What are the recent changes in cataloging regarding publisher changes for serials and multi-part monographs?
In the past, when a serial (periodical, annual, monographic series, etc.) or a monograph issued in more than one part changed publisher, this information was not listed in the “imprint” field. Instead this information was described in notes. The information in the imprint field only reflected the first volume, or the first volume received.
For example, vol. 1 of the title Anthropology in America was published in Denver by Smith Publishers. Vols. 2-4 were published in Denver by North Publishers. Finally, vol. 5 and all subsequent volumes to date were published in Minneapolis by Carl Publishers.
In the past, the OPAC record might have looked like this:
- Title: Anthropology in America
- Imprint: Denver : Smith Publishers, 2007-
- Notes: Vols. 2-4 published: Denver : North Publishers; vols. 5- published: Minneapolis : Carl Publishers.
In the past, the MARC record would have looked like this:
- 245:00: $a Anthropology in America
- 260: : $a Denver : $b Smith Publishers, $c 2007-
- 500: : $a Vols. 2-4 published: Denver : North Publishers; vols. 5- published: Minneapolis : Carl Publishers.
This treatment of the publisher information could be misleading because in some OPACs the notes do not even appear on the first screen. In some OPACs, notes only appear when the user requests a “full view” of the record. Furthermore, even if the notes did appear, they were separated from the publisher information and if one did not scroll down to the notes area, one may have thought that Anthropology in America was still published by Smith Publishers.
As of September 1st, 2009, catalogers now have access to a repeatable MARC field (260) for imprint information. Therefore, in the future, publisher changes will be dealt with differently.
From now on, the OPAC records may look like this:
- Title: Anthropology in America
- Imprint: Denver : Smith Publishers, 2007-
- Intervening publisher: v. 2-4: Denver : North Publisher
- Current/latest publisher: v. 5-: Minneapolis : Carl Publishers
From now on, the MARC records will look like this:
- 245:00: $a Anthropology in America
- 260: : $a Denver : $b Smith Publishers, $c 2007-
- 260:2 : $3 v. 2-4: $a Denver : $b North Publishers
- 260:3 : $3 v. 5-: $a Minneapolis : $b Carl Publishers
Not only will this help bring publisher information together in the same part of the bibliographic record, but it will also allow users to search by publisher or place of publication for all of the publishers, if your OPAC indexes the MARC 260 (imprint) field.
Please note that in the example above I stated that “OPAC records may look like this.” This is because we do not have OPAC examples for these materials yet. We know what MARC fields will be available to us, but systems librarians will decide what name tags they want to give to these fields.
Finally, please keep in mind that there are many records in the databases that were treated differently in the past. Although catalogers will strive to catalog new materials using the new repeatable MARC 260 field, the older records will probably never be changed. However, if you notice that a series or multi-volume monograph has changed publisher, you may request that your cataloging department update the record.
If you are a cataloger and would like a more complete technical description of the new repeatable 260, please see the LC/PCC Guidelines for MARC 21 repeatable 260 field at: (http://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/260field.html)
ANSS 