Serials R us: an introduction to Serials in RDAName: Karin Herbert

Job Title: Coordinating Librarian Materials Acquisitions

Email: Karinh@dut.ac.za

Tel: +27 031 373 5341

SummaryLooks at RDA from the point of view of a Librarian or Cataloguer with an interest in the Continuing resources known as Serials who wants to know how the current draft RDA treats both print and electronic Serials and what effect RDA might have on Serials cataloguing and resource discovery both now and in the future. We will also look at what the Serials community is saying and thinking about RDA.

Outline & Objectives 1. Nov 2008 RDA Draft Reviewers comments

2. RDA Definition of a Serial

3. Do Serials fit the FRBR model?

4. What is a Serials Work & why is this important?

5. Serials cataloguing with RDA – differences?

6. Introduce some new RDA terminology

7. RDA Implementation & future possibilities from the Serials community

Before we begin!1. Even Nov 2008 RDA is still only a draft & not

well edited

2. Testing not yet done by National Libraries

3. Online format not yet available

4. Workflows (detailed procedures) nya.

5. Functional relationship with ILS & Machine Readable Catalogue encoding systems not yet clear

6. Negative comment from constituencies

RDA reviewers comment 11. RDA did not go far enough – was not radical

enough

2. Wanted more generic rules - less exceptions, alternatives, options

3. Wanted more international focus - less on the Anglo-American

4. Wanted more definite emphasis on electronic resources and environment

RDA reviewers comment 25. Opportunities were missed to get away from

“traditional” cataloguing rules - still largely based on the way things had to be because of the card catalogue

6. Much of it still very like AACR2

7. Need for more Serials & Electronic resource examples

RDA reviewers comment 38. Very short time for review of this final draft

9. Unable to assess functionality as final draft not presented in online version

10. Many commented on the dense unclear and difficult to understand writing style and layout

11. It was not a practical cataloguing manual

Serials R us!Journals, periodicals, newspapers, magazines,

E-journals, aggregator databases, continuing resources, serials, indexes and abstracts

are all subject to much CHANGE...

Like people - they are born, get married, get separated and divorced, they die, they even get

resurrected!

Does RDA cope with all this?

RDA Definition

Serial - a resource issued in successive parts that has no predetermined conclusion – usually bearing numbering (eg. A periodical,

monographic series or a newspaper)

Includes resources that exhibit characteristics of serials such as successive issues, numbering & frequency, but whose duration is limited (eg. Newsletters of events and reproductions of serials)RDA Nov. 2008 draft (Glossary)

RDA Change 1Continuing resourceswas the term used in:

AACR2 Ch.12 (Ch.9 included electronic journals)

ISBD Consolidated 2007

ISO Standard 3297 and the ISSN Manual 2007

RDA now uses the term Serial

RDA Change 2 User focusFRBR user tasks

Helping users

Find, Identify, Select, Obtain and also Navigate resources for the information they want and need is one of the aims of RDA

Serials Exercise No.1

The user wants to find information on:

“The current status of AIDS therapies in South Africa”

Useful cataloguing elements?

Which fields / elements are helpful for the user?

CONSER (Cooperative Online Serials) studied which elements users found useful in a Serials record. They then developed the CONSER

Standard Record (released for use Nov. 2008)

Compare with RDA Core elements?

RDA Change 3 FRBR Group entities 1

Major change…

Recording relationships between

Works Expressions Manifestations and Items

Then linking the records

A user conducting a search is helped to find all related information

This would be really great for Serials!

RDA Change 3 FRBR Group entities 2

Is it possible to establish what is a Work, Expression or Manifestation for a Serial?

Often only with difficulty it would seem...

Serials are all about relationships but are bibliographically complex

What is a Serial Work?Work - A distinct intellectual or artistic creation ie.

the intellectual or artistic contentRDA Draft Nov. 2008 (Glossary)

For a Serial this could therefore be:

The article? The whole issue? The whole title?

The complete historical sequence including all the related titles?

Some aggregate combination of these?

