also reduce the number of title changes that will be required.' (Parent, I. 2002) If fewer records are made it will be easier for your clients to find the serial title that they are after. Access is the key and cataloguers have a responsibility to make this as easy as possible for their clients and by doing so, provide good customer service.

If you have to make a new record, make it clear on the previous title record what it is 'Continued by' and on the change of title record make it clear what it 'Continues', as outlined in rule 12.7B8 (Joint Steering Committee for Revision of AACR, 2002). In some integrated library management systems serial records on the Web version of the OPAC can have hyperlinks, enabling clients, in a click or two of the mouse, to take themselves from one change of title to the next. If the change is considered to be minor, information about it can be placed in the note area or in some cases as a variant tile. Refer to rules 12.7B4 - 12.7B6 and 21.2 (Joint Steering Committee for Revision of AACR, 2002) for more information on how to make notes of minor changes in the title proper, parallel title and other title information. Changes in the title proper, other title information or the parallel title can occur at an alarming speed; some serials even go back to a title they had 5 or even 20 years ago, making a uniform title necessary (see rule 25.1) (Joint Steering Committee for Revision of AACR, 2002), one of the many aspects of change involved working in the serial world.

Corporate bodies or persons responsible for a work also change with surprising regularity. I don't think there is a serial cataloguer in Australia or even the world that doesn't groan when a new government is elected, because they have a habit of changing their departments' names. Rule 21.3B1 covers this for serials and integrating resources. It is a change, requiring a new record even if the title proper has not changed, for serials: 'a)... i) if the heading for a corporate body under which a serial is entered changes or ii) if the main entry for a serial is under a personal or corporate heading and the person or body named in that heading is no longer responsible for the serial or iii) if the main entry for a serial is under a uniform title (see 25.5B) with a corporate heading as a qualifier and the corporate heading changes or the body named in that heading is no longer responsible for the serial.' (Joint Steering Committee for Revision of AACR, 2002) As outlined above, access is the key when you have to create a new record , so make it clear on the previous title record what it is 'Continued by' and on the change of title record make it clear what it 'Continues', as outlined in rule 12.7B8 (Joint Steering Committee for Revision of AACR, 2002) One way the J.V. Barry Library makes it easier for patrons to follow change of title, when they are in the stacks, is to house them in the same box if possible (often it is with annual reports), with both the original and change of title or corporate body highlighted on the box label. If it is not possible to keep changes of titles together on the shelf, the box label highlights the previous and/or later title/s. In this way clients are helped to follow this sometimes- difficult path of title/corporate body changes. Title and corporate body changes are the ones most often responsible for a new record but they are not the only things that change with serials. The paper will now continue with some examples of these.

Changes in publication patterns and frequency, enumeration systems, subscription price, and cessation of publication. Publication patterns, when in the year each issue is due to be published and the frequency are also subject to variance. An example for a change in the publication pattern would be when a quarterly journal goes from being published in January, April, August and December to being published in March, June, September and December. An example for frequency would be when a serial goes from being published quarterly (4 times per year) to bi-monthly (6 times per year). Publishers do not always make you aware of these changes and this can cause havoc with your claim cycle, especially if it is automatic. So if you have not received an issue you are expecting or, vice versa, if you have received an extra issue that you were not expecting, it pays to check in a number of places, that is, if the publisher has not included a letter notifying of you of the changes and when they will take place. Inside the latest issue received, there may be some information with the publisher and place of publication details, stating the frequency and publication pattern (and/or the change/s to it). It may also be contained in the editorial or introduction to the issue. If you can't find it there, the next step is the publisher's website, if they have one, which most mainstream serial publishers do. Find the page concerning the title you are interested in, and the frequency and publication pattern may be listed there (and/or the change/s to it). If the publisher does not have a website or you still cannot ascertain if there has been a change in the frequency and/or the publication pattern, you can take the final step of contacting the publisher. This can be done by phone, e-mail, fax or letter (the latter may be preferable if an overseas publisher) and explain the situation to them, i.e. if you have not received an issue you should have received or if you have received an extra issue. They will be able to supply you with the relevant information and you can claim that missing issue or make a note of the new frequency and/or publication pattern. Another consideration is that publication may be delayed; you will probably find this out whilst carrying out the above steps, especially if you have contacted the publisher. In your serial record you can then make a note of the former frequency and the new frequency as covered in rules 12.7B10.2 and 12.7B11.1 (Joint Steering Committee for Revision of AACR, 2002), and in this way your clients are also aware of the change and will know when to expect the next issue, or that there will be extra issues from now on, or that publication has been delayed. Another way the serial cataloguer can provide better access to their serials and thus provide good customer service.

