1.0. General Rules: Decisions Before Cataloging

Table of Contents:

What Is Being Cataloged?

This section represents LC/PCC practice.

Before creating a bibliographic record, determine what is being cataloged. Answer these two questions:

1. What aspect of the bibliographic resource will the bibliographic record represent?

a. A resource may not be part of the larger resource and so the bibliographic record can represent only that resource.

b. A resource may be part of a larger resource (one part of a multipart item, one analytic of a monographic series, one of several separate resources on a Web site, etc.). The bibliographic record could represent the "smaller" or the "larger" resource.

c. A resource may not be part of a larger resource but local cataloging policies may specify creating a bibliographic record for a made-up larger resource of materials that are not published, distributed, or produced together. ( FN 1)

2. What is the type of issuance of that aspect?

a. See both the definitions from AACR2 Appendix D and the diagram in "Type of Issuance" below.

b. If the situation is still not clear, then consider the guidelines given in two other sections of this LCRI: "Monograph vs. Serial" and "Situations Requiring Further Consideration."

c. See the section "Edition or Copy of Monograph" for guidelines about creating separate records for monographs.

It may be appropriate, after one or more bibliographic records have been cataloged, to change the cataloging decision (e.g., recatalog a monograph as a serial). See the section "Change in Cataloging Decision" for guidelines.

Also, a publisher may change the type of issuance of a bibliographic resource. See the last section, "Change in Type of Issuance," for guidelines.

Type of Issuance:

This section represents LC/PCC practice.

"Type of issuance" refers to how the bibliographic resource is published, distributed, or produced and, if it is updated, how it is updated. There are three types of issuance: monograph, serial, and integrating resource. (See the definitions from AACR2 Appendix D and diagram below.)

Monograph: A bibliographic resource that is complete in one part or intended to be completed in a finite number of parts. The separate parts may or may not be numbered.

Use rules in chapter 1 and the chapter(s) representing the carrier.

Serial: A continuing resource issued in a succession of discrete parts, usually bearing numbering, that has no predetermined conclusion.

Use rules in chapter 1, chapter 12, and the chapter(s) representing the carrier.

Integrating resource: 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.

Use rules in chapter 1, chapter 12, and the chapter(s) representing the carrier.

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In case of doubt about type of issuance, apply the following guidelines:

If the decision has been narrowed down to "serial vs. integrating resource" and there is no information about the type of issuance but the resource has wording that refers to "edition," determine if that wording represents a numeric designation or an edition statement. If it is a numeric designation, catalog the resource as a serial; if it is an edition statement, catalog it as an integrating resource.

If the decision has been narrowed down to "monograph vs. integrating resource" and there is no information about the type of issuance, catalog the resource as an integrating resource if there is a likelihood the resource will be updated (i.e., assume the updates will not be discrete); catalog as a monograph if there is no indication that the resource will ever be updated.

Monograph vs. Serial:

This section represents LC/PCC practice.

If the bibliographic resource to be cataloged and/or other bibliographic records in the database indicate that the resource has been or will be published in more than one part that will remain discrete or be published more than once, consider the combination of characteristics below in deciding whether to catalog the resource as a single-part/multipart monograph or as a serial. Note the exception for publications of limited-duration activities at the end of this section.

1. Frequency of publication

a. If the resource has a stated frequency of publication (in the title proper, in the preface, etc.), catalog as a serial.

b. If the resource is published in new editions, catalog as a serial if the frequency of the editions is one to two years; give greater consideration to continuing to catalog as monographs if the editions are published three or more years apart.

2. Presence and type of numbering. Although the presence of numbering is no longer part of the definition of a serial, most serials except for unnumbered monographic series will have numeric, alphabetic, and/or chronological designations.

a. If the resource has a numeric/alphabetic (e.g., volume 1; tome 3; Heft A) or chronological designation (e.g., 2001; June 2002; 2002-1) in the title proper or elsewhere in the resource and it is likely that the resource doesn't have a predetermined conclusion, catalog as a serial.

b. If the resource has acquired a numeric, alphabetic, or chronological designation after the first issue, recatalog as a serial.

c. If the resource is published in frequent editions (see 1b. above), it must have a designation (e.g., date, numeric edition statement) that could be used as numbering in order to be cataloged as a serial.

3. Likelihood of no predetermined conclusion. If the resource indicates that there is no predetermined conclusion, catalog as a serial. If the resource doesn't have such information, assume that a resource that has either of the following characteristics is a serial if it also meets the criteria given above for frequency and numbering.

a. Title proper implies continuing publication. If the title proper includes words that imply continuing publication (e.g., "Advances in ...;" "Developments in ...;" "Progress in ...;"), catalog as a serial. If the issues also have analyzable titles, analyze the issues.

b. A subscription can be placed for the resource.

Publications of limited-duration activities: Also use the serial rules in chapter 12 for the cataloging of certain resources related to limited-duration activities provided that these resources have some characteristics of serials: successive issues, numbering, and perhaps frequency. Examples include a daily bulletin issued during a non-recurring meeting, a quarterly activities report of a project, and an annual report of an expedition. Do not recatalog records for such resources created before December 1, 2002.

