correspondence re: serials

[Juliet McLaren]

Hi all ~ Finally have had enough antibiotic in my system to make a stab at
recovering from the worst case of 'flu' imaginable.  Am therefore able to
read your messages (Deborah, Bob, Eric) and begin to make sense of them.

First, and semi-frivolous note: Eric, what is to say that you will never
again see an issue of a serial? If you catalog single issues as monographs,
you will end up going down Kansas' garden path. Having embarked on this
perilous course, their large collection is now catalogued (ad nauseam, ad
inifinitum) as a vast number of rare monographs.  The first issue cataloged
as a serial is easy; to add new information to that record is easier than
making 2 or more monographic records.   I also like Bob's point about the
user's needs; title changes are bad enough without making it worse.
However, nothing in this life or in these rules is cast in stone; you want
a separate record for every serial issue in your collection?  Be my guest~!
 Of course as Jane points out, you must have a catalog that allows a user
to search for serials and monographs in a single search file, and must
avoid relationships with other catalogs that don't adopt your method.

About the wording on that 0A.1 par.4 ~  Yes, Bob, your reading of what we
were trying to accomplish there  is correct. The most extreme example of
this would be the Annual Register, or some of the early almanacs, where the
stated interval of publication and the names of 'original'?  publishers
bear little or no resemblance to the actual bibliographic history of the
title.  It might equally well apply to items with a lower frequency than a
year.  Sometimes society publications and govt. reports fall into this
category.   And we will get this beaten into shape at some point, I trust.

By the way, Deborah, many 18th c. publishers did issue booksellers (not
auction) catalogs at regular or irregular intervals, just as they do today.
Even with a unique title for each publication, these are numbered and
issued serially and are serials.  Monographic cataloging is sometimes
appropriate when you want to describe a catalog with unique features, or a
series of catalogs that has  no identifiable title (although the firm name
can be used as a corporate main entry in those cases--unless the firm name
changes too often to be practical).

Now that I have more or less caught up with Jane and made many redundant
comments. I will return to my box of kleenex and send off my editing notes
to Jane forthwith.  

Best, juliet