Enumeration systems are another aspect, which believe me, can change with surprising regularity. The following list contains examples of elements that can be included in an enumeration system: Volume, part, number, issue, edition, month, season or year. Hopefully the numbering system will fan out in a logical way as the years pass but an anomaly can happen; this could be due to a printing or editorial error. Hopefully this will be a one-off anomaly and the numbering system will correct itself when the next issue is published. You can make a note of it in your shelf item and possibly also on your issue, depending on your library's policy. Enumeration systems can also be restarted or changed in mid-stream, for example, the last issue you received had December on it and the new issue has summer or a reporting year may change from the calendar to the financial year. If this irregularity is a common occurrence or if the numbering system changes in some way, you can make a note of if in your serial record, as outlined in rules 12. 7B10.1 and 12.7B12.2 (Joint Steering Committee for Revision of AACR, 2002). If the numbering is irregular you should

also find some way of checking the issues in with some sort of enumeration system, even if it only month and year. This is again another way in which you can make your clients aware of the latest developments in that serial's life and thus you are providing good customer service.

Subscription price is another very important factor that can fluctuate. This can be due to several factors, including the exchange rate of the Australian dollar against foreign currencies (if a foreign subscription); the change over of the publication of a serial from a private publisher to a professional publisher and more recently your subscription may not only just cover the print version but also the electronic version as well. If you are lucky the e-version will be included free with your print subscription. If not, you will have to pay an extra charge to cover the e-version as well. Your clientele and budget will decide how important it is to have the e-version as well as the print one. You may also decide to only pay for the e-version and discontinue receiving the print version. Unfortunately, either way you may have to sacrifice other serials in order to gain electronic access. More and more serials are also becoming available in aggregator sets, like Sage Full Text, ProQuest International Academic Research Library, and Science Direct. The subscription price for such aggregator sets may be out of the range of many libraries budgets, unless they sacrifice other subscriptions. Some libraries are joining with others to form consortia to overcome the budgetary problem and thus allowing all of their clients access to more resources. In fact 'the consortial movement has already opened up access for millions of library users across the globe. The membership of the International Coalition of Library Consortia (ICOLC)...illustrates the great leap in library co-operation that has taken place in the last ten years, co-operation not only takes place within a country but also on an international scale.' (Friend, F.J., 2002) Fluctuating subscription prices can affect the level of service you can provide to your clients as it may mean you have to sacrifice some serials in order to have others, especially in this web-orientated world where electronic serials and aggregator sets are becoming more profuse.

Cessation of a serial publication may also sometimes occur. Generally there are three main ways that this can occur: 1) by changing title and or corporate body, (although as we have already learnt that a previous title can return); 2) a planned cessation, i.e. the publisher announces that a particular issue will be last published, usually this information will be provided with an issue received; or 3) an unplanned cessation, i.e. you are not given any notice in the last issue. How to deal with a change of title and or a corporate body has already been covered elsewhere in the paper, including how to deal with a title that just does not know how to die. If it is a planned cessation, you can have a note in the serial record noting which issue is expected to be the last and in this way your record and holdings can be closed in a planned manner. If it is an unplanned cessation, you are required to do some detective work, in order to ascertain what has happened. If you have an automatic claim cycle you may be claiming issues that have never been published. A phone, e-mail, fax or letter is the easiest way to solve this problem (if the information isn't available on the publisher website, if they have one). They will be able to tell you if it has ceased and if so which issue was the last published. If the publication has been delayed at least you are now aware of the situation and you can make a note of when the next issue will be published in your serial record. The cessation of a serial is the ultimate change.

