Minutes of the ALCTS Serials Section Committee to Study Serials Cataloging at the 1998 Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C.

Meeting of June 29, 1998, 2:00-4:00 PM

Members present: Sally Tseng (acting chair), Carolynne Myall, Mechael Gago, Adriana Pilecky-Dekajlo
Interns present: Evelyn Brass, Mary Grenci
Members absent: Joe Altimus

Guests: Regina Reynolds (NSDP), Jean Hirons (CONSER), and about 75 others.

Sally Tseng welcomed all committee members and guests to the meeting. She introduced herself as acting chair for this meeting, because Joe Altimus could not be present due to a conflict with the MARBI meeting. All committee members introduced themselves. Sally Tseng also introduced the 1998/1999 new committee members and interns: Ruth Christ (member); Everett Allgood (intern); Jina Wakimoto (intern). Sally also announced changes to the agenda. The Group 2B report will be given by Les Hawkins, and Mechael Gago will lead the Group 3 discussion.

CC:DA report: The Committee heard a report from the CC:DA liaison, Carolynne Myall. Further information on the topics discussed at the CC:DA meeting can be found on the CC:DA web page. CC:DA discussion topics included:

1. A report about Project REUSE, which has as its goal to enhance international bibliographic compatibility and the sharing of bibliographic information between Germany and the Anglo-American cataloging communities. Two German librarians summarized German resolutions that will make German practice in cataloging closer in some ways to AACR2. There is a link on the CC:DA site to the project REUSE site.
2. Jean Hirons reported to the CC:DA about ongoing work on seriality, pursuant to the Joint Steering Committee 's directives after the Toronto conference. Jean explained the shift to a modified Model C proposal that she has written with Regina Reynolds and this proposal will be summarized later at this meeting. Discussion occurred about the process of the redefinition of seriality. CC:DA members pointed out the reconceptualization of the bibliographic universe will influence everyone in the cataloging community, not just serials catalogers. Outcome of the discussion on this topic : Joan Schuitema, the Chair of the PCC Standards Committee, will be active as a liaison regarding this work, and Jean Hirons felt that it would be important to co-author a MARBI proposal paper concerning possible changes of definition to the USMARC leader elements bib level and serial type. A suggestion was made that the Serials Task forces consider non-textual material. Jean Hirons asked CC:DA to help in providing information on how this modified Model C approach would play out in library OPACs.
3. Report from Brian Schottlaender, the ALA representative to JSC. JSC is brainstorming to identify principles in the code. There were fewer rule revisions to report.
4. A report from the chair of the Rule 0.24 task force, who stated that her task force was moving in the same direction as the CONSER task forces were moving, but using different vocabulary. Their report is due in the year 2000.
5. Report from the Conference Proceedings Task Force II. The Task Force brought two options to CC:DA both using the phrase "specific appellation" as opposed to proper name. CC:DA decided to adopt the one which simplifies rule 21.1B1.
6. Barbara Tillett, the LC representative noted, that core level cataloging at LC is in the bargaining process and is expected to be implemented across the board this summer. She announced that LC has selected the Endeavor Voyager system as their ILS, and is planning to have all the modules up and running by Oct. 1999. LC plans to advertise for a Serials Checkin Consultant to aid in their shift from a large Cardex checkin operation to an entirely online checkin system.
7. ALA Editions reported that the electronic edition of AACR2 is on the way. LC will integrate it into the Catalogers desktop later this year.
8. CC:DA noted that there are no plans to issue the amendments to AACR2 for 1997 in paper form.
9. Report from the task force on the harmonization of ISBD (ER) and AACR2, which has just begun its work.
10. Task Force on Metadata and Cataloging rules presented their final report. They framed this in the context of OPACS. Conclusion was that metadata cannot be loaded into OPACs without scrutiny by a cataloger. CC:DA discharged this task force and appointed 2 more.
11. Joint discussion between the CC:DA and MARBI about the GMD. LC is planning to review the GMD.