How to identify a Serial Work 1

A Work - which may also be an aggregator work - has a Creator or Compiler (can be a

Corporate body)

An Expression may have contributors such as an Editor or a Translator

A Manifestation has a Producer or a Publisher or a Distributor or a Manufacturer

An Item has an Owner or a Custodian

How to identify a Serial Work 2

Related Works use terms like

Continued by, Supplement to, Contains, Special issue of, Index to, Continues in part, Separated

from, Absorbed by, Merger of, Merged with, Accompanied by …

Related Expressions use terms like

Revision or translation of, Also issued in “other language” editions, Abridgement of…

How to identify a Serial Work 3Related Manifestations use terms like

Also issued online, Inserted in, Issued with, Issued electronically, Annual special issue of …

Related Items use terms like

Bound with…

Serials often seem to be a combination of Work, Expression & Manifestation

Author, Title, Uniform title - are weak identifiers for Serials

Some models

Various published Models have suggested ways in which a usable Serials record might be

constructed in terms of FRBR entities Work, Expression, Manifestation and Item

The aim of identifying the abstract Serial Work is to be able to collocate or bring together the

whole Serial Work and all its relationships

A linear exampleSerial Work 1• Expression 1 Full text• Manifestation 1 Print full text• Item 1 Print volumes• Manifestation 2 Online full text• Item 2 Library access to online• Expression 2 Selected text• Manifestation 1 Database aggregator A• Item 1 HTML• Item 2 PDF

Bibliographic families?

Superworkspression?

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Work segment?

Entire historical run of a serial - Expression & Manifestation combined in

a single record

Relationship hell!Recommend you find and read some of the

papers, debates and discussions

to understand why in a networked world we need MORE than just a bibliographic description

We need the Serial Work record to become a “bibliographic control device”

But in order to be able to retrieve the whole Serial Work we need a unique identifier for that Work

Wanted: unique Serial Work identifier

The abstract Serial Work record will then simply consist of a unique identifier = a number

Need a persistent digital identifier associated with information, objects or documents

It could be an Authority record number, or, possibly a number from one of the commercial

products:

ONIX? <indecs>? DOI?

Finding the way in RDA?Not easy to find your way around the current draft

1. No index

2. Cryptic contents pages

3. Does not follow ISBD structure

4. Emphasizes recording and not display

5. What gets entered where in a machine readable encoding system such as MARC21 or Dublin Core will depend on instructions for those encoding systems

Serials cataloguing using RDA1. No separate Chapter

2. Throughout RDA Nov 2008 draft there are sections which give specific instructions for cataloguing Serials, Multipart monographs, Integrating resources

3. Serials cataloguing traditionally has had to pay particular attention to certain elements

(RDA), areas (ISBD) and fields (MARC21)

4. Highlight a few of these in relation to RDA

Source of information - SerialsRDA 2.1.2.3 specifies first, or earliest or lowest

numbers or earliest available issue of a Serial as the source

RDA 2.2 then specifies where inside or on that part is the preferred source of information

RDA 2.20.12 Note on Issue, Part or Iteration used as basis for identification of the resource

Change 5 – RDA terminology A1. Mode of issuance RDA 2.13

“serial” = issued in one or more parts

2. Identifier for the manifestation RDA 2.15 = ISSN

3. Media type RDA 3.2

Print = “unmediated”

Online and direct access electronic = “computer”

Change 5 – RDA terminology B4. Carrier type RDA 3.3

Print = volume

Online = 1 online resource (!)

Direct access media eg. = 1 computer disc

5. Extent RDA 3.4 only if resource is complete

6. Content type RDA 6.10 form in which content expressed = “text” - for print and online

Serial resources

Serials Titles & RDARDA 2.3.2 Title proper Core element - excludes

other title information

RDA 2.3.2.5 Full Serial title preferred to acronym or initialism

RDA 2.3.6 Variant titles are recorded

RDA 2.3.8 Later variant titles (after the one used as the basis of the Serial description) Core elements

RDA 2.3.9 Key title not a Core element

Changes requiring a new description

1. RDA 2.3.2.12 A major change in the title proper of a Serial

2. RDA 2.13 a change in mode of issuance (from Serial to integrating resource)

3. RDA 3.2 a change in media type (from unmediated to computer)

4. RDA 6.1.3.2 a change in responsibility that requires a change in the identification of a Serial title as a work (in other words if the preferred access point has to change!)

ISSNs & Linking ISSNs

RDA 2.15 records an identifier for the Manifestation as a Core element = ISSN

In 2007 ISO 3297 introduced the linking ISSN or ISSN-L designed to collocate the different media editions of a Serial title under one ISSN

The first or print ISSN is designated the ISSN-L

ISSN Registry will do retrospective designation

Electronic - Online journalsRDA 3.2 = separate records for online and print

versions of the same Serial title

RDA 2.13 Mode of issuance: serial

RDA 2.20.12 Note on iteration used as basis for identification of resource: Viewed on ...