The paper will now cover some of the more unique changes that happen when dealing with electronic serials and e-versions of print serials.

Link rot, cataloguing e-serials and e-versions of print serials and license agreements. A major issue involved with e-serials and the e-versions of serials is when their hyperlinks (provided in your catalogue or elsewhere) no longer work as the web address that they point to has changed; this phenomenon is known as link rot. 'Links may be unavailable at any time because a resources server is not responding, because the site has moved - with or without providing a link to the new address, or even because the site has been completely removed from the web. As electronic journals become more numerous and more important research tools, Internet-connected libraries need to keep uniform resource locators (Urls) as up to date as possible.' (Mathews, V.M. and Owings, M.A., 1999) This problem can easily be addressed by a combination of automatic link checking programs now available and a planned timetable of manual checking. The National Information Standards organisation of America has recently released a document entitled 'Link checking best practices' available on the web (http://www.oclcpica.org/content/53/pdf/5yearinformationformattrends.pdf) free of charge, and this may also be able to provide you some guidance on link checking. So that the access you are promising your clients by having the hyperlink there, in the first place, is actually realised.

One of the major issues libraries must face with e-versions of print serials is whether or not to create one or two records to cover the existence of both formats. 'Kinetica recommends the creation of separate records when a resource exists in both electronic and non-electronic form... Kinetica also recommends the creation of separate records when a title is included in multiple aggregator services.' (Expert Advisory Group on Cataloguing Electronic Resources, 2003) Though they also added this note, 'While Kinetica recommends a separate record approach, it recognises that libraries may not wish to create a separate record for all of their electronic resources.' (Expert Advisory Group on Cataloguing Electronic Resources, 2003) If separate records are to be created 'Kinetica recommends that an Additional physical linking note is to be included in the bibliographic records for both physical forms to indicate the existence of the alternative form.' (Expert Advisory Group on cataloguing Electronic Resources, 2003) If a single record approach is to be taken the note previously mentioned should be added and '...electronic location and access information...should also be added.' (Expert Advisory Group on cataloguing Electronic Resources, 2003) It is also 'the cataloguer's responsibility...to clearly and accurately record access restrictions.' (Cunnea, P., 2001) Whether to catalogue your electronic resources with either one record or two is up to your library to decide; whatever way you choose, it will mean a change in your cataloguing policies and workflows.

You can also create an 'e-journals' web page. Usually this will take the form of an alphabetical listing of all the serials you have electronic access, whether via your subscription or if they are freely available on the web. A note can than be added to your serial record, as well as the already recorded electronic access information, directing your clients to the appropriate location on your website. In this way your clients do not have to access individual catalogue records to gain access to the e-version of the serial, they are all gathered together in one place. Other sorting options may also be considered including subject listings or as the JV Barry Library has done, per a request from our clients, sort by whether the serials are peer reviewed. There is an extra hyperlink on the page that users click and it produces the peer-reviewed only list. You could survey your clientele to see how they would like the e-serials to be arranged. The placement of this page on your website should be carefully considered, i.e. on your external website or on your intranet (if you have one). The easier option, for security arrangements, is your intranet. Thus your can ensure that only your clients have access to the e-versions of your serials on subscription. Internet protocol access to many serial websites, especially those produced by publishers such as SwetsWise, also ensure that only your users can access the e-serials you have paid for. This is a far better option than having to provide a user name and password to e-serials and aggregator databases, creating more hassle for your users, as they have to write this down usually, though pop-up boxes can be designed to show the user name and password to the client whilst they are logging on. It is very important that only your clients have access to the electronic resources on subscription, as if this does not occur, you can break your licensing agreements. If on your external web site or on your intranet, it is wise to set up information boxes with each title, describing the access conditions and or restrictions, so the client has to read this before being taken to the resource. In this way you are protecting yourself, by making your clients aware of the access conditions. This may not be necessary for some items that are freely available on the web. Some tips to remember when designing your 'e-journals' web page: ' 1) Authoritativeness and currency of information; 2) comprehensiveness within a well-defined focus; 3) Integrated access to print and electronic resources; 4) efficiency and reliability.' (Cameron, R.D., 1996) An 'e-journals' web page can be an extremely useful way that you can provide access to your e-serials for your clients.

