Hello,

I checked the records for these numbers. ISSN 0890-8140 is assigned to the
previous title. ISSN 1554-2904 is correct for the current title. The
National Serials Data Program inputs ISSN assignments directly into OCLC.
If the record there has "nsdp" in the 042, that means it has been
authenticated by our office. We are the agency that assigns ISSN to U.S.
imprints, and OCLC is the most authoritative, up-to-date source to check
ISSN information for U.S. imprints.

It is not uncommon for publishers to continue to print the ISSN of the
previous title when the title changes. Usually this is because they don't
realize they need a new one. Anytime you discover this, or any other
anomalies with the ISSN, feel free to let us know at issn@loc.gov. We
regularly communicate with publishers to inform them that they are
printing the incorrect number and ask them to correct it. In this
particular case, a letter has already been sent.

Feel free to contact me if you have further questions.

Sincerely,

Pamela Simpson
Cataloger
National Serials Data Program
Library of Congress
101 Independence Ave. SE
Washington, D.C. 20540-4160

(202) 707-2656 (voice)
(202) 707-6333 (fax)
psimpson@loc.gov

ISSN Web Page: http://www.loc.gov/issn/

>>> bpope@PITTSTATE.EDU 09/20/05 5:34 PM >>>
Hi, everyone.  I was trying to resolve a problem with this title not
linking to the print issues record in our open url resolver correctly when
I came across some contradictory information.  The ISSN on the physical
issue is 0890-8140, but the Worldcat record says it is 1554-2904.  The
ISSN number 0890-8140 is in the subfield y of our MARC record, but there
is no number in the subfield a.

Is the ISSN of 0890-8140 really an error of the publisher?  If so, is it a
frequent occurence that publishers get the number wrong on their own
publication?  How do you deal with this?

Barbara Pope, MALS
Reference/Periodicals Librarian
Axe Library
Pittsburg State University
Pittsburg KS  66762