Art N A C O
Procedures for series authority records (SARs)

As with all NACO authority work, an important first step is checking RLIN or LOCIS for authority or bibliographic precedence. This is especially true for series since the presentation of the series title may vary considerably from publication to publication. LC advises always searching more than one way.

Sources of series data
The entire publication is the prescribed source for the series area. A series is transcribed if it is presented formally or if it is embedded in text in the preliminaries or colophon. If the series is presented only once in a publication or if it is present in more than one source but appears the same way, it is so transcribed. If there is variance in the presentation, choose the chief source for the series in the following priority order (AACR2R 2.0B2):

If the series title is embedded in text outside the preliminaries, give the information in a note and not as a series transcription.

If there are parallel titles, the title proper is the language of the text. Give also the first parallel title and the title in English if it has not already been given.

Heading and references
Series may appear in different guises and the title proper may change over time like all cataloging for serials. Some variations are appropriate as variants (references; cf. 21.2A, LCRI 21.2A) and others should be treated as earlier/later titles, language editions, numbered/unnumbered, etc. titles (separate records).

The form of the heading follows chapters 21 and 25 and the related LCRIs. The heading omits an initial article in the title proper or part title, extra parallel title(s), other title information, statement of responsibility and numbering. The transcription on a bib record may include some of these data elements and therefore they may be present in 670 $b on an authority record.

If a subseries is present and main series is numbered, a separate record should be made for series and subseries. If the main series is unnumbered, it may appear only in conjunction with various subseries. In the latter case, there will be no SAR for the main series.

If your new heading conflicts with another monograph or serial title, add a qualifier to your heading. When determining if a conflict exists, you may consider all sources, not just LC's bibliographic and authority records. The selection of qualifier is based on context, but place is the usual preferred qualifier. If the title is generic, use the corporate body. If place does not break conflict, use corporate body. Use other qualifiers (e.g. date, combination of those mentioned) when necessary to break conflict. Qualifiers do not need to be parallel. The test for a conflict when a main series and subseries are present is:

If a corporate body is used as qualifier, a change in the corporate name heading results in new SAR. If place is used as qualifier, a change in place of publication results in a reference from the new place.

References should be made for:

Rules for successive entry for serials will be followed for series headings with related authority records.

Bibliographic details
Earlier SARs do not include the data found in the source (670 $b). Current policy calls for SAR 670s to be like NAR 670s. ISBD punctuation may be used in 670 $b, e.g. Studies in the history of art ; 47. Symposium papers / Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts ; 26. Heading and references must be justified in 670. As with other authority records, 675 is used for sources in which data was not found (including earlier/later title).

The series numbering example (642) will serve as a pattern for 8XX $v and usually matches first 670. If the form varies from bibliographic precedence, LC needs to be notified for bfm. Give your NUC code in $5.

The series place of publication and publisher are included in 643. Generally, this will match the 260 of the work cited in 670. Do not use "The Museum" or similar shortened versions of the publisher's name. Do not use brackets. Do not include colon between place ($a) and publisher ($b). Use repeated $a/$b if more than one concurrent publisher. If publisher varies over time, use repeated 643s with latest first and $d for range of volumes or dates. If publisher varies significantly, provide a note in 667. You do not need to justify publisher and place in 670.

ISSN is recorded in 022.

Most of the fixed fields are the same in SARs as in NARs. The undifferentiated personal name byte (UPN) is coded for the 1XX $a, so an author/title series will be based on the author's coding.

For SARs, the series use code (SRU) is coded "a" for valid as a series heading.

The values for type of series (SRT) are:

The values for series numbering (SRN) are:

Treatment
Treatment information is optional for NACO libraries. We should not infer LC treatment based on bibliographic records. If your searching finds precedence on older records, you may establish the series and I will notify LC to update their bib records based on your new SAR. Generally, you will not include LC's untraced series headings in 670. If treatment varies over time (probably uncommon in our records), use $d to indicate range of volumes or dates (latest treatment given first).

Analysis practice (644)

Tracing practice (645)

Classification practice

644/645/646 always include a $5 with your NUC code.

Miscellaneous notes

If your series title is represented by an LC serial record, you may make an SAR. The series type (RLIN=SRT) should be coded "z" (not a series) and LC must be notified..

If you use a corporate or geographic name in a series qualifier, that name must be established.

You may make an SAR for a series-like phrase if you think someone will think of the title as a series. Such a record will have SRT=c and a 667 giving instructions on treatment of phrase, e.g.

667 Give as a quoted note if Yolla Bolly Press does not appear in the publication, distribution, etc. area

If the same phrase is used by multiple publishers, a core record should be created with:

667 CORE RECORD: Covers all instances when this character string used by any publisher is considered to be a series-like phrase; if character string is considered to be a series, separate SAR has been made. (example: Yolla Bolly Press book)

A multi-part item is a monograph complete, or intended to be complete, in a finite number of separate parts. If the parts have analyzable titles, an SAR may be created for a multi-part item with SRT=b.

SARs are modified for the same sorts of reasons that NARs are modified, as well as some specific situations, e.g.

When modifying an SAR, you must follow the same rules you would follow for a new record, e.g. check for conflict for new references, NARs for qualifiers, mutual 5XX references, justify references. If you encounter an SAR that is not verified or has been in UIP=b status or is an early notice record and it has been in one of these states for more than 3 months, notify me to notify LC.

Workflow
All series records, new or revised, will be input in save for my review. This is especially true while I am still under LC review. As with NARs, I will eventually move toward independence for you all after I have achieved independence myself.

Series authority record example (generic/RLIN)

ID: ST:p EL:n STH:a MS:c UIP:a TD:
KRC:a NUM:a CRC:c UPN:n SBU:a SBC:a DID:n DF:
RFE:a CSC:c SRU:a SRT:a SRN:a TSS:? TGA:? ROM:? MOD:
022�ISSN
040�NUC code $c NUC code
130� 0series title
430� 0title reference
4102 �author. $t series title
642��series numbering $5 NUC code
643��place $b publisher (repeatable; latest first; if more than 3, use 667 note)
644��analysis $5 NUC code (optional)
645��treatment $5 NUC code (optional)
646��classification $5 NUC code (optional)
667��note about series treatment
670��source of data found, date: $b ser. t.p. (series title / stmt of responsibility ; number) cover (variant title)
675��source where data not found; $a another source where data not found

Last Updated: 20 April 1999

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