Situations Requiring Further Consideration:

This section represents LC/PCC practice.

1. Electronic resources. If the resource was/is published in print, make the decision to catalog the electronic resource as a serial, integrating resource, or monograph based on the electronic resource itself, not on how it was issued in print. Information about the planned type of issuance may be given in the resource's "read me" files, etc.

a. Catalog as a serial:

i) Remote access resource: a resource having material added as discrete, usually numbered issues (an "issue" can consist of a single article). The resource might contain a listing of back volumes, back issues, images of journal covers for sequential issues; only current issue may be available as a separate issue.

ii) Direct access resource: a resource whose carrier is issued successively (this situation is analogous to a print serial whose latest volume supersedes any earlier volumes).

Note that such resources can be mounted on networks such that the successive issuance of the carrier is not observable to the cataloger or end user; when contributing cataloging in a shared environment (e.g., bibliographic utility), the record should reflect the carrier and type of issuance as published.

b. Catalog as an integrating resource:

i) Remote access resource: a resource having material added, changed, or deleted via updates that do not remain discrete (e.g., might contain articles from more than one journal).

ii) Direct access resource: no direct access resource can be issued as an integrating resource (assumption that would be changed if proven incorrect).

c. Catalog as a monograph:

Remote or direct access resource: a resource complete in one part or intended to be complete in a finite number of parts, including those resources that are corrected via "errata" information.

2. Resources issued in loose-leaf format. When deciding to catalog a bibliographic resource issued in loose-leaf format as a serial, an integrating resource, or a monograph, make the decision based on the type of issuance of the primary component. If there is a stated frequency, determine if the frequency applies to the primary component or to any updates.

Note that a bibliographic resource issued in loose-leaf format is not automatically to be cataloged as an updating loose-leaf.

a. Catalog as a serial:

i) Resource otherwise meeting definition of serial whose issues remain discrete even though they are to be stored in a binder (as successive sections in the binder or subdivided/filed into separate sections in the binder).

ii) Resource whose binders are issued successively even though the contents filed into each binder may be updated in integrating fashion until the next binder is issued.

b. Catalog as an integrating resource: Resource consisting of a binder or binders in which pages are added, removed, or replaced until the next edition of the resource is published or until complete.

c. Catalog as a monograph: Resource complete as issued or intended to be complete in a finite number of parts.

3. Conference publications. Conference publications typically consist of the minutes, proceedings, etc., of a regularly-held meeting of one or more corporate bodies or are publications that contain the proceedings, etc., of ongoing topical conferences, symposia, or colloquia.

a. Catalog as serials ongoing conference publications that are being cataloged for the first time, unless they are covered by the exclusions in paragraph b. below. Consider a conference publication to be "ongoing" if words such as "first" or "annual" appear in conjunction with the name of the conference or the title of the publication or if multiple successive issues show that the publication is continuing in nature.

b. Catalog as monographs those conference publications that are not ongoing or that:

i) have a title ( FN 2) unique to each issue appearing on the chief source, and/or

ii) are issued as part of a numbered monographic series.

Once the decision to catalog as a monograph or as a serial is determined based on the first--or earliest held--issue of a conference publication, prefer to retain that decision. When there is a change in the main entry for a conference publication cataloged as a serial, consider the publication to be "new" and decide whether to catalog it as a monograph or as a serial according to the above criteria.

When CONSER serial records exist for conferences represented by LC monograph records, LC serial catalogers will use "xlc" in the 042 field but will not de-authenticate the records.

4. Supplements. If the supplement can be used independently from the main resource, create a separate bibliographic record for it based on its type of issuance. For other situations, give a note about the material on the record for the main resource.

525 ## $a Kept up-to-date by supplements.

Do not catalog a dependent supplement as a serial just because it has a stated frequency (e.g., an annual supplement to a monograph).

5. Republications.

a. Republication of a serial: Generally, catalog a republication of a serial as a serial. However, catalog the following as a monograph:

A republication of a single issue or a limited number of issues

A collection of bibliographically unrelated serials or articles.

b. Republication of a monograph: Catalog as a monograph.

c. Republication of an integrating resource: Catalog as a monograph or as an integrating resource based on the type of issuance of the republication.

6. Printed travel guides. LC practice as of 2001: When deciding whether to catalog a printed travel guide as a serial or as a monograph and there is no information about the likelihood that it will be continued indefinitely, apply the following guidelines:

a. Generally, catalog a travel guide as a serial if it is general in scope because such guides usually are continued indefinitely. "General in scope" means the guide contains a variety of current information, e.g., about where to go, where to stay, and what to do. Apply this policy to state, region, or country guides for the United States, to region or country guides for other countries, and to guides for major cities. If a numeric or chronological designation is not available, supply a chronological designation based on the publishing or copyright date (cf. LCRI 12.3C1).

b. In case of doubt, catalog as a monograph.

