1. Serials R us: an introduction to Serials in RDA
Name: Karin Herbert
Job Title: Coordinating Librarian Materials Acquisitions
Tel:
Good afternoon! Although the programme says that I will be dealing with Continuing resources, this slide says SERIALS. The Nov 2008 RDA draft has separated what other authorities call Continuing Resources into Serials, Multipart monographs and Integrating resources. I have therefore chosen to focus my main attention on the SERIALS category of Continuing Resources (with some passing mention of Integrating resources) More detailed consideration of those resources will have to wait for another day! If you are following in the printed booklet – please note that I have made some amendments since that booklet was prepared.

2. Summary
Looks at RDA from the point of view of a Librarian or Cataloguer with an interest in the Continuing resources known as Serials who wants to know how the current draft RDA treats both print and electronic Serials and what effect RDA might have on Serials cataloguing and resource discovery both now and in the future. We will also look at what the Serials community is saying and thinking about RDA.
Can I have a show of hands – how many of you have done any Serials Cataloguing? … (If no response) … What about working with Serials in any way in a Library? Thank you! … (depending on the response) … Some of you may then find the Serials bits in my presentation quite new but I hope that what you have already heard from other presenters so far in this series will help!

3. Outline & Objectives 1. Nov 2008 RDA Draft Reviewers comments
2. RDA Definition of a Serial
3. Do Serials fit the FRBR model?
4. What is a Serials Work & why is this important?
5. Serials cataloguing with RDA – differences?
6. Introduce some new RDA terminology
7. RDA Implementation & future possibilities from the Serials community
These are some of the matters that I will focus on. There may well be (we hope there will be!) changes to that Nov 2008 RDA text on which this presentation is based and this may then affect what I will have talked about in this presentation.

4. Before we begin!
1. Even Nov 2008 RDA is still only a draft & not well edited
2. Testing not yet done by National Libraries
3. Online format not yet available
4. Workflows (detailed procedures) nya.
5. Functional relationship with ILS & Machine Readable Catalogue encoding systems not yet clear
6. Negative comment from constituencies
Let us remember before we begin - that we still only have a poorly edited draft, there has been no testing, no online, no workflows yet available and detailed functioning with MARC21 and in ILS still to be worked out.

5. RDA reviewers comment 1
1. RDA did not go far enough – was not radical enough
2. Wanted more generic rules - less exceptions, alternatives, options
3. Wanted more international focus - less on the Anglo-American
4. Wanted more definite emphasis on electronic resources and environment
Because Serials are one of the resources that really need better rules that would help with what is already a complex area for resource discovery and access and Serials are already well established in the electronic environment - I want to start by looking at some of the comment from those who were able to officially review this RDA Nov 2008 draft. They wanted more … More change, less exceptions, more international, more electronic.

6. RDA reviewers comment 2
5. Opportunities were missed to get away from “traditional” cataloguing rules - still largely based on the way things had to be because of the card catalogue
6. Much of it still very like AACR2
7. Need for more Serials & Electronic resource examples
Despite the idealistic goal of aiming to create a set of rules that would cater for electronic resources (of which Serials and Integrating resources are a major part) -the global dominance of electronic networked information and the need to provide rules for “discovery” in these resources still seems to have been largely ignored in what is (in the descriptive part at least) - still a very “traditional” set of rules.

7. RDA reviewers comment 3
8. Very short time for review of this final draft
9. Unable to assess functionality as final draft not presented in online version
10. Many commented on the dense unclear and difficult to understand writing style and layout
11. It was not a practical cataloguing manual
As a Serials person, I was disappointed at how familiar most of the descriptive part of the RDA rules actually were. The difference which the FRBR and FRAD influence might make will only be seen, if and when, at some future date, RDA can be implemented in a relational or object oriented database structure – only then will it be different enough for continuing resources like Serials. This kind of structure is simply one that emphasizes relationships so someone doing a search is led into and guided through a network of related resources.???

8. Does RDA cope with all this?
Serials R us!
Journals, periodicals, newspapers, magazines,
E-journals, aggregator databases, continuing resources, serials, indexes and abstracts
are all subject to much CHANGE...
Like people - they are born, get married, get separated and divorced, they die, they even get resurrected!
Does RDA cope with all this?
These are the kind of resources included in the word Serials. They contain an important part of the information that people need access to but it is often difficult to do this in any straightforward way because they change so much and have such complicated relationships. Like people they are born, get married, separated, divorced, get back together again, die and even get resurrected! The Serials cataloguer is one of the people who has to try and keep track of all this and try and ensure that someone wanting to find and use this information – can do so. So can RDA help?

