The ALCTS Serials Section Committee to Study Serials Cataloging will be
meeting during ALA Midwinter in San Diego, CA on Monday, Jan. 12, 2004 from
2-4 PM, U.S. Grant Hotel, Grand Ballroom C/D.
Agenda for the meeting (please print and bring with you):
1. Welcome and introductions
2. Reports: LC, CONSER, NSDP, CC:DA, MARBI
3. Discussion topics
1. It's been one year since the implementation of the AACR2 December 1, 2002
revisions. How are things going, particularly with the application of the
major and minor change rules in chapter 21?

A. Do you find yourself agonizing more as to whether a change is major or
minor than you did under the pre-December 1, 2002 rules, or are the current
rules more straightforward? Is the text of the rules and the rule
interpretations clear enough? If not, what aspects are not clear?

B. Are there enough examples in the rules or in the LC Rule Interpretations
to guide your decision process? If not, for which elements of the rules or
rule interpretation are more examples needed?

C. Are there any categories a-i of the minor change exceptions in 21.2A2
that you really like or don't like? What do you like or not like about them?

D. Are there additional situations where the change should be considered
minor? If so, what would they be?

E. Are there any cases that are considered minor changes under the current
rules that you think should really be major? If so, what would they be?

F. With the minor change exceptions, do you think that you are creating
fewer new bibliographic records for serials than under the previous rules?
If so, are you finding that the advantages of creating fewer new
bibliographic records are offset by any disadvantages? What are those
disadvantages, if any?
G. Have you gotten any feedback from public services staff, library users,
publishers, etc. about the minor changes? If so, has it been positive or
negative (or a little of both), or hasn't anybody outside technical services
even noticed?

H. For libraries that shelve serials alphabetically by title, how do you
handle the shelving when the change is minor? Do you reshelve the issues by
the latest variant title, or do you keep them under the original title?

2. How are things going with the aggregator neutral record for electronic
resources? Are the guidelines for creating aggregator neutral records clear?
If not, what needs clarifying? How are you combining the single record
approach with aggregator neutral record approach? What display text are you
using to alert the user to the difference between multiple links on the same
record?

3. Discussion on integrating resources: who's cataloging them in libraries,
serials catalogers, monograph catalogers, electronic resources catalogers or
??? What about cooperative cataloging? Are you maintaining the master record
on OCLC for integrating resources, or are you still maintaining just your
local record? What challenges are you encountering in creating and
maintaining bibliographic records for integrating resources, either locally
or in the master record on OCLC? How are you (or will you be) describing
what an integrating resource is so that others can understand what they are?

We want to hear from you, the audience, with your comments on the topics
listed above.  Depending on the level of interest and the liveliness of the
discussion, we may not get to all of these topics in the time allotted.
Please plan to attend and share your ideas with us.

Gene Dickerson
Head, Cataloging Unit 3
National Library of Medicine
Chair, SS Committee to Study Serials Cataloging