7. LC practice: Certain other printed resources.

After determining that the printed bibliographic resource

--- is published in successive parts, and

--- there is no information that the resource will be complete in a finite number of parts, and

--- it isn't one of the resources noted in 1. through 6. above, generally follow the decision to catalog as a monograph or as a serial for the specific categories in the two lists below. If the printed resource isn't represented by one of the categories below, catalog as a serial.

a. Catalog as monographs:

books "issued in parts" (fascicles)

cartographic materials

censuses

encyclopedias

hearings

publications of five-year plans

b. Catalog as serials:

alumni directories

college catalogs

court reports

sales/auction catalogs

session laws

Edition or Copy of Monograph:

This section represents LC/PCC practice.

When a new manifestation of an item reaches the cataloger, the question arises as to whether this is a copy of an earlier manifestation or an edition separate from the earlier manifestation needing its own bibliographic record. Consult the definition of "Edition" in Appendix D of AACR2. If, according to this definition, two items are known to be two different editions, create separate records for each.

Also, consider that a new edition is involved whenever:

1. there is an explicit indication of changes (including corrections) of content; or,

2. anything in the following areas or elements of areas differs from one bibliographic record to another: title and statement of responsibility area, edition area, the extent statement of the physical description area, and series area. (Note: For printed music and sound recordings, consider that different editions exist whenever two items have different publisher's numbers or plate numbers.) (For an exception relating to CIP items, see below.)

Whenever the question relates to the publication, distribution, etc., area or to ISBNs, consider that the item is a copy if the only variation is one or more of the following:

1. a difference in the printing or copyright date when there is also a publication date;

2. a minor variation in an entity's name. There are relatively few examples of this phenomenon, which arises when a publisher uses multiple forms concurrently. For example, "Duckworth" and "G. Duckworth" and "St. Martin's" and "St. Martin's Press" have been used at the same time by these publishers. A genuine name change, even if minor, should not be considered a variation;

3. the addition, deletion, or change of an ISBN;

4. a difference in binding; or,

5. a difference in the edition statement or the series whenever the item is a CIP book issued by the publisher in both a hardbound and a softbound version.

For variations in the publication, distribution, etc., area not covered by the preceding statements, consider that the item is a new edition. Noteworthy examples for the publication, distribution, etc., area are variations involving different places or entities transcribed or any difference in an entity's name that is suggestive of a sequence of names used, with one used for some time and another at some point replacing the first. For example, "Harper & Brothers" becomes "Harper & Row"; "Doubleday, Doran" becomes "Doubleday."

N.B. Rare books in general follow the same policy, with exceptions as necessary.

Change in Cataloging Decision: Monograph/Serial

This section represents LC/PCC practice.

At some point after one or more monograph bibliographic records has/have been created and another resource with the same choice of main entry and form of title proper is received for cataloging, determine if the resource should be cataloged as a serial to save the time of continuing to prepare separate monograph records. If the resource is a conference publication, see paragraph 3. in the section "Situations Requiring Further Consideration" above. Otherwise, consider the following aspects when making the decision to recatalog as a serial:

1. the resource should have a designation (e.g., date, numeric edition statement) that could be used as numbering;

2. the frequency of the editions is one to two years (give greater consideration to continuing to catalog as monographs if the editions are published three or more years apart).

LC practice: LC no longer routinely cancels fully cataloged monograph records. Notes are added to the serial and monograph records to assist users and staff to locate all holdings for the title in the library. The serial bibliographic record continues to describe the entire serial.

Note added to monograph record:

500 ## $a Issues for 1996- cataloged as a serial in LC. $5 DLC

Note added to serial record:

500 ## $a Earlier issues, 1993-1995, cataloged as monographs in LC. $5 DLC

Note added to monograph record:

500 ## $a Editions for 1-2, 4, 6, 8- cataloged as a serial in LC. $5 DLC

Note added to serial record:

500 ## $a Editions for 3, 5, 7 cataloged as monographs in LC. $5 DLC

Change in Type of Issuance:

This section represents LC/PCC practice.

The publisher of a bibliographic resource may decide to change the type of issuance: monograph to integrating resource (e.g., issuing replacement pages to what had been a single-part monograph stored in a binder), monograph to serial (e.g., expanding the plan for the content of a multipart item so it no longer has a predetermined conclusion), serial to integrating resource (e.g., changing from publishing as successive issues to publishing as an updating Web site), etc.

Sometimes the cataloger will not have enough information at the time of creating the bibliographic record to determine the correct form of issuance. Information available later will indicate that the type of issuance represented by the bibliographic record isn't correct.

In order to accommodate the requirements for the distribution of MARC records by the Library's Cataloging Distribution Service and the Library's ILS restrictions on deletion of records in the database, follow the appropriate instruction given in the table below when the type of issuance of a resource has changed or more information shows that the original decision on type of issuance wasn't correct.

(Note: Final decisions have not yet been made for all of the categories. When the information is available, this section of the LCRI will be posted on the CPSO public Web site (http://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/) until the LCRI is reissued.)

Initial Articles:

This section represents LC/PCC practice.

Transcribe initial articles as found: in the title and statement of responsibility area (see LCRI 21.30J. for the guidelines on setting the non-filing indicator in relation to the title proper on MARC records), edition area, series area, and note area. For the publication, distribution, etc., area, generally do not transcribe articles preceding the name of the publisher, distributor, etc.