9. RDA Definition
Serial - a resource issued in successive parts that has no predetermined conclusion – usually bearing numbering (eg. A periodical, monographic series or a newspaper)
Includes resources that exhibit characteristics of serials such as successive issues, numbering & frequency, but whose duration is limited (eg. Newsletters of events and reproductions of serials)
RDA Nov draft (Glossary)
Here is the RDA definition of a Serial … a resource issued in successive parts that has no predetermined conclusion – usually bearing numbering … note no electronic examples. What RDA call “reproductions of Serials” could be things like reprints. Integrating resources according to RDA are: A resource that is added to or changed by means of updates that do not remain discrete and are integrated into the whole. An IR may be tangible - such as a loose-leaf updated by means of replacement pages or intangible - such as a Website that is updated either continuously or on a cyclical basis. Sometimes Serials will change into Integrating Resources.

10. RDA Change 1 Continuing resources was the term used in:
AACR2 Ch.12 (Ch.9 included electronic journals)
ISBD Consolidated 2007
ISO Standard 3297 and the ISSN Manual 2007
RDA now uses the term Serial
So this is already a change in RDA. Most responses to and reviews of earlier drafts of RDA agreed that separating Continuing resources into Serials, Multipart Monographs and Integrating resources was a good idea. However, most object to the total disuse of the word Continuing anywhere in RDA – even for the purposes of clarifying definitions.

11. RDA Change 2 User focus FRBR user tasks Helping users
Find, Identify, Select, Obtain and also Navigate resources for the information they want and need is one of the aims of RDA
Serials Exercise No.1
The user wants to find information on:
“The current status of AIDS therapies in South Africa”
The emphasis on the FRBR user tasks is another change.
To help us understand what this particular change might mean in relation to a bibliographic record for a Serial - I would like you to find in your handouts / booklets the Exercise called Serials Exercise No.1. This is a basic Serials record for HIV treatment bulletin South - set out in MARC21 format. I want you to please look at the information in each field and then make a mark in any column on the right – when you think a user would be able to use that information to find, identify, select, obtain or navigate to the information they were looking for. At the end of the sheet you will find brief RDA definitions of what is meant by Find, Identify, Select, Obtain and Navigate.
The user is looking for information on “The current status of AIDS therapies in South Africa”.
For example… on the sheet the first field is the ISSN - would this help the user to find information on the current status of aids therapies in South Africa. If you think it would you put a mark in the Find column – or maybe it wont help them Find the information but it might help them Identify or Select the resource where this information is contained – then you make a mark in the Identify or the Select column. Some fields will help with more than one of these user tasks. Mark as many as you think. You have 5 minutes. Move to picture slide. The task is written on the handout no need for it on screen.

12. Curious Red Hartebeest in the Umkomaas Valley
Ask after 5 minutes – How are you doing? Would you like a bit more time? Give them another 3 minutes…

13. Useful cataloguing elements?
Which fields / elements are helpful for the user?
CONSER (Cooperative Online Serials) studied which elements users found useful in a Serials record. They then developed the CONSER Standard Record (released for use Nov. 2008)
Compare with RDA Core elements?
So which did you mark? Let us look at the 500 and 520 fields. The summary and general notes. They tell the user what the journal is about. So I imagine you made a mark here for Select. But these fields don’t really help Find or Identify do they? The 856 hypertext link however would probably have a mark in the Find column and possibly also the Obtain column. The user will be able to click from here direct to the full text of the journal. The subject headings would probably have ticks in the Select column. They would help the user know what the journal was about. The Local holdings note about where the Library keeps its print holdings? That would probably also have ticks in Find and Obtain. The title and its variations? These could well have ticks in ALL the columns. Or perhaps you felt NONE of these fields would help this specific user with their specific query on AIDS therapy - with anything?
CONSER have completed a most interesting study on what users found useful in a bibliographic record. Obviously there would be differences depending if the user was a researcher or a student or a member of the community, whether they were an adult or a child and the nature of the information query. CONSER identified a definite need to move away from pure resource description and more towards resource access. Have RDA taken note of what is useful or is it all just the same as before?

14. RDA Change 3 FRBR Group entities 1
Major change…
Recording relationships between
Works Expressions Manifestations and Items
Then linking the records
A user conducting a search is helped to find all related information
This would be really great for Serials!
A third and a major change is the focus on FRBR Group entities. As we have heard elsewhere in this series, the basic RDA principle is to categorize resources as the FRBR Group 1 entities – Work, Expression, Manifestation & Item, to record elements for each of these and specify the relationships between them. This sounds potentially good for Serials – a way to bring together all their multiple formats, including those electronically networked, and those that commonly have long sequential relationships over time. You now what I mean – a Serial title will be “continued by” another title and then the title will merge or split and change again and again and there are separate records for each one!

