Cataloging the Congressional Serial Set

ABSTRACT

Many librarians question the usefulness of the traditional cataloging of difficult historic sets in a time when more and more information moves either to the Internet or is digitized outright. One of the most challenging sets to catalog is the United States Congressional Serial Set, a 14,000+ (and growing) mega serial comprised of five monographic sub-series. The Congressional Serial Set is an anomaly since it is both monographic and serial in nature. This article examines the intricacies in cataloging government publications in an electronic atmosphere using one House document in the Serial Set as a guide and examines the two commercial digitization projects currently underway.¹     

Charles Dickens’ David Copperfield as Information Object: A Case Study of Serial Literature in the Victorian World of Documents

ABSTRACT

Documents reflect the historical contexts of their creation, and in doing so, become information objects. The serial novel is a type of information object, but due to re-editioning, reversioning, and digitization, most readers have lost touch with its historical significance. This analysis of Charles Dickens’ David Copperfield (1849–1850) uses the lens of information theory, in relation to literary criticism, historiography, and the history of the book, to grasp the serial novel as an information object, arguing that doing so requires intimate familiarity with the physical nature of the book in parts and the historical context of its production.     

ETV's financial dilemma

Cagney and Lacey marks a change in the traditional law‐and‐order, police‐detective genre because character, rather than crime, activities are the dominant elements of the series. Character dramatization is achieved through five discourse patterns that interact in individual episodes and continue across episodes and seasons. The integration of discourse patterns results in a narrative that is serial in nature and cumulative in effect. This essay traces these discourse patterns and demonstrates how the series evolved into a hybrid program form that explored, in an innovative way, television's dramatic narrative potential.     

Methods of Delivery and Consortium Analysis

Abstract

Searching tips for locating serial titles on OCLC are presented. Inmost cases, actual examples of interlibrary loan requests are used to illustrate search strategies. A limerick, outlining a search strategy for a requested serial title, introduces the article.     

Faculty Collaboration in Serials Collection Development and Management

SUMMARY

Two libraries, one in New York and the other in Texas, broke the annual serial cut crisis by working with the teaching faculty to focus on their needs and wants. The new serials review processes resulted not only in more effective serial collections but also in increased trust and understanding between librarians and teaching faculty.     

Do Serials Have a Place in the Institutional Digital Repository?

ABSTRACT

The institutional repository (IR) can provide a system for digitizing print serials for online delivery and a way to archive and preserve serial content already available online. Organizing serial content in IRs varies based on the architecture of each repository. In this presentation, Kay Teel of the Metadata Department at Stanford University Libraries discussed different approaches IRs use to manage serial content. She gave examples illustrating the inconsistent treatment of serials in the Stanford Digital Repository (SDR) and described a conceptual model for serials in the SDR to provide an improved user experience finding and accessing digital serial content.     

“Barbarism Is the Absence of Standards”

Summary

Many standards have been developed over the years to manage serial information. From the familiar ISSN, to the Serial Item and Contribution Identifier (SICI), which tracks serial information down to the article level, to the new Digital Object Identifier (DOI), which locates discrete components of information in the electronic world, methods for searching, retrieving, and performing transactions on serial publications and their contents continue to expand, particularly in the electronic environment. The serials professional needs to be involved in the development and approval of relevant emerging standards, or risk losing authority in the way serial information is stored and disseminated.     

Teaching Journal and Serials Information to Undergraduates

Summary

Instruction librarians are confronted with the task of successfully conveying the complexity of serial publications to undergraduates who often lack even the most basic library literacy skills and concept of scholarly communication. There are interactive instructional approaches and exercises that can be used to effectively address citation elements, scholarly vs. popular sources, OPAC serial records, online database components, and choosing an appropriate index.     

Claiming on the Net

Summary

The availability of EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) to process routine serial claims is attractive to librarians, agents and publishers. This workshop presented one such project using the electronic claiming module developed by Innovative Interfaces Inc. The preparation required by the vendor and library was demonstrated, and advantages, problems and future enhancements were discussed.     

What next? Three knowledge objectives for communication researchers

This essay identifies as knowledge objectives the need to (1) understand the interrelatedness of communicative contexts, (2) pinpoint more precisely the serial nature of communication, and (3) establish the relationship between laboratory and naturalist investigations     

Creativity in Serials Cataloging

Abstract

The concept of creativity in cataloging was defined. Creativity presupposes thorough knowledge of cataloging rules and standards. The goal of creative cataloging is to adapt records in order to enhance patron access to information in the library database. Using examples from various types of serial records, the workshop leaders discussed creative cataloging methods in the online environment.     

