Thomas Brenndorfer asks:
>
>For example, what does the series field 440 really mean?
>
>440 has a practical effect in the production of catalogue cards. It
>prints the series statement in brackets. It prints the word "Series" in
>the tracings field at the bottom of the catalogue card. It produces an
>added entry card. It actually produces an added entry card with series
>numbering that a file clerk could then file in series number order in
>the card catalogue.
Yes, it has roots in the cards, but it has always been a pragmatic
decision about saving catalogers' time. Series are slippery things
and it is only in the post-card era that they have been given full
status as access points. In the DIY card era, very often a series was
only cataloged as a set, unanalyzed, with a card only under its title
and items ticked on a check-in card (filed behind the title card) by
number only as they arrived.
Specifically, 440 means "the series statement as transcribed from the
source of information in the item is the way we want it to file in a
title list and to collocate with other members of the same series." A
naturally-occurring uniform title, as it were, and we're crossing our
fingers and hoping that it works. A 490/830 combination
means--"there's a conflict so we have to construct a uniform title to
keep the series distinct."
This is obviously not very well set up for machine processing,
espcially since the need for a 490/830 combination could (and does)
occur at a later point, resulting in a lot of bother for everyone,
which is why LC doesn't do it anymore. The same issue is present in
245 versus 130 or 240 situations, only never truly addressed by the
rules or cooperative cataloging system. For futuristic thinking, the
theoretical issues go back to FRBR (given the way that publishers
cavalierly create and destroy them, are series actually "works"? )
and the cost of authority control (can we set up pointers/URI's for
these slippery things?).
Cheryl
--
Cheryl Boettcher Tarsala
Adjunct Assistant Professor
LEEP Program, Graduate School of Library and Information Science
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
c-tarsala_at_linkline.com
ctarsala_at_uiuc.edu
The views expressed here are my own and not those of UIUC or GSLIS.
Received on Tue May 15 2007 - 11:57:15 EDT