15. RDA Change 3 FRBR Group entities 2
Is it possible to establish what is a Work, Expression or Manifestation for a Serial?
Often only with difficulty it would seem...
Serials are all about relationships but are bibliographically complex
So - Items we can establish. They are the bound volume or the current loose issue in your hand or the HTML or PDF file of the journal article on the website. BUT it is not so easy to establish what is a Work, Expression or Manifestation for a Serial!

16. For a Serial this could therefore be:
What is a Serial Work?
Work - A distinct intellectual or artistic creation ie. the intellectual or artistic content
RDA Draft Nov (Glossary)
For a Serial this could therefore be:
The article? The whole issue? The whole title?
The complete historical sequence including all the related titles?
Some aggregate combination of these?
Here is the RDA definition of a Work. A distinct intellectual or artistic creation. So for Serials this could really be many things. It could be the individual articles each written by an author, or each issue often focused on a particular topic or theme, or the whole title (most journals have a very disciplined subject range and focus) or is it everything –the complete run - including all the related titles - because in most cases even though the Periodical title or something else changes - the intellectual content or focus does not change. This focus on the abstract “Intellectual content” means that we need something to represent this abstract Serial Work that is not dependent on changing titles. Up to now – Serials cataloguing – as a result of rules requiring Title main entry and Successive entry (new records when the title changes) have focused a lot of attention at the Manifestation level of Serials and largely ignored the Work level.

17. How to identify a Serial Work 1
A Work - which may also be an aggregator work - has a Creator or Compiler (can be a Corporate body)
An Expression may have contributors such as an Editor or a Translator
A Manifestation has a Producer or a Publisher or a Distributor or a Manufacturer
An Item has an Owner or a Custodian
Aside from the RDA definition – how might we distinguish a Serial Work from its Expression or Manifestation or Item? Each of these FRBR entities is associated with some “originating” term. A Work has a Creator, and Expression may have an Editor, a Manifestation has a Publisher, An Item has an Owner. But this doesn’t really help much for Serials – individual articles or whole issues even in some rare cases, complete journals - have authors and a Serial also often has a Corporate body – all of whom are regarded as the Creator. Most Serial works have editors and Editorial Boards responsible for them.

18. How to identify a Serial Work 2
Related Works use terms like
Continued by, Supplement to, Contains, Special issue of, Index to, Continues in part, Separated from, Absorbed by, Merger of, Merged with, Accompanied by …
Related Expressions use terms like
Revision or translation of, Also issued in “other language” editions, Abridgement of…
Another way perhaps - is by looking at the relationship terms associated with each of them. If time going can leave out this and first part of next slide

19. How to identify a Serial Work 3
Related Manifestations use terms like
Also issued online, Inserted in, Issued with, Issued electronically, Annual special issue of …
Related Items use terms like
Bound with…
Serials often seem to be a combination of Work, Expression & Manifestation
Author, Title, Uniform title - are weak identifiers for Serials
Serials often seem to be a mixture of Work, Expression and Manifestation levels partly because the bibliographic mechanism that controls and identifies the Work for Monographs – such as Author, Title or Uniform title – are weak identifiers for Serials. (In Serials these things so often change and are not unique enough – just think of the number of Serials that share the same title…?)

20. Some models
Various published Models have suggested ways in which a usable Serials record might be constructed in terms of FRBR entities Work, Expression, Manifestation and Item
The aim of identifying the abstract Serial Work is to be able to collocate or bring together the whole Serial Work and all its relationships
The aim of trying to identify the abstract Serial Work is an important one – to be able to bring together the whole Serial Work and all its relationships. This question of Serial Work identification has been an issue and a problem of debate and discussion in the world of Serials for some time. The electronic environment in which Serials mostly operate being one of the reasons. The IFLA development of FRBR was for many an encouraging sign that a solution was possible. A number of models have been published by the Electronic access to information and Serials cataloguing communities. I will show you a few of them.

21. A linear example Serial Work 1 Expression 1 Full text
Manifestation 1 Print full text
Item 1 Print volumes
Manifestation 2 Online full text
Item 2 Library access to online
Expression 2 Selected text
Manifestation 1 Database aggregator A
Item 1 HTML
Item 2 PDF
Here is an example set out in a linear style. Any Serial work can be analyzed like this. You can see also the way multiple online versions of Serials can be set out here too. Different kinds of selected text from the Serial may be available via different Database aggregators (think ProQuest or Ebscohost) depending on that aggregator’s current agreement with different Serials publishers. We could go on here to a further electronic Manifestation in Database aggregator B with its own HTML and PDF files and so on.