MARBI report:

Mary Grenci read Joe Altimus' report from the MARBI meetings for Saturday, June 27 and Sunday, June 28, 1998. MARBI proposal 98-8, to make it possible to more accurately code exceptions to regularity patterns in the 853-855 fields of the Holdings Format, was approved with option 2, making subfield y repeatable in those fields.

Proposal 98-11, to make changes in Bibliographic and holdings formats to accommodate the new Z39.71 holdings standard, was approved. It defines two new 007 fields (for kits and music (but not sound recording), as well as code u in the specific material designation position (byte 01) of each 007. Proposal 98-13, to add the 856 field (Universal Resource Location) to the Authority Format, was approved.

At its Monday meeting, MARBI considered Proposal 98-16, to replace the current method of showing nonfiling initial characters using an indicator with a more extensible one. This issue is important to serial catalogers who object to having to drop initial articles in title fields such as the 246 and 760-787 fields. Agreement was reached that two control characters should be used instead of an indicator. There will be separate control characters for start and end of non-filing. Discussion revealed that further research is needed to determine which non-alphanumeric characters should be considered filing or non-filing. Action on 98-16 was deferred until this matter can be resolved.

LC, CONSER, NSDP report: Regina Reynolds reported to the Committee and guests about LC, CONSER, and NSDP activities:

LC activities:

1. Big project for converting manual files
2. LC home page has new Cataloging FAQ list
3. Core record agreement has been reached
4. LC' Committee's New Delhi Office has been trained to work directly online in OCLC
5. Arrearage reduction projects underway
6. LC Serial Record Division in collaboration with Rare Books is preparing finding aids to some 23,000 Dime novels that will be mounted on the Rare Book Web site

   CONSER activities:

   1. CONSER celebrated its 25th anniversary with a reception that was held on Sunday night.
   2. Special issue of CONSERline in July devoted to the 25th anniversary celebration.
   3. CONSER announced a training initiative that is a collaborative effort among PCC, ALA and NASIG. Plans are being made for development of a pilot training program to focus on basic serials cataloging. The concept: to develop a set of training modules and to train a corps of trainers to do workshops in conjunction with local or regional groups.
   4. Jean Hirons will report about the seriality issues.

   NSDP activities:

   1. NSDP held a seminar, ISSN in the Electronic Age, on Saturday at the ALA Conference.
   2. The ISSN database will soon be available on the web. The pricing structure for using this web-based product will be announced.
   3. A table of correspondences will also be available in the next few months. This will help in working around situations where there are multiple ISSNs for the same title. It will be downloadable from the ISSN network web site, probably in Excel or a similar format.
   4. ISSN directors are participating in online discussions of the questions raised by the AACR seriality proposals and will discuss these topics at their meeting in Brussels in late September.
   5. Representatives from NSDP and ISSN International Centre have been participating in DOI (Digital Object Identifier) workshops and meetings about the potential use of the ISSN as the journal title identifier portion of the DOI.

   Discussion Topic:

   Jean Hirons reported on the new proposal for the modified Model C approach and the process and time frame of implementation. She will attend a JSC meeting to talk about the new Model C and will discuss with JSC what they want the task forces to do. She reported on the work of the task forces. There is a major change, in that the task forces are now not working on redefining serials but defining an umbrella category called on-going entities. By defining this umbrella category of ongoing entities, we can incorporate two different categories: 1. those that are successively issued and 2. integrating entities, such as loose-leaf, databases and websites. Jean pointed out that there is still a problem with electronic journals, especially deciding which of the two categories they fall into. This new proposal is summarized in a paper mounted on the CONSER webpage. With regard to US MARC, the proposal recommends leaving the bib. codes "m" and "s," where "s" would be redefined for "ongoing entities."