As mentioned above electronic resources in the form of e-serials, e-versions of print serials and aggregator sets and other bibliographic databases may have certain restrictions on how they may be accessed, and these will usually be contained in the licensing agreement. Such restrictions commonly include: 'a) single workstation; b) single concurrent user; c) limited number of concurrent users; d) licence fee varying in relation to number of potential users; 3) cross access licence in consortia.' (Hartmann, H. 2001) You should read such agreements very carefully, and make sure that you understand all such access condition/restrictions laid out before signing it. In the eyes of the law ignorance it not a defence, if you are breaking your licensing agreement you may be breaching copyright and intellectual property laws. It pays to take advice from an intellectual property lawyer or if you cannot afford one there are a variety of websites that provide some basic assistance. The advice listed can include: License vocabulary explained; a bibliography and further resources; and a model license agreement. A good example of such a web site is Liblicense. Licensing agreements can be very hard to understand but it is worth getting to know what you are allowed you to do.

Conclusion

This has been a brief overview of what can and does change with serial publications. It was not intended to be an extensive list of changes and the author realises she still could have covered many other aspects including: ISSN's; loss of electronic content and what to do about it, i.e. creating digital repositories; best practices for creating digital repositories; and PURL's. Why is it so important to keep with these changes?

Access is the most important issue, if you are not up-to-date with your serial records or they are hard to understand, including your shelf items; your clients may not be able to find the information they are after. Why not? They will think the serial they are after is still called what it was two title changes ago; or they could be going to the incorrect physical or electronic location; or they will simply not be sure of what issues you actually hold. Serials play an important part in today's library; they reflect the latest research and trends in any particular field. 'The number of active print titles will increase slightly. However, the growth of journals available online is projected to increase substantially.' (OCLC, Library and Information Center, 2003) Some ideas and tips to leave you with:

Keep up-to-date with the latest rules/standards in serials cataloguing;
Remember that help is available through your own work colleagues or through various discussion lists including, aliaLIBTEC, serialAUST and SERIALST;
Notice everything, something is always changing with serial publications, you can't afford to miss any changes;
Make records clear, including holdings, changes of title and or corporate bodies, and shelf items;
Determine a cataloguing policy for electronic resources, i.e. either the one or two record approach;
Speak to your clients, about how they would like access to their e-serials, just via the OPAC or via an 'e-journals' web page as well;
Don't be afraid to solve that puzzle with your serial publication, there is nothing more rewarding than finally figuring out what is going on;
Your library may be able to subscribe to the Cataloguing Service Bulletin / Library of Congress. The issues provide greater clarification of AACR2 rules and are useful for keeping up with new subject headings;
Remember if you don't understand it, your clients will not either (after all who is the trained library professional?);
Be familiar with the serial you receive, what they look like, who publishes them etc. In that way you are more likely to notice a change; and last but not least...
Be consistent in everything that you do in serials work.

The author has learnt her skills in managing the constant wave of change involved with serial publications whilst employed as an Accessions officer in the Australian Serials Unit of the National Library of Australia and in the JV Barry Library of the Australian Institute of Criminology. The Australian Serials Unit currently receives 'approximately 25 000 current titles and around 2000-3000 titles are added each year' (Foster, C., 2003) The JV Barry Library has approximately 4500 current titles, with '196 new serial records' being added in the 2001/02 financial year. (Garfoot, P., 2002) The author experienced a big difference in the size of the serials collections, when she changed positions, but the smaller collection the JV Barry Library collects allows the author to be more familiar with the collection and thus recognise change more easily.

Acknowledgments

The author would like to thank Janet Smith, JV Barry Library, Pam Garfoot and John Myrtle, formerly of the JV Barry Library, and Chris Foster of the National Library of Australia.

References

Biography

Emma Datson is currently employed by the Australian Institute of Criminology, in the JV Barry Library, as the library officer, accessions. She was also employed for a year in the Australian Serials Unit at the National library of Australia. She qualified with a Diploma in Library and Information Studies, with Distinction, in 2000 from the Riverina Institute of TAFE.

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