22. Bibliographic families?
New York Times
New York Times magazine
New York Times Index
New York Times Book Review
New York Times 20thC in review
Serials relationships are not only linear. This example is based on Kristin Antelman’s 2004 paper. Serials often exist in multiple relationships. The New York Times is a very large daily newspaper. It contains the NYT magazine and the NYT book review. They in turn are contained by the NYT. All 3 are indexed by the NYT index. The NYT indexes them. The NYT Twentieth Century review is related to the NYT and that is just some of the print titles it also has many electronic relationships.

23. Superworkspression? SuperWork Authority record Item Holdings
M1 Print
Item Holdings
M2 Online
M3 Microfilm
This next model is based on Adam et al The abstract Superworkspression here is represented by nothing more than an authority record and the various different Manifestations – the print, the online, the microform – then each has its own record and each has its own item holdings.

24. Work segment?
Entire historical run of a serial - Expression & Manifestation combined in a single record
Tarango proposes what he calls a Work segment and a single catalogue record that would then include all the ISSNs for each title in the Work segment, a Title proper and all variant titles, publication information about the original manifestation, a note about previous titles, with authorised headings and a unique identifier for each title and then 856 hypertext links for all online titles in the “Work segment”

25. Relationship hell!
Recommend you find and read some of the papers, debates and discussions
to understand why in a networked world we need MORE than just a bibliographic description
We need the Serial Work record to become a “bibliographic control device”
But in order to be able to retrieve the whole Serial Work we need a unique identifier for that Work
So is this relationship hell or what? It is not possible in a session such as this to go into the complex and detailed discussions that have taken place in print and on blogs and websites all over the Serials world since the first release of FRBR and even after the first draft sections of RDA based on FRBR – about what is a Serial Work. What we need now is something to uniquely identify the Serial Work that would then act as a bibliographic control device – to bring all the related Serials Works together.

26. Wanted: unique Serial Work identifier
The abstract Serial Work record will then simply consist of a unique identifier = a number
Need a persistent digital identifier associated with information, objects or documents
It could be an Authority record number, or, possibly a number from one of the commercial products:
ONIX? <indecs>? DOI?
The title, uniform title, or the ISSN related key title, are not unique enough and are anyway very much associated with Manifestations (the published Serial as opposed to its intellectual content). What is needed in the world of electronically networked Serials is a unique number (persistent digital identifier) that we can use to tag the abstract / intellectual content of the Serial Work and that we can then use to link all the records for the Expressions and Manifestations of this intellectual content via their own identifiers such as ISSNs, URLs, Authority record numbers etc. ONIX <indecs> and DOI are digital object identifiers or numbers that have been developed and are being used in the publishing and electronic information industry. Maybe we can use them too? I will come back to more of this later.
After all this thinking about Works Expressions Manifestations and Items – I wondered if there was a way for us to try and remember WEMI – wemi – I thought maybe WEMI could be a Zulu or Xhosa word and found that it is - kind of! Then I found that there was an old Xhosa song by Miriam Makeba called Jikalema wemi. It seemed to be a song about looking back and assessing how things are and how things change. (Which seemed very appropriate for what we are considering here with RDA). I tried very hard to find a recording of the original song but was not able to find a suitable recording in time to play it today. But I thought that you might like to listen to one of Mama Afrika’s songs anyway. I have chosen one that will help us MOVE and shake up our bodies and our brains - So here goes. There is no way that you can just sit still and listen to this so Please feel free to get up and Move! Switch on song… NB On Loud. Click to next picture slide. 2-3 mins?

27. Bisley Valley Pietermaritzburg in winter after fires

28. KZN coastline North of Durban, sugarcane, estuary, forested dunes, sandy beach. Bluff in distance
Listen to Miriam Makeba song. Switch off CD. Either stop or off. Move to next slide.

29. Finding the way in RDA?
Not easy to find your way around the current draft
1. No index
2. Cryptic contents pages
3. Does not follow ISBD structure
4. Emphasizes recording and not display
5. What gets entered where in a machine readable encoding system such as MARC21 or Dublin Core will depend on instructions for those encoding systems
Can we find the rules and sections relating to Serials in RDA? Its not so easy with such an unclear layout and so much repetition! But buried in RDA text what do we find?

