SERIES AUTHORITY CONTROL BASICS -- Concepts and Definitions

BASIC CONCEPTS

Series authority work is an important means of organizing library collections. The purpose of series authority control is to assist users searching the catalog, by ensuring that all items issued in a series can be found in a single search. Series authority work also controls how all the items in a series are shelved in the stacks. Series authority work controls workflow within Resource Services by determining which and how many bibliographic records are created. Options for types of records for any given series:

• series/set bib record only (unanalyzed series)
• records for each title in series/set only (analyzed series)
• both series/set bibliographic record and records for each title in the series (standing order or classed together, analyzed series

All this is accomplished by means of a "pattern" or "control" record, called the series authority record (SAR) in which we record decisions about how to handle a series. In most cases, we import a national level record into our system and then modify it for our own use. Series verification is a matching process that compares the series authority record to the bibliographic records for individual items issued in the series. Series authority work ensures consistency and uniformity in the online catalog and prevents duplication of orders.

DEFINITIONS:

Monographic series:

a group of separate items related to one another by the fact that each item bears, in addition to its own title proper, a collective title applying to the title as a whole. The individual items may or may not be numbered (AACR2r)
ex: Garland reference library of social science

Subseries:

a series within a series. Main series usually has a broader scope and title; subseries has a narrower scope.
ex: Garland reference library of social science. Current issues in criminal justice (with other subseries titles focusing on education, feminism, labor, etc.)

Book set (or Multipart item):

a monograph complete, or intended to be completed, in a finite number of parts (AACR2r).
Differs from a series in that a series is theoretically intended to be continued indefinitely.
ex: Complete works of Shakespeare.

Analysis/Analytics:

the creation of separate monographic records for each item in a series or within a bookset. Individual book records are called analytics.

Tracing:

the creation of an index entry in the catalog for the series or set title. Not all series are traced, i.e., can be called up by doing a SERIES browse search or a TITLE browse search in Acorn.

Classed together:

all the items in a series or set receive the same classification number and therefore shelve together in the library. Usually the subject matter of individual titles is similar so you want them to sit together on the shelf. Formerly, most series were classed together. We still have many in Dewey call nos.

Classed separately (Shelved separately) :

all the items in a series or set receive different classification numbers and are therefore scattered in the library. Usually the subject matter of individual titles is quite different. This is the current national level default policy for series.

Qualifier:

text or dates in parenthesis added after series titles to distinguish identical titles and aid in sorting like entries in the catalog. Qualifiers are artificial cataloger additions and never actually appear on the pieces themselves. All qualifiers appear only in 830 fields, never in 440/490 fields.
Examples:
830 _0: Research monograph (University of Georgia)
830 _0: English studies (New York, N.Y.)

 

 

Caption:

designation term that precedes the numbering on a piece, such as v., no. Bd., etc.
Not to be confused with |v (subfield v) which precedes the caption, for example:
|vv. 1 (caption=v.)
|v1 (no caption)
Consult the 642 field of the series authority record for captioning policy on the bibliographic records of items issued in a given series.

CIP:

Cataloging in Publication data. The publisher submits preliminary publishing information to LC for the creation of a skeletal bibliographic record, which is printed in the finished book and distributed to OCLC. Series authority records are created by the Library of Congress at this point with no actual piece in hand. This workflow leads to problems for us, because the final book may or may not actually be published in the series, have numbering etc. CIP data is ignored during the series verification process.