\m\ r: : ■■ H 7i* A ^^ ^ a c. ° " G « O > % ■r A *° , *2* ■^ <\ *e. .A >A ^s." <£• 6 . ° N c " o jA . ' s y v\ r c A*S$$W* ° A ♦W^5iu* -^ , ,v s y c> * • , i • <(r *#■ * > „ o ° a* o. * • , i • N V * =To ' a ■■/>i - \r> ^S "J* \v \o -S ">• A ;V \rV VV VV ■^- v^ v ^ .0 •y q'v r « A* .. %. ""' «*° ... V • D ■■ u „ ^ 4> ^ *> ^ O s • • , ''■ *> V^ <, o_ °«^ * • » ■> * A. V *»»»° ^ ^ ^c^ v v A

. AUG 15 1919 (Reprinted from Library Resources and Technical Services, Vol. 3, No. 2, Spring 1959) ranged in some queer Yankee philosophical system to provide the maxi- mum mystification." For the mystifying system there must, however, be a historical hypothesis. Having scrapped the classed catalog, Cutter and his school were faced with alternatives they could not accept — the strict alphabetic arrangement because of class incongruities that unavoidably arise and the alphabetico-classed catalog because of antipathy for an open classed order. Their product was a neither-this-nor-that compromise in communication that has become structurally misleading and meaning- less. Each age has its own architecture. REFERENCES Coates, E. J. "The Use of the B.N.B. in Dictionary Cataloging." Library Association Record 59:197-202, June 1957. Mann, Margaret. Introduction to Cataloging and the Classification of Books. Chicago, American Library Association, 1930. Prevost, Marie Louise. "An Approach to Theory and Method in General Subject Cataloging." Library Quarterly, 16:140-151, April 1946. Shera, Jesse H., ed. Documentation in Action. New York, Reinhold Publishing Com- pany, 1956. Strout, Ruth French, ed. Toward a Better Cataloging Code. Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1957. N ew Serial Titles* Mary'^E. Kahler Chief, Serial Record Division Library of Congress New Serial Titles, as it is today, is a response to two needs — a listing of current serials which can provide a basic selection and reference aid con- cerning newly-published serial titles, and a union list giving bibliographic information and showing the location of serials. In 1950, a plan was conceived at the Library of Congress for putting the Library's records of serial holdings on punched cards and for listing and reproducing this information for display in various parts of the Li- brary. Once this was done, it was thought that it would be possible to plan for the creation of a union catalog of serials on punched cards and the re- production of union lists based on this catalog. Since then, the Joint Committee on the Union list of Serials has dis- cussed and considered the union list problem at its meetings, and a special study was made for the Committee early in 1957. Matters given continued attention have been the scope of the information to be gathered, the ar- rangement of the entries and the needed approaches to the catalog, the ex- tent of holdings information, and methods of gathering and compiling the • Revision of a paper presented at the meeting of the Serials Section, RTSD, San Fiat cisco, American Library Association, July 17, 1958. • 145 • information to go into the catalog and the publications based on the catalog. When Serial Titles Newly Received was first issued by the Library of Congress in 1951, its compilation was based on the punched card system which was part of the original plan. This provided a means of experiment- ing with the coding, punching, and printing processes inherent in the punched card method. In July, 1952, the scope of the publication was ex- panded to include serials newly acquired by the New York Public Library, and the first step was taken toward making the publication a union list as well as a source of information about new serials. In 1953 the publication became New Serial Titles, and the H. W. Wil- son Company published the second supplement to the Union List of Serials, announcing that they would publish no further supplements. Li- braries which had reported to the Union List of Serials were urged to co- operate in the new venture by reporting their holdings in order to pro- vide union list control for serials too recently published to be covered by previously published union lists. As a corollary action, it was decided to exclude serials first published before 1950 from the scope of NST. Like Serial Titles Newly Received, NST included certain types of publications such as government documents, serial publications of international con- ferences and congresses, and administrative reports, all of which had been excluded from the ULS. In 1954 the Library acquired improved punched card tabulating equipment and cards were re-punched. Entries which re- quired it were edited to conform to a decision to return to ALA rules of entry for the Serial Record and for NST. By the end of 1953, 102 libraries were reporting holdings; today there are about 300 participating libraries. Through a special arrangement with the Canadian National Library, the coverage of Canadian libraries was ex- panded and continues today. An indication of the growth of NST and of the development of its union