30. Serials cataloguing using RDA
1. No separate Chapter
2. Throughout RDA Nov 2008 draft there are sections which give specific instructions for cataloguing Serials, Multipart monographs, Integrating resources
3. Serials cataloguing traditionally has had to pay particular attention to certain elements (RDA), areas (ISBD) and fields (MARC21)
4. Highlight a few of these in relation to RDA
Much of what is in RDA will be very familiar to anyone who has ever done any cataloguing of Serials using AACR2, ISBD and MARC21 (disappointingly so perhaps for many of us in Serials!) Once all the draft inconsistencies and errors and omissions have been corrected and the Serials specific instructions have been gathered together into a customised online Workflows for Serials cataloguing, I feel sure that a practising cataloguer will not have too much difficulty following the RDA rules on what to record. What might be more difficult is the display and the layout and the punctuation and cataloguers are going to have to depend on things like ISBD and their encoding systems (such as MARC21) for this.

31. Source of information - Serials
RDA specifies first, or earliest or lowest numbers or earliest available issue of a Serial as the source
RDA 2.2 then specifies where inside or on that part is the preferred source of information
RDA Note on Issue, Part or Iteration used as basis for identification of the resource
I want to highlight some of the areas that are traditionally important for Serials cataloguing - but will be moving fairly quickly through sections where there is not much or any change. You have a printout of the slides for reference. I will focus a bit more on differences and changes. Source of information - once you have found the main source and the place in the main source (eg. title page or cover and so on). As with all Serials – because you could have taken the cataloguing information from any part or issue in a long sequence of issues - you are required to say in a note what issue you used as the source of information or the latest issue consulted - not much difference from AACR2

32. Change 5 – RDA terminology A
1. Mode of issuance RDA 2.13
“serial” = issued in one or more parts
2. Identifier for the manifestation RDA 2.15 = ISSN
3. Media type RDA 3.2
Print = “unmediated”
Online and direct access electronic = “computer”
There are a few changes in terminology. RDA includes a number of new Element headings – most of these are not really new concepts – just new words. A Serial has “serial” mode of issuance. The identifier for a Serial manifestation is mostly the ISSN. Print Serials have the Media type “unmediated” but electronic Serials have the Media type “Computer” There are inevitably disagreements as to the use of the new terms. For example - Reviewers did not like the fact that there is no mention of the term CR in the mode of issuance definition of “serial”. Many reviewers did not like at all the use of the media type term “computer” to specify electronic resources whether direct access or online.

33. Change 5 – RDA terminology B
4. Carrier type RDA 3.3
Print = volume
Online = 1 online resource (!)
Direct access media eg. = 1 computer disc
5. Extent RDA 3.4 only if resource is complete
6. Content type RDA 6.10 form in which content expressed = “text” - for print and online Serial resources
Print Serials have the unmediated Carrier type “volume”. Electronic Serials could be “online resource” or one of the direct access media such as “computer disc” if it was on a CD or DVD. The lists of electronic carriers for mediated resources came in for quite a lot of comment from reviewers – who suggested additions and amendments to the lists and suggested authoritative sources for more. The Content type “text” can be thought of in the same way perhaps as the MARC21 Fixed field code “language material” which is the same for print and online…

34. Serials Titles & RDA
RDA Title proper Core element - excludes other title information
RDA Full Serial title preferred to acronym or initialism
RDA Variant titles are recorded
RDA Later variant titles (after the one used as the basis of the Serial description) Core elements
RDA Key title not a Core element
Despite the comments and discussion about the inadequacy of title main entry in relation to Serial Work’s – there is still the usual strong focus on Title proper for Serials in RDA. All titles if not THE authorized access point are given access points (added entries). RDA says the Key title can come from any source. The ISSN agency wanted RDA to get cataloguers to check for Key title in the ISSN Registry (These are constructed and made in association with ISSNs).

35. Changes requiring a new description
1. RDA A major change in the title proper of a Serial
2. RDA 2.13 a change in mode of issuance (from Serial to integrating resource)
3. RDA 3.2 a change in media type (from unmediated to computer)
4. RDA a change in responsibility that requires a change in the identification of a Serial title as a work (in other words if the preferred access point has to change!)
Unfortunately perhaps! RDA still uses successive entry for Serials (in other words creating a new record when the title or any of the things like - mode of issuance, media type or responsibility change) - Even though this focuses away from the ideal of collocating Serials under Work – and the title is not a reliable identifier of a Serial Work. A Serial title search – even in some of the best controlled bibliographic databases – will often retrieve 15 or more titles and they are all for that Work. Anyway - So RDA - just like AACR2 - says create a new description when there is a major change in the Title Proper – defined just like in AACR2 - as the addition, deletion, change or re-ordering of any of the first 5 words of the title (or 6 if there is a definite or indefinite article in front of the title). Minor changes are also defined.

