Last week we talked a little bit about the history of how series have been handled, but what is series authority control? Of all the types of Authority Control (Names, Subjects, Series) series is likely the most complex aspect and can be quite overwhelming for both newcomers and veterans of Authority Control. Our Authority Librarian, Karen, has once again come to our aid to help explain what a series is, and how Authority Control works with series.<\/p>\n
A series is defined by AACR2 as a group of separate items related to one another by the fact that each bears, in addition to its own title proper, a collective title applying to the group as a whole.\u00a0 A series under authority control uses a controlled or unique chosen access point for the collective title of a series in the analytic bibliographic records.<\/p>\n
Series authority work is the process of controlling those collective titles through the use of authority records.\u00a0 Series authority work is done for the same reasons as name authority work; that is first, to create a single form of the series title which will collocate records so that the user can find all the records related to that resource; and second to create a unique form of the series title which will distinguish records for one resource from those for a different resource.\u00a0 Uniqueness is especially important since many series have the same or similar titles.<\/p>\n
There are several decisions that need to be made to control a series.\u00a0 These decisions should be based on a standard such as AACR2.<\/p>\n
The first decision is to decide which form of the series title will be used as the authorized form.\u00a0 A single, unique form of the title needs to be chosen often from among several variant forms.\u00a0 Then that decision needs to be recorded.\u00a0 Three possibilities for this include:<\/p>\n
The SAR provides the best method for access, and can also contain a lot of other valuable information about the series.\u00a0 The authority record can be on a card, or most commonly now, a machine-readable record.\u00a0 More on SAR\u2019s below.<\/p>\n
The second decision to make is how the series will be treated.\u00a0 How will you handle the parts of the series that come in to your institution?\u00a0 A couple of points to consider are:<\/p>\n
The third decision is whether to trace the title or not.\u00a0 This means deciding whether to use the access point in your database or catalog.<\/p>\n
It is important that these decisions be recorded because not all series will be handled in the same way.\u00a0 Actions taken for subsequent acquisitions need to be consistent.\u00a0 The most common way to record series authority records is a MARC 21 record format.\u00a0 Since MARC21 is a machine-readable format, the records can be updated at any stage in the workflow.\u00a0 They are based on standards and can be easily shared with the greater library community.<\/p>\n
A Series Authority Record (SAR) is the means to generate consistency in any database (or catalog) and allow the retrieval of all the series in a logical display.\u00a0 The SAR should serve three functions:<\/p>\n
643 \u2013\u00a0\u00a0 contains the place and publisher of the series<\/p>\n
670 \u2013\u00a0\u00a0 contains the time period of publication<\/p>\n
642 \u2013\u00a0\u00a0 numbering example taken from the source listed in the first 670 field.<\/p>\n
667 \u2013\u00a0\u00a0 this is a note field that is used to record other information that is valuable,\u00a0 but does not fit into other fields.<\/p>\n
050-090 \u2013\u00a0 These fields record the call number chosen for the series if the decision is to class holdings together.<\/p>\n
644 \u2013\u00a0\u00a0 this field records the analysis decision<\/p>\n
645 \u2013\u00a0\u00a0 this field records the tracing decision<\/p>\n
646 \u2013\u00a0\u00a0 this field records the classification decision (see fields 050-090)<\/p>\n
One other type of SAR can actually be for something that is not a series.\u00a0 Many resources have phrases or other character strings that will not be considered as a series.\u00a0 Although a SAR is not required to record this conclusion, providing one with the documentation for the decision to not consider it a series will create consistency for questionable cases.\u00a0 It will also save time in the future by avoiding having to make the same decision over and over again as other materials come in.<\/p>\n
In a MARC21 bibliographic record the 490 field is used to record the transcription of the series from the item.\u00a0 In this field, the series appears exactly like it does on the item.\u00a0 A 500 note field may also be used for the series.\u00a0 The 8xx fields (800, 810, 811, and 830) are used to provide a tracing for the series when needed.\u00a0 These fields will contain the authorized form of the series title.\u00a0 This demonstrates the need for the authority work to provide consistency.\u00a0 The series on items do not always appear the same way so there could be different headings in the 490 fields for the same series.\u00a0 But by having one authorized form, the 8xx fields for that series will always have the exact same heading.\u00a0 Without this consistency, it could be very difficult to find all the parts of the same series in the catalog or database.<\/p>\n
Series authority records can provide effective management for the bibliographic headings and can also provide physical control of series holdings in the library. By creating series authority records and maintaining a database of the records (an authority file) consistency will be maintained.\u00a0 Time and effort will be saved in the future.\u00a0 As new materials come in, the work on the series and the decisions regarding it will not have to be done over and over again.<\/p>\n
For a detailed explanation of Series authority work see the excellent power point presentation by Judith A. Kuhagen of the Cataloging Policy & Support Office at the Library of Congress.\u00a0 http:\/\/library.ust.hk\/info\/other\/feb2005\/series.html<\/a> Although this presentation is from 2005 and some of the LC policies and MARC tags talked about have changed, the process of making the decisions needed for series authority work in gone into in great detail.<\/p>\n For more information on the changes to series policies and MARC tags see the article \u201cA Brief History of Series Authority Work\u201d<\/p>\n For more information on using the MARC21 standards, see the MARC21 Format for Authority Data http:\/\/www.loc.gov\/marc\/authority\/ecadhome.html<\/a> and the MARC 21 Format for Bibliographic Data http:\/\/www.loc.gov\/marc\/bibliographic\/ecbdhome.html<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Last week we talked a little bit about the history of how series have been handled, but what is series authority control? Of all the types of Authority Control (Names, Subjects, Series) series is likely the most complex aspect and can be quite overwhelming for both newcomers and veterans of Authority Control. Our Authority Librarian, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[8,48,9,19],"tags":[23,14,3],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ac.bslw.com\/community\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ac.bslw.com\/community\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ac.bslw.com\/community\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ac.bslw.com\/community\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ac.bslw.com\/community\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=142"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/ac.bslw.com\/community\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":145,"href":"https:\/\/ac.bslw.com\/community\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142\/revisions\/145"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ac.bslw.com\/community\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=142"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ac.bslw.com\/community\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=142"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ac.bslw.com\/community\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=142"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}