Serialist colleagues,

Here's a question of definition arising from my own recent query to
Serialist.  The question is: Can a serial, defined as "a *publication*
in any medium..." be a manuscript?  OCLC has said no--since serials are
"publications" they cannot also be manuscripts (see quotation below).
OCLC in fact will not validate manuscript coding on the serials
workform.  But the definition of "manuscript" as "writings (including
musical scores, maps, etc.) made by hand, typescripts, and inscriptions
on clay tablets, stone, etc." does not exclude the idea of seriality,
nor does it imply that manuscript items must be unpublished.  If we are
cataloging theses as manuscripts, despite their wide distribution via
UMI reproduction, it seems illogical to say that a serial in longhand
with even more limited distribution must be a book!  One CONSER
librarian who replied seemed to agree. CONSER documentation
redefining the leader, byte 6 (type of record) has yet to appear to my
knowledge, but perhaps someone in the know can contribute a word about
what will happen.

I know it's really all one format.  But OCLC's exclusion of options is the
wrong way to handle a process (format integration) that was supposed to
make all codes available for all materials.   Besides, many systems
allow limitation by format or even (though I'm not advocating it)
segregate serials from monographs in two different files.

Thanks for your input,
Frieda Rosenberg
Serials Cataloger
UNC-Chapel Hill
<friedat@EMAIL.UNC.EDU>

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Mon, 22 Apr 96 14:20:46 EST
From: Caine, Will <wcaine@mail.solinet.net>
To: Frieda Rosenberg <friedat@email.unc.edu>
Subject: Re[2]: Manuscript serials and format integration (John Rieme

     It's always nice to hear from our libraries.

     OCLC has definitely said the following about serials:

     "If Mixed Materials is by definition a collection, we can not see that
     there could be a monographic Mixed Material.  Likewise, we can not
     envision manuscript serials if a serial is a published manifestation.
     This is how we, OCLC, have interpreted USMARC in our implementation."

     Remember that the separate formats are not created by USMARC; there is
     just one USMARC.  The vendors like OCLC create the separate formats
     themselves.