36. ISSNs & Linking ISSNs
RDA records an identifier for the Manifestation as a Core element = ISSN
In 2007 ISO 3297 introduced the linking ISSN or ISSN-L designed to collocate the different media editions of a Serial title under one ISSN
The first or print ISSN is designated the ISSN-L
ISSN Registry will do retrospective designation
ISSNs distinguish between different media editions of a Serial – for example – Print and Online will each have their own ISSN and as you see there is now the facility of a Linking ISSN – a single ISSN-L where all different media editions of a Serial can be linked. It is not a new or different ISSN number – one of the existing ISSNs is simply designated the ISSN-L – usually the one belonging to the original print Serial. The ISSN network wanted RDA to require cataloguers to check the ISSN Registry for correct and incorrect ISSNs. Many reviewers did not agree generally with the recording of any incorrect information in a record just because it was on the source of information - without noting corrections. They wanted information to be corrected if it was verifiable in some authoritative external source. This is not yet specified in the current RDA text.

37. Electronic - Online journals
RDA 3.2 = separate records for online and print versions of the same Serial title
RDA 2.13 Mode of issuance: serial
RDA Note on iteration used as basis for identification of resource: Viewed on ...
RDA 3.2 Media type: computer
RDA 3.3 Carrier type: Online resource
RDA 3.4 Extent: 1 online resource
RDA 4.6 Uniform resource locator URL
RDA 6.10 Content type: text
The creation of separate records (one for print and another for the online version) again moves away from the aim of collocating the Serial Work. Up to now many libraries followed Library of Congress practice of putting links and notes about the Online version of a Serial on to the Print record. It remains to be seen if this practice will continue. For the separate electronic online Serial record the information shown on the slide applies. Just like the print Serial, you are required to give the details of the part you used for the cataloguing information – in this case phrased as: Viewed on - with details of the date. The URL is of course the web address – for example beginning etc… If this is entered in the MARC21 field on a library system with a web based OPAC– it provides a clickable hypertext link direct to the online resource. RDA 4.4 specifies any restrictions on access.

38. RDA Change 4 – No more GMD
RDA now uses information from three different elements to specify what was a bit of a jumble in GMD – there is no longer a General Material Designation
Content type RDA 6.10 Core element
Media type RDA 3.2
Carrier type RDA 3.3 Core element
Work is being done to amend MARC21 to be able to encode this
Records for non-print or Electronic titles always had to have a General Material Designation in AACR2. Now this has gone - to be replaced as Trish has told you - with information that has to be recorded in 3 separate RDA Elements. MARC21 is being amended to allow for these new fields at 336, 337 and 338.

39. Numbering of Serials RDA 2.6.2 – 2.6.9 prescribed as Core elements
Rules for recording the numbering and chronology of the first and the last issue of Serials
(= what is recorded in MARC21 field 362 Volume designation)
Another traditional area of focus for Serials - the recording of the volume designation. The Nov 2008 RDA draft of this section generated a fair amount of comment by many of the reviewers. One of the complaints was that it specified first and last but did not allow for intermediate volume designations related to title changes. Another was about the use or not of abbreviations.

40. Corporate bodies
RDA Ch.11 gives guidelines on identifying corporate bodies (creating headings for) Preferred name of a corporate body is a Core element
RDA Ch.19 is about recording relationships between Corporate bodies associated with a work, manifestation, expression or item
Most Serials are associated with Corporate bodies which are then given access points (added entries). Just like AACR2 – RDA gives guidelines on when a Corporate body is regarded as a Creator of a work – only when administrative, legal, collective activity, government or religious etc. In practice these criteria are met so seldom in Serials that they are only rarely entered under Corporate body as the (main) or preferred access point.

41. Change 6 Relationship designators
RDA ch deal with Related works, expressions and manifestations
RDA ch.25 Related Works get preferred access points
RDA ch.26 Related Expressions and
RDA ch.27 Related Manifestations are given in an unstructured note
Appendix J lists standard relationship phrases:
Continued as ... Merged with ... Supplement with ... Also issued with ... Continues ... Bound with ...
From a Serials cataloguing point of view, it is good to see, that in RDA ch there has finally been (in Barbara Tillett’s words) “an attempt to establish principles for the logical treatment of relationships”. RDA simply says “record” these relationships (in the past and for Serials, this information was recorded in notes and the titles referred to were then given added entries) RDA indicates that related works, expressions and manifestations should be given access points. Many of the terms and phrases that are commonly used in Serials records to specify relationships, are now set out in RDA Appendix J – in a list of standard examples for required use by all cataloguers of all materials.

