Peter,
I'm chiming in a little late but I think Steve is correct in stating the
confusion lies in combining 'CONSER' and 'neutral.'  In addition to
this, I believe the category 'neutral' is confusing.  In your example
below, the record referred to as 'Print' (and would be categorized as
CONSER Print) has been given 'print' as the qualifier in the key title
only.  The record actually represents the microform format.   The
'neutral' record (which SerialsSolutions would categorize as CONSER
Neutral) is the LC authenticated record (for print format) and would be
my record of choice (of the 2 records).  Needless to say, based on our
order of record selection, we would have received the 'microform'
record.

"Air charter statistics" has the following records associated with it:
>  --  Print: lccn ce 99303536; OCLC 43833965; ISSN 0828-8208
>  --  Online: lccn ce 98470563; OCLC 40429672; ISSN 1480-8765
>  --  'neutral': lccn 86651674; OCLC 15020971; ISSN 0828-8208

Perhaps for SerialsSolutions MARC record purposes 'Print' should be used
based on the physical description and not based on abbreviated title
(210) or key title (222), and that the lack of a qualifier should not
automatically categorize a record as 'neutral' if the physical
description is for the print format (or any other format).
Example:  JAMA
OCLC 1124917 is a CONSER print serial record but it has no 'Print'
qualifier in the record and is therefore given the designation: CONSER
Neutral.

I would much prefer to select the order of MARC records we receive from
categories based on format (CONSER online, CONSER Print, CONSER
Microform, NLM Print, etc.) rather than from any 'neutral' category
since it's clear from examples provided that 'neutral' represents a
variety of formats.  The 'neutral' category could easily be sorted into
any of the aforementioned categories.

Lynn K. Cote
Serials Cataloger
Collections Services, U-2005
University of Connecticut
Homer Babbidge Library
369 Fairfield Rd.
Storrs, CT  06269-2005
ph. (860)486-6495
fax (860)486-6493
************************************
Please report problems with access to electronic resources to
elibrary@uconn.edu

-----Original Message-----
From: SERIALST: Serials in Libraries Discussion Forum
[mailto:SERIALST@list.uvm.edu] On Behalf Of Steven C Shadle
Sent: Monday, May 05, 2008 5:56 PM
To: SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU
Subject: Re: [SERIALST] Question about neutral records

Peter -- This will be the last from me on the subject.  Serials
Solutions can describe the records they supply in the way they works
best for the customers.  I think where the original confusion lie was in
the combining of "CONSER" and "neutral" (implying this was somehow a
conser policy).

Steve Shadle/Serials Access Librarian  *****  shadle@u.washington.edu
University of Washington Libraries      ***     Phone: (206) 685-3983
Seattle, WA 98195-2900                   *        Fax: (206) 543-0854

On Mon, 5 May 2008, McCracken, Peter wrote:

> Yes, I agree; the format is *not* "neutral". The 300 for each of these
records indicates the size of the publication, and as Regina pointed
out, each record describes a specific format.
>
> Perhaps the best way to describe our "neutral" records is to say that
they are print records that don't have a "Print" qualification to them
the way online records do. But we felt a need to differentiate between
these two types of records. The following records, for instance, have
multiple formats, and we need to differentiate between them:
>
> "Aboriginal self-government" has the following records associated with
it:
>  -- Print: lccn cn 00703510; OCLC 45133041; ISSN 1193-9656
>  -- Online: lccn cn 00471909; OCLC 45133030; ISSN 1495-5881
>  -- 'neutral': lccn cn 93071073; OCLC 28166488; ISSN 1193-9656
>
> "Air charter statistics" has the following records associated with it:
>  --  Print: lccn ce 99303536; OCLC 43833965; ISSN 0828-8208
>  --  Online: lccn ce 98470563; OCLC 40429672; ISSN 1480-8765
>  --  'neutral': lccn 86651674; OCLC 15020971; ISSN 0828-8208
>
> I found the same situation with "Adult correctional services in
Canada," "Algebraic & geometric topology" (though the 'Print' record
there is now marked for deletion), and I'm sure others exist.
>
> More importantly, though, librarians told us that they wanted us to
respond in different ways when there were different types of print
records. So we developed a way to do that. Perhaps, in retrospect, the
term "neutral" is not a good one. I've certainly been spending time
recently trying to ensure that we agree, internally, on various specific
definitions, and I see how important accurate definitions are. I welcome
ideas on what we should call these. We could say "print1" and "print2",
since both types of records represent print, but then we have to
remember which is which. We could use "print," "online," and "qwijybo,"
or another made-up term, but that would definitely cause confusion.
>
> If the collective community has a better term for these types of
records, to better define and differentiate them from the print records
that explicitly say that they're print, then I'm all ears.
>
> So, in conclusion, we *don't* describe or represent these as format
neutral. They're print records that differ from the print records that
are more explicit about it. We found a need to differentiate between the
two types, and we used a term that occasionally causes confusion, but
has worked reasonably well for us over the past six years that we have
been delivering MARC records to libraries. If there are ways that we can
do a better job of that, we're of course interested in doing so.
>
> Peter Mc
>
>
> Peter McCracken, MLS
> Co-founder & Director of Research, Serials Solutions
> peter@serialssolutions.com
> (607) 262-0941 - cell
>
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