 Now it's time to start talking about serials specifically, now that we've covered the basics of Mark and Argie. And first we're going to talk with defining what exactly it is that we're going to be learning about in the rest of this class. What is a serial? This session is going to cover a few different things. One, where do serials fit in the world of continuing resources? How do serials cataloging differ from cataloging monographs, which are books, and integrating resources which are a different type of continuing resource? We'll talk about what are some identifying characteristics of serials, how can you tell if you have a serial to catalog? And then we'll touch on what are some mark fields used in the records for serials. Here is kind of a graphic representation of bibliographic resources, so you can see where serials fit in the scheme of things. First of all, the universe of bibliographic resources is divided into finite resources that are published with a set number of parts, and continuing resources, which are ones that keep being issued continuously with no end point in mind when you start it. So you can have a monograph, which is one volume, and that's a finite resource. Or something can be multi-part, like a four-volume encyclopedia, but if they're all issued at once with, or even not at once, but there never was any intent to publish more than four volumes, that's still a finite resource. Continuing resources, on the other hand, keep going, they continue just like it sounds. Serials are continuing resources in which each update is a discrete unit, so there's an issue and then another issue and then another issue. Integrating resources, on the other hand, are resources where the new material is integrated within the old material. So for example, a website is an integrating resource because you can update the pages and just meld with the new information in with the old information. A publication that comes in a loosely binder and then receives updates in the form of pages that you integrate into the binder, that's an integrating resource as well. Both serials and integrating resources exhibit seriality because they are issued or updated over time, but they're issued in a different manner, so the rules for them differ a bit. And this class, we're just talking about serial. We're not talking about integrating resources. Serial cataloging records are different than those for, say, monographs. Because they reflect the whole publication, they're not meant to capture information about one particular issue, they're meant to reflect the publication as a whole. They're dynamic because they incorporate changes over time. Sometimes, you know, the publisher could change or things like that. Because of this, they are cooperative creations, one line where you could create a record and another one may be the one to update it. And they're important to the overall control of the serial and they often are used for other parts of your ILS, such as holdings and check-ins, rather than just the catalog record. You'll hear me talk throughout this class about successive entry cataloging. It's the convention applied to all serials cataloged first under AACR2 and now under RDM. Under this philosophy, any major change results in a new record being created. It used to be the case that if the title changed or things like that, you would just add the information to the existing record. But under successive entry, you create a new record for a major change. And we'll talk more later about what a major versus a minor change is. And then the records are linked using 780 and 785 fields in the mark record. Because of this, cataloging serials is what you would call a many to many relationship, title one and title two. These boxes in that diagram represent separate titles for a publication. Perhaps it used to be called the Journal of American History and that changes title to American History Journal, but it's still the same publication. And each of those can encompass more than one issue, obviously. So many records and each record is related to many issues. Here's an example of a successive entry record. You'll see the S slash L field in the fixed field is zero. It has this current title in the 245 field. And it has a 780 field for the older title and a 785 field for the title that came after it. And we'll discuss this all in more detail later in this course. Here are the components of a definition of a serial from RDA. It's a resource that is number one issued in successive parts. Number two usually has numbering. And number three has no predetermined conclusions. So when they started publishing it, they didn't plan on when it would end. So here are, to break that down a little bit more, the succession of the discrete parts issued in the successive parts that's necessary to be a serial, as is the no predetermined conclusion. And numbering is not as much. Sometimes serials aren't numbered. And when I say numbering, I mean like volume one, number two, volume one, number three, things like that. So now let's talk a little bit about identifying characteristics of a serial. How do you know that what you have in front of you is a serial? Well, for one thing, it could have an ISSN number. That's an international standard serial number. This is as opposed to a monograph, which would have an ISVN, an international standard book number. Quite possibly could have a mention of the frequency in the title, meaning it mentions how frequently it's published. Things like AB bookings weekly or an annual report or yachting monthly. This indicates that it comes out at a regular frequency. And then, like I said, numbering is not always there, but if it is, it's pretty much a dead giveaway that it's a serial. Things like volume 28 or spring 1997 tell you that this is one of many issues. And it could give you the year of coverage, especially for things like annual reports. They might not have a volume and number numbering like a magazine would, but they would say this is for 1997 or for the fiscal year 1995 or something like that. Sometimes the identifying characteristic will be something that tells you they intend to continue publishing it. If it says it's the inaugural issue, you would assume that there are going to be other issues after it. One kind of gray area with this is a monographic series. If you have a series of items that are published individually as monographs, but they also exist together in a series, you could choose to create an individual monographic record for each item, or you could create a serial record for the series. So, for example, with this information, this book is called Abraham Lincoln, The First American, but it's part of the historical bulletin series. You could create a record for it as a monograph under the title, or you could create a record for historical bulletin as a serial. Or both. To finish up for this video, let's talk a little bit about mark fields that you'll see in serials that might be different from monographic records. We are going to talk about these in much more detail in the coming weeks, so this is just an overview. Here is a view of the fixed fields for serials. If you're familiar with using OCLC Connection or Cat Express, then you are familiar with this breakdown of fixed fields. The ones that are significant for serials are highlighted in kind of the orangeish-pinky color. The demographic level is the BLVL is S for serial. We talked about the S slash L, the successive or latest entry. Zero means the successive entry, which all records created under AA02 or RDA will be. The serial type, the SRTP, you'll usually see it as P for periodical. Frequency of RE2 and REGL for regularity. Those are not filled in in this record, but they should be for serials. Frequency is how often it comes out, and regularity is whether or not it regularly adheres to this frequency. The DTST, the date status field, will usually be C because that stands for continuing resource. And then you'll have two dates in that date, those dates fields next to it. The first one will be the starting date, and if it's a currently continuing resource, the second one will be 9999 to indicate that it's still going. If a publication ceases, then you would change that date status field to D and put in the year that it ceased in that second date area. Some differences with serials, an 022 is where the ISSN goes. The 042 is where you might see information about who created this record. If you see that PCC code, that means it's the program for cooperative cataloging, which is a program from the Library of Congress where other catalogers create records for them. In addition to the usual 2XX fields that you would see in a monographic record, sometimes you'll see a 210 and 2.2 fields. Those are a key title and an abbreviated key title. These are assigned by the ISSN network, and so you don't ever have to worry about assigning one of these to a serial, but you may see them in records if you're a copy cataloging serial. As far as the publication information goes, in your 264 field with a subfield C, if the item is currently still being published, you'll see a first date with a type after to indicate that it's still being published. If it's not currently being published, you will see a second date in there to close out the date range. In the 300 field, rather than seeing the number of pages, usually we'll see the word volumes to indicate that this thing is issued in multiple volumes. When the serial is finished being published, sometimes people will put in the total number of volumes published over the course of the serial. For the 300 field, you'll notice that instead of giving the number of pages of any one issue, we just use the word volumes to indicate that this was published in multiple volumes. You will also see a three-time field to indicate the frequency of publication, and then you will see some fields that indicate what date this thing started being published. Like a 362 field will tell you what issue it began with. You might see some notes. A 500 note could tell you if there are, for example, extra titles on each individual issue or volume. You will also see notes that tell you what the description is based on and what the latest issue looked at was. Subject headings will usually have a sub-field V, a form subdivision, telling you that it's a periodical. Then there will be linking fields. For example, this 780 field will be linking fields if there are other versions to be linked to. The 780 field is used to link to an older version of the same periodical with a major change, perhaps an earlier title. The 776 is used to link to other versions such as an online version. If you have a record for the print version, you can link to the online version in a 776 field. So those are a few of the basics of Mark Records for serial items.