42. Try it out! Serials Exercise no. 2
Information is given on the handout about the South African periodical Bothalia
Complete the Serial cataloguing templates on the handout wherever there is currently no information entered
All missing information relates to new RDA elements just covered in the presentation
After that quick run through of some of the RDA elements relating to Serials I would like to give you a brief opportunity to work with a Serials record yourselves. In your handouts you should have a sheet labeled Serials Exercise No.2. You will find the details of the Serial Bothalia at the end of the sheet and I now ask you to simply select one of the options listed at the end of the sheet and use them to complete the RDA cataloguing template. It is not in MARC21 or ISBD order – it is in RDA rule number order! I am not asking you for everything just to input information for 6 RDA Elements that I have just introduced. As this is a very simple exercise I will give you 3 mins?

43. Valley of a thousand hills Drummond, KwaZulu Natal
After 3 minutes. How are you doing? Give 2 mins more if needed.

44. RDA Change 7 Implementation scenarios
Full implementation of RDA Scenario 1 in networked information applications is the goal of the RDA
For Serials - Full implementation according to Scenario 1 should be a wonderful step forward but only if we can find unique identifiers of the Serial Work
So did you make the right selection? Title proper is Bothalia, Mode of issuance is serial, Identifier for the manifestation is the ISSN, Media type is unmediated, Carrier type was volume, Content type was text. There is also a correction to make at the end of the record on the sheet. This Serial has no Related expression. There is a Related Work (the Index), Relationship designator (Indexed by). There is a Related Manifestation (Bothalia online Serial) with the Sabinet URL. Relationship designator (Also available online).
If you look at any Serials catalogue record created using RDA and compare it with one created using AACR2 (if both are set out in MARC21 format) – you might not see much difference right now. So what is all the fuss about? Well what happens to this bibliographic record in an electronic database – using the machine readable cataloguing code and the authorized access points and the unique identifiers we put in – is what could be different in future. Although RDA can still be used with what RDA calls “legacy technologies” which means “the old stuff we use now” (!) it is ideally designed for use with relational or object based databases in Implementation scenario 1 and this is really the one that Serials are interested in. Anything else would just be more of the same old same old just using a different text of rules. Because full implementation of RDA scenario 1 is really so important for Serials I have focused some attention on it in my presentation.

45. Full implementation 1 Identifiers
Many identifier creation initiatives are commercially driven by intellectual property or digital rights management, by publishers, subscription agents, database aggregators
Need input from Libraries and Bibliographic control agencies
Commercial aim is not necessarily in synch with the FRBR user goals. Finding a unique identifier for the Work is not necessarily their goal
What we need to do is optimize bibliographical control and display of Serials and enable interoperation with NON Library systems on the Web. To do that we need more and more specific unique identifiers of “Work”s. There are many initiatives “out there” creating these numerical identifiers, especially in the world of Serials. Some have definite possibilities.

46. Full implementation 2 Identifiers
URI (Universal Resource Indicator)
URN (Universal Resource Name)
ISNI (International Standard Name Identifier)
DOI (Digital Object Identifier)
ISTC (International Standard Text Code)
EAN (European Article Number)
ONIX framework for resource categorization
OpenURL and Open Archives Initiative
Here is a list of some of them! Each is - if you like – just a list of numbers which each different body has allocated to a specific set of resources which they are particularly interested in identifying or manipulating or organizing in the electronic information environment. Digital Object Identifiers are often used to identify journal articles in databases. RDA has also aligned itself with the ONIX framework for resource categorization – a publisher driven initiative. Open URL and Open Archives Initiative are also working on the provision of simple easy to implement models to exchange bibliographic information on the Web.

47. Full implementation 3 Library efforts
1. Fuller implementation of existing machine readable coding by ILS (Integrated Library System) vendors
2. Experimentation with our ERM (Electronic Resource Management) systems
It is not all up to someone else out there! We in Libraries can make some moves as well. For example - persuade our ILS vendors to implement more of the machine readable cataloguing code that we put in our records. Some do not even fully implement what we put in now. In the future it is going to be essential that they come “fully on board” with this.

48. Full implementation 4 Library efforts
3. Modification of existing MARC21
4. Development of new coding system(s)
5. Design of radically new online searching interfaces in our OPACs, in our ERM tools, in our Federated Search Engines, on the Web - using records created with RDA to achieve displays showing Serials relationships
You have already seen that some implementation of RDA is going to require modification of existing MARC21 and we will definitely need to work on new online searching interfaces that will enable a user to find related resources much more transparently than is now possible.

