CONSER Core Record Proposal (Cameron Campbell) Ann Ercelawn 30 Sep 1994 19:49 UTC
Date: Fri, 30 Sep 1994 14:05:17 -0500 (CDT) From: cameron campbell <cc21@MIDWAY.UCHICAGO.EDU> Subject: CONSER Core Record Proposal It was with great interest that the serialists at the University of Chicago met to discuss CONSER's proposal for a core record. The group included serials catalogers from the main and law libraries, serials orders and recording staff, the Head of the Cataloging Department and the Head of Technical Services. Our interest in this issue is prompted by several facts: first, we make very heavy use of CONSER records in our cataloging activity; second, these records receive minimal review and thus any changes in their content might prompt revisions in our policies, procedures and staffing assignments; and third, these records support our orders and check in operations. Moreover, although we are not a CONSER library, we do follow the CONSER cataloging guidelines quite closely and have some interest in participating in this program. The overall reaction was positive. We are also interested in seeing similar guidelines for serials in other formats (microforms, computer files, A/V, etc.) as soon as they are defined. The following points address specific issues which the proposal raises: 1. The law catalogers expressed some concern over the loss of the nature of entire work codes (008/24), especially since the subject heading simplification discussion currently underway may recommend dropping form designations. This fixed field could be used in limiting searches by category of legal publications. 2. We would very much like to see the 074 and 086 fields added to the proposed fields since the GPO item number is extremely helpful for our serials orders and check in staff and the SuDoc numbers are often an access point for patrons who have consulted the Monthly Catalog. 3. We feel that since the current frequency is already coded and maintained in the MARC Holdings Format (which we use in our system) there is little need for the 310 and 008/18-19 fields in the cataloging record. This becomes another redundancy which would require maintenance. 4. We are also assuming that any 515 type notes which might affect holdings information for ILL, reference and claiming purposes will be added to the note subfields in the MARC Holdings Format (subfields x or z as appropriate) ; e.g., "Vol. 10 not published" or "Publication suspended 1939-1945." We are also assuming that 580 notes are considered essential to identify a serial and its relationships and therefore these would be made as appropriate. On the whole, we felt that the core record as proposed--with the addition of the 074 and 086 fields--would serve our needs quite well and we would in fact adopt it as our standard with the understanding that additional information would be added as we felt necessary for our local needs. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Cameron J. Campbell Asst. Head of the Serials Dept./Head of Serials Cataloging The University of Chicago Library 1100 East 57th Street, Rm. 220 Chicago IL 60637 (312) 702-8769 email: cc21@midway.uchicago.edu +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++