Getting to the Summit

Summary

The presentation dealt with the formation and development of state-and province-wide, multitype library consortia in North America and its impact on major serial vendors. This workshop was divided into three areas: an overview survey of consortia formation, a look at the formation of a specific consortium (the Alberta Library), and finally a summary of views of major vendors on consortia and the services vendors can provide for consortia.     

Black Panthers in Peyton Place

This article uses the prime-time drama Peyton Place (ABC, 1964–67) to examine the challenges of racial integration in the serial narrative. Peyton Place broke ground as a prime-time serial, but declined in popularity by its fourth year on the air. An African-American family was added to the story canvas as part of a strategy to revive audience interest by exploring stories with social relevance. I use the archived papers of the show’s writers and producers to examine the negotiations behind the racial integration of a continuing drama that established its success with a white cast of characters.     

The use of Loansome Doc to meet the needs of unaffiliated health professionals

Objective: This study was undertaken in order to determine how health sciences libraries in a ten-state region are using Loansome Doc, with an emphasis on whether this tool continues to be used to serve unaffiliated health professionals. Methods: Usage data were examined and health sciences libraries were administered a survey to determine how they are using this tool. Results: Loansome Doc usage across libraries is low and declining, and a number of libraries do not serve unaffiliated health professionals with this tool. Conclusions: Use of Loansome Doc is low and declining, in part, due to license restrictions, declining interlibrary loan, and the prevalence of alternatives, such as OCLC's ILLiad, for document delivery to affiliated users.     

Book/video reviews

John R. Catsis. Sports Broadcasting . Chicago: Nelson Hall, 1996.

Ralph Engelman. Public Radio and Television in America: A Political History . Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 1996.

Marc J. Seifer. Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla . Secaucus, NJ: Birch Lane Press, 1996.

How to Construct a Radio Documentary (CD‐Rom). Concord, Ontario: Irwin Publishing, 1996.

Paul Chantler and Sim Harris. Local Radio Journalism . Oxford: Focal Press, 1997.

Donald G. Godfrey and Frederic A. Leigh, (Eds.). Historical Dictionary of American Radio, Westport, CT.: Greenwood Press, 1998.

Nancy Lynch Street and Marilyn J. Matelski, (Eds.). Messages From the Underground: Transnational Radio in Resistance and in Solidarity . Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1997.

Michael Nelson. War of Vie Black Heavens: The Battles of Western Broadcasting in the Cold War . Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 1997.

Radio Industry (video). New York: Insight Media, 1997. 30 minutes, color.     

National Bibliographic Control of Serials in Australia, 1980–1990

There is a long history of effective co-operation and national initiatives in controlling and sharing serial data in Australia. Prior to the 1980's this largely took the form of manually produced national union catalogues such as Scientific Serials in Australian Libraries: Serials in Australian Libraries, Social Sciences and the Humanities; and Newspapers in Australian Libraries. The commencement of the Australian Bibliographic Network (ABN) in 1980 provided the mechanism for both a national shared cataloguing venture and a truly national on-line union catalogue. The National Union Catalogue of Serials produced from ABN was dependent on the addition of holdings by ABN participating libraries. Several factors contributed to the growth of serials data on the national bibliographic database-notably the steady increase in the number of ABN participants undertaking serials cataloguing on ABN, serial conversion work on titles in the National Library card catalogues, and major serial conversion work undertaken by other Australian libraries. Allhough much has been achieved in the 1980's there remains much to be done to enhance the coverage of bibliographic and holdings data for serials on ABN.     

Book reviews

Michael Brian Schiffer. The Portable Radio in American Life. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1991.

Michael C. Keith and Joseph M. Krause. The Radio Station (third edition). Boston: Focal Press, 1993.

Robert L. Hilliard and Michael C. Keith. The Broadcast Century: A Biography of American Broadcasting. Boston: Focal Press, 1992.

Bruce Siegel. Creative Radio Production. Boston: Focal Press, 1992.

Lewis B. O'Donnell, Philip Benoit and Carl Hausman. Modern Radio Production (third edition). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 1993.

Daniel Mark Epstein. Sister Aimee: The Life of Aimee Semple McPherson. New York, NY: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1993.

Ty Ford. Advanced Audio Production Techniques. Stoneham, MA: Butterworth‐Heinemann, 1993.