RDA 3.2 Media type: computer

RDA 3.3 Carrier type: Online resource

RDA 3.4 Extent: 1 online resource

RDA 4.6 Uniform resource locator URL

RDA 6.10 Content type: text

RDA Change 4 – No more GMDRDA now uses information from three different elements to specify what was a bit of a jumble in GMD – there is no longer a General Material Designation

Content type RDA 6.10 Core element

Media type RDA 3.2

Carrier type RDA 3.3 Core element

Work is being done to amend MARC21 to be able to encode this

Numbering of Serials

RDA 2.6.2 – 2.6.9 prescribed as Core elements

Rules for recording the numbering and chronology of the first and the last issue of

Serials

(= what is recorded in MARC21 field 362 Volume designation)

Corporate bodies

RDA Ch.11 gives guidelines on identifying corporate bodies (creating headings for) Preferred name of a corporate body is a Core element

RDA Ch.19 is about recording relationships between Corporate bodies associated with a work, manifestation, expression or item

Change 6 Relationship designatorsRDA ch.24-30 deal with Related works, expressions and manifestations

RDA ch.25 Related Works get preferred access points

RDA ch.26 Related Expressions and

RDA ch.27 Related Manifestations are given in an unstructured note

Appendix J lists standard relationship phrases:

Continued as ... Merged with ... Supplement with ... Also issued with ... Continues ... Bound with ...

Try it out!Serials Exercise no. 2

Information is given on the handout about the South African periodical Bothalia

Complete the Serial cataloguing templates on the handout wherever there is currently no

information entered

All missing information relates to new RDA elements just covered in the presentation

RDA Change 7 Implementation scenarios

Full implementation of RDA Scenario 1 in networked information applications is the goal of

the RDA

For Serials - Full implementation according to Scenario 1 should be a wonderful step forward

but only if we can find unique identifiers of the Serial Work

Full implementation 1 IdentifiersMany identifier creation initiatives are commercially driven by intellectual property or digital rights management, by publishers, subscription agents, database aggregators

Need input from Libraries and Bibliographic control agencies

Commercial aim is not necessarily in synch with the FRBR user goals. Finding a unique

identifier for the Work is not necessarily their goal

Full implementation 2 IdentifiersURI (Universal Resource Indicator)

URN (Universal Resource Name)

ISNI (International Standard Name Identifier)

DOI (Digital Object Identifier)

ISTC (International Standard Text Code)

EAN (European Article Number)

ONIX framework for resource categorization

OpenURL and Open Archives Initiative

Full implementation 3 Library efforts

1. Fuller implementation of existing machine readable coding by ILS (Integrated Library System) vendors

2. Experimentation with our ERM (Electronic Resource Management) systems

Full implementation 4 Library efforts

3. Modification of existing MARC21

4. Development of new coding system(s)

5. Design of radically new online searching interfaces in our OPACs, in our ERM tools, in our Federated Search Engines, on the Web - using records created with RDA to achieve displays showing Serials relationships

Full implementation 5 Library effortsWhat can Serials cataloguers do?

6. Aim towards implementation of RDA Scenario1

7. Catalogue to emphasise relationships between the abstract entity of the Work intellectual and artistic content

8. Focus less on identification of the physical manifestation

Full implementation 6 Library efforts

9. Do more Analytical type cataloguing at the article level?

10. Reduce original title or full descriptive cataloguing for Serials?

11. Start using the minimum outsourced Serials records generated by vendors?

Imagine a touch screen with hyperlinks…

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Alternatives to RDA

Dublin Core has had a wide take up in the digital community

MODS (Metadata Object Description Standard or Schema) is another

Archives have been using DACS (Describing Archives : a Content Standard) or EAD (Encoded Archival Description)

There are many others…

Additions to RDAThe CONSER Standard Record – a significantly streamlined cataloguing record for Serials based on FRBR principles (with very clear and easy to

understand guidelines) was released for use after extensive development - in Nov 2008

It was prepared after completing surveys that identified the fields that scored high in terms of

FRBR user tasksSee Library of Congress Program for Cooperative Cataloguing Cooperative Online Serials website

Serials R us!

Any Questions?Any Questions?