PROGRAM SUMMARY
Committee to Study Serials Cataloging
Serials Section

Official ALCTS Program
2002 ALA Annual Conference at Atlanta, GA
Monday, June 17, 2002

The program, "Introduction to AACR2 Revised Chapter 12," was held at the American Library Association Conference in Atlanta on June 18, 2002. It was an official ALCTS program, cosponsored by the Committee on Cataloging: Description and Access and the Committee to Study Serials Cataloging.

Speakers:

• Concepts, Definitions and Serial Descriptive Changes, Jean Hirons, Head of CONSER, Library of Congress, winner of the 2002 Margaret Mann Citation
• Major/Minor Differences, Regina Reynolds, NSDP, Library of Congress
• Integrating Resources: Loose-leafs, Rhonda Lawrence, UCLA School of Law Library
• Integrating Resources: Web-based Resources, Adam Schiff, University of Washington Libraries

The talk by Jean Hirons led off and it covered the general aspects of the rule revisions. She went through the revisions point by point, explaining the new rules, how they differed from past rules, and showed examples of what cataloging would look like with the new rules. One of the major changes is that Chapter 12 will now include more than the traditional serials. This is a change in scope, from a focus on serials (the old chapter title) to a focus on “Continuing Resources,” the new chapter title. The broadening of scope required additional definitions, including definitions for “continuing resources” and “integrating resources.” Accordingly, the new rules will cover works that are serial-like in nature, such as loose-leaf publications that are updated, web-sites which undergo changes over time, publications of limited duration events (such as newsletters of conferences, which were never before considered serials due to the fact that when the conference ended, the newsletter ended), reprints of serials, etc. One result of the new rules is that certain resources will now be cataloged as serials. Even more importantly, under the new rules serials have become one category of a much broader universe called "continuing resources," a universe which includes such integrating resources as updating loose-leafs, databases, and web sites as well as traditional serials.

Other important highlights of the revisions include provisions for and examples in the rules of electronic resources; the rules are more complete, in that they include former LCRI's and CONSER practices; they give more recognition to cataloging from the complete work; the descriptive rules include more provisions for minor changes in title over time and allow more flexibility in cataloging these changes.

Regina Reynolds spoke on major and minor changes. She pointed out that we should no longer speak about "title changes" but speak in terms of major changes, that is, changes which require a new record; and minor changes, those changes which can be handled by notes on the existing record. Much of the time was devoted to a detailed analysis of the various types of title changes and how they will be handled under the new rules. There are some new categories of minor changes with the result that fewer differences in titles that may appear from issue to issue are considered major enough to warrant creating a new record. In other words, look for fewer new serial records being created because of changed titles.

Reynolds outlined all of the major and minor changes but emphasized those which are new. The list of major changes is basically the same with one addition: major change in edition statement, which is in a new RI. This change was made to harmonize with ISBD(CR). A new minor change is that all changes in numbering, even when the numbering sequence repeats, are now considered to be minor. New categories of minor changes to the title proper are: addition, deletion, or change in placement or representation of a corporate body's name; words added to, deleted from, or re-ordered in a list with no significant subject change, and words indicating the type of resource added or dropped from the title proper. Reynolds concluded her talk by emphasizing that the former "if in doubt" clause had been changed to indicate that in case of doubt, changes under the new rules should be considered to be minor.

Rhonda Lawrence (UCLA Law Library) covered “Integrating Resources (Loose-Leafs).” This was a detailed expansion of the Hirons presentation and focused solely on the cataloging of loose-leaf publications, showing how the rule revisions will affect the cataloging of these resources. The people particularly affected are law librarians, as they have many loose-leaf updating publications. In addition to explaining the difficulties inherent in loose-leafs – notably their changing nature – she pointed out some differences from current procedure, including the use of new fields previously used only by serials catalogers (e.g., the 247 & 362). A lot of serial cataloging concepts have been introduced into this formerly monographic cataloging.

Adam Schiff (University of Washington) spoke on the related topic of “Integrating Resources (Web-Based Resources).” He concentrated on the cataloging of web pages that are updated, showing how the concept of seriality affects them and how catalogers will have to account for the changes they undergo. The very nature of web pages has made them very difficult to catalog – they don’t stay the same as monographs do, nor do they behave quite like serials. The new definition of “integrating resources,” now covered by Chapter 12, includes web pages and treats them like a loose-leaf in many ways. His presentation also included those parts of AACR2 Chapter Nine that dealt with the cataloging of remote electronic resources. The presentation discussed specific rules and their application to web resources, citing the differences from Chapter 9 and past practice. His talk clearly showed how much the divisions between serials and monographs have been graying in the library world.

All presenters made a point to state that these changes will become effective on December 1, 2002, and that NO ONE is to change existing records to conform to these rules!

Close to 400 people attended the program, testifying to the high interest the library cataloging community has concerning the new rule revisions.

• 2002 Annual Program, Introduction to AACR2 Revised Chapter 12