49. Full implementation 5 Library efforts
What can Serials cataloguers do?
6. Aim towards implementation of RDA Scenario1
7. Catalogue to emphasise relationships between the abstract entity of the Work intellectual and artistic content
8. Focus less on identification of the physical manifestation
12345 Many libraries spend millions of Rands on journals – print and online – and they also spend millions more on periodical aggregator databases (Science Direct, ProQuest) and federated search engines (SFX MetaLib and others). Many of these tools currently bypass the Library OPAC and its Serial catalogue records which don’t drill down to the information in specific articles. We need to catalogue focusing on bringing the whole aggregate work together so the user has the opportunity to make a decent choice amongst multiple versions of the same Serial and its many access points.

50. Full implementation 6 Library efforts
9. Do more Analytical type cataloguing at the article level?
10. Reduce original title or full descriptive cataloguing for Serials?
11. Start using the minimum outsourced Serials records generated by vendors?
Analytical type cataloguing is just too big a task but might be suitable for certain specific Serial resources. The reason that some have suggested using abbreviated vendor created records is so that time saved on creating descriptions would then be spent on establishing relationships and finding ways of linking resources. Serious Google searches for information often result in links to the very information in journal articles – in Serials - that we want to give our users access to. If they can do that there is a way to do it!

51. Imagine a touch screen with hyperlinks…
12345 After Kemp What this slide is supposed to represent is one idea of what a search for a Serial Work might result in – in the future. The black arrow shows the user what they searched for (in this case Proceedings of the Royal Society of London) and where they entered the relationship display. They now have information on and links to all related titles, and versions and holdings. The Proceedings then split further and changed their titles. With each brief title display there are links to the online full text, to the full display of library print holdings and so on. Each time the user can move further into the related Works network – made possible due to the kind of cataloguing that RDA aims at – recording Works, Expressions, Manifestations and Items using unique identifiers. The other advantage of this type of display especially if it is also made available on a touch screen is that we are then also providing a search interface that ties in with the way the Millennial generation prefer to work – the visio-spatial generation that Stephen Abram talks so much about.

52. Alternatives to RDA
Dublin Core has had a wide take up in the digital community
MODS (Metadata Object Description Standard or Schema) is another
Archives have been using DACS (Describing Archives : a Content Standard) or EAD (Encoded Archival Description)
There are many others…
The rest of the world has not been standing still while AACR2 has increasingly not been satisfactorily meeting metadata creation needs and while RDA has been in preparation. In the Serials and Electronic resources and Archives communities, a number of alternative metadata standards have been developed and are being successfully used. In some cases it is going to be difficult to persuade people to move away from these – especially with RDA in its current state.

53. Additions to RDA
The CONSER Standard Record – a significantly streamlined cataloguing record for Serials based on FRBR principles (with very clear and easy to understand guidelines) was released for use after extensive development - in Nov 2008
It was prepared after completing surveys that identified the fields that scored high in terms of FRBR user tasks
See Library of Congress Program for Cooperative Cataloguing Cooperative Online Serials website
I would recommend that everyone involved in the cataloguing of Serials has a look at the CONSER Standard Record, its guidelines for use and the studies on which it was based. The web address is on the Serial references handout. It is a good example of simple clear Serials cataloguing using FRBR principles.

54. Serials R us! Any Questions? Serials R us! Any questions?
All the photographs you have seen during this presentation are of KwaZulu Natal and taken by myself. Here is a distant view of
Uquathlamba – Barrier of Spears – The Drakensberg KwaZulu Natal.
You will see that I have included a short list of references in the booklet. The authors I have referred to in my presentation are on that list.
Who is Stephen Abram - he is a Canadian. Vice President Innovation for Sirsi Dynix – the company that produces one of the Integrated Library Systems used internationally and also here in SA – Unicorn now called Symphony. He is past president of the Special Libraries Association and has a blog called Stephens Lighthouse. He is a most interesting speaker – constantly challenging libraries and librarians to come up to scratch in the world of electronic information.
Miriam Makeba - Zenzile MM Although she was born in Johannesburg and grew up in Nelspruit she sang in many languages – Xhosa, Zulu, English, Hebrew, French, etc. The track I played comes from Miriam Makeba Mama Afrika A 2 CD set produced by Gallo Record Co 2008.
The quote from Barbara Tillett comes from ???
See RDA Implementation scenarios
Any Questions?