   Sara Shatford Layne then presented to the committee and the audience a proposal for a brand new entry convention called Incorporating Entry. She presented the pros and cons of successive and latest entry cataloging, and then talked about the Incorporating Entry or as she called it Successive Latest Entry. She compared this proposal to the analytic entry, where there exist individual records for parts and a record for the whole. She also talked about problems that still have to be dealt with, for example, the problem of linking: whether to link vertically, horizontally and how to link to different formats. In the national databases there would be records for all the parts of the publication and for the whole. For the local databases, one can have a choice of importing all the records for the parts, or just the most recent record. There was much discussion and many questions about this new approach. At the end of the discussion the chair encouraged the committee members and the audience to make further comments.

   Kristin Lindlan reported on the work of Group 2A. They are working on determining changes to Chapter 12 based on the new ongoing entities model. Some of the topics they are discussing:

   1. description based on all available issues, not just the first or earliest available issue,
   2. what cataloging information should be identified and recorded in a catalog record that will uniquely identify an ongoing entity,
   3. looking at changes to MARC,
   4. changing source of information to source of title and the subsequent questions that would relate to this: choice of title from multiple languages, correcting typos in titles, where to record parallel titles, reevaluating the use of subtitle, and moving the statement of responsibility from subfields b and c of the 245 to a 550 note.

   Les Hawkins reported on the work of Group 2B. His group focused on recommending the best treatment for electronic serials. They decided that they needed to gather evidence and study electronic publications. They will take a sample of titles from the CONSER database and from the ARL directory of electronic journals. They hope to include in this sample a variety of publications, and to look at these publications over a period of time. They are designing the instrument for the study and they hope to report initial results at the Midwinter meeting. In other words, they have decided to step away from the rules and to look at the resources first.

   Sara Shatford Layne reported on the work of Group 3. This group had not met yet, and had only corresponded via e-mail. They have been dealing and will continue to deal with problems of linking, title changes and uniform titles. One of the suggestions for the uniform title, was instead of creating a uniform title to use the key title. Since both appear on the record, do we really need both if they are serving the same function of providing unique identification. The group will be looking at these things in the next six months and anticipate having a report for the Midwinter meeting.

   After these reports the chair opened the floor to questions from the audience and the committee members. Most of the discussion centered around whether the time has come for AACR3, and more specific questions as to the time frame for all of these changes.

   At the end of the discussion the chair thanked all the group leaders for their reports and their hard work. She encouraged the members to continue the discussion of these topics at ALA midwinter meeting and on e-mail.

   Committee business:

   1. Members of the ALCTS SS Committee to Study Serials Cataloging expressed their appreciation to Mechael D. Gago for her valuable contributions to the Committee to Study Serials Cataloging. We recognized Mechael as one of the most dedicated serials librarians in the profession. We thanked and wished Mechael the best for continued success in her career.
   2. Members of the ALCTS SS Committee to Study Serials Cataloging expressed their appreciation to Joe Altimus for his tireless energy in chairing the Committee and in leading us to complete several major tasks. We recognized Joe as one of the most dedicated librarians in the profession. We thanked him for his leadership in ALCTS especially his accomplishments and contributions to the Serials Section, Committee to Study Serials Cataloging. We wished Joe the best for continued success in his career.
   3. Members of the ALCTS SS Committee to Study Serials Cataloging expressed their appreciation to both Evelyn Brass and Whitney Alexander for their 2 years service as interns in the Committee. We admired their dedication to the Committee and their valuable contributions. We thanked and wished Evelyn and Whitney the best for continued success in their careers. We hope to see Mechael, Evelyn and Whitney in our future meetings and look forward to gaining from their shared expertise.

   Meeting adjourned.

   Respectfully submitted by,

   Adriana Pilecky-Dekajlo
   CSSC Member and Recorder
   Head, Copy-Cataloging Section
   Center for Research Libraries
   6050 S. Kenwood
   Chicago, IL 60637
   Voice:773/955-4545 ext. 327
   Fax: 773/955-4339
   dekajlo@crlmail.uchicago.edu