list functions can be found in the "vital" statistics of the last three cumulations. The 1955 volume contained close to 36,000 titles with an es- timated 64,000 locations. In the 1956 annual volume, which incorporated the results of the checking of earlier receipts by many libraries, there were 24,596 titles with 103,565 locations. There were two titles with 100 or more locations that year. The 1957 annual volume listed 38,435 titles with 145,- 895 locations. In 1955 and 1956 a number of libraries undertook the checking of the 1954 or 1955 annual cumulations in order to complete NST coverage of their acquisition of post-1949 serials. Some unbound copies of the 1957 annual volume are now available if there are other contributing libraries that would like to check a copy in order to show additional locations of NST titles and to make their reporting of post- 1949 titles complete. A separate section showing changes such as changes in title, cessations, and mergers for all serials, regardless of beginning date of publication, was added in 1955. The same year, after two experimental issues had been published, the • 146 • publication ofNeiv Serial Titles-Classed Subject Arrangement began. The same entries which appear in the corresponding alphabetical arrangement are listed in these subject issues in classed subject arrangement. By taking apart the various subject sections, it is possible to have several people re- view an issue for acquisitions or reference purposes at one time. There is no annual cumulation of the classed subject issues. A pattern of cumulation gradually evolved in accordance with the recommendations of the Joint Committee on the Union List of Serials. Monthly issues and annual cumulations, which went back to the earliest issues of Serial Titles Newly Received, were issued through 1955. A de- cision was then made to close off the first series of cumulations with that year and to start a second series of cumulations in 1956. Since this decis- ion was not made until after the 1955 volume was printed, no allowance could be made for its being the last volume in a series and it seems to be rapidly becoming an "o.p." item, at least around the Library, where it has even been necessary to salvage some of the unbound copies returned by li- braries which had checked their holdings. It is expected that in i960 there will be a cumulation which will cover the ten preceding years. A number of titles have been and continue to be transferred from the first series of cumulations to the second in order to display additional holding and significant title changes. In making a search for a title it is necessary to search the latest available cumulation in the first and second series. It is a good idea to check the latest volume first, for it is possible that referral to the earlier series volume may not be necessary. One of the groups represented on the Joint Committee on the Union List of Serials, which serves as a "board of directors" for NST, is the As- sociation of Southeastern Research Libraries. Since the holdings of these libraries were not well covered in the ULS, this group was anxious to achieve bibliographical control of their serial holdings. Tn order to do this, they decided to compile a regional supplement to the ULS covering earlier serials and to make NST their means of inventorying post-1949 serials. t Libraries in the area checked copies of the 1954 or 1955 annual cumula- tions and these holdings were published in the 1956 annual cumulation of NST. According to recent issues of the Newsletters of the Southeastern Interlibrary Research Facility, there has been good reporting for the forth- coming Southeastern supplement to the ULS. By a process of trial and error, the editorial and punched card prob- lems of NST are gradually being solved. A changeover in tabulating equip- ment required the re-punching of all cards in 1954, and corrections and changes in entries are made as they are discovered or reported. With more libraries participating in this cooperative effort, the NST Section of LC's Serial Record Division is becoming dependent upon these participating li- braries for a larger share of the content of the individual issues of NST. The Library of Congress is both aware and appreciative of the part played by reporting libraries in making NST a better and more useful publica- tion. Because punched cards are used, the compilation of NST has become a • 147 • proving ground for the application of mechanical methods to bibliogra- phic work. Mechanical methods are used in reproducing sets of cards for the secondary files, in the arrangement of the classed subject issue, and in preparing printers' copy; but the potentialities of mechanical methods are not being fully exploited at the present time. Since all entries are coded for country and language of imprint as well as by subject, there are many possibilities of selecting, listing, and reproducing serial titles (in card or list form). Subjects are expressed in Dewey Decimal classification numbers, taken for the most part from the Third Summary. Only two digits beyond the decimal point are used, and ordinarily no more than two subjects are as- signed to a title. When more than one subject is assigned, an extra set of punched cards must be made for the classed subject issue. The library symbols are the same as those used in the National Union Catalog with one slight variation. Since the punched cards do not allow the printing of upper and lower case letters, it was necessary to use a space instead of a capital letter to indicate separate elements in the library sym- bols and permit arrangement in state groups. For example, libraries from the states of Illinois, Iowa, Idaho, and Indiana would all be interfiled if no space were left to set apart the state symbols of "I," "la," "Id" and "In" from the rest of the symbol. In cases where there has been conflict be- tween ULS and National Union Catalog symbols, the National Union Catalog symbol is followed and a reference is made from the ULS symbol. Since there has been some variations in symbols, the list of participating li- braries in A T ST itself serves as the definitive key to symbols. Reports on post-1949 serials are received daily, and a record of their receipt is made in order to provide a measure of the amount of work on hand and of the reporting activity of participating libraries. Groups of reports are than alphabetized and searched in the NST control file. If a title is already there, the report slip represents an additional location which must be tabbed and clipped to the title so that a holding card can be punched and added to the entry in readiness for the next printing of the entry. If it is a new title, the Assistant Editors examine and analyze the entry and add the subject classification number and the country and language code numbers. Since each report has to be editorially compatible with reports coming from many sources and representing the choice of many different catalogers, it is sometimes necessary to change entries or to make a choice of entry when a title is reported under different headings and titles. The same problem exists at the Library of Congress when a cataloger in the Descriptive Cataloging Division sets up an entry in a way different from the one followed by the Serial Record Division. When this happens, the NST entry is changed to agree with the LC printed card, and the necessary cross references are made. After the Assistant Editor has completed his work, the report slip is sent "across the street" to the Library's Tabulating Office. There the re- port is converted into the required number of punched cards and the en ils are verified. Since many of the entries are in foreign languages, a • 148 • tabulated listing of the cards is also carefully read by the NST Section. After all the entries for an issue have been edited and cards punched, the sets of cards are interfiled and the entries are listed on plain white sheets which are used for copy for photo-off-set reproduction. The pages are prepared by using masking tape and mounting the strips bearing the tabulated listing on pre-printed sheets. After initial headings and page numbers have been added, the pages are ready to be sent to the Government Printing Office. With its coverage of post- 1049 serials, NST serves as a continuing and growing supplement to the ULS. It is also building up a potential nucleus for a national union catalog of serials such as the one planned by the Joint Committee on the Union List of Serials and described in the Com- mittee's report, A Permanent Program for a Union List of Serials. REGIONAL GROUPS _ Edith Scott Chairman, Council of Regional Groups "Cooperation and Communication," the theme of the Southeastern Regional Group of Catalogers meeting is also a felicitous description of total Regional Group activity. Perhaps the most immediate objective of the Regional Groups is the communication or sharing of information. The importance of the Code of Cataloging Rules discussed at the Stanford Institute on Cataloging Code Revision insured further discussion at the Group level by members who were present at the Institute. The Illinois Library Catalogers* Section heard Kathryn Luther Henderson (McCormick Theological Seminary) on entry for works of single authorship and anonyma and entry of all institutions under name rather than place. Arnold H. Trotier (University of Illinois) selected some of the most significant, including the most controversial, revisions for summary and comment. Approxi- mately fifty members of the Group were thus able to acquire from these two well-organized and clearly stated papers a better acquaintance with the major problem areas in catalog code revision. The discussion at the Mountain Plains Regional Group was led by Pauline A. Seely (Denver Public). The Institute Working Papers on three of the major changes proposed, (entries for pseudonyms, corporate bodies, and serials), were summarized by Robert Trefz and Florence Wilson (both from Denver Public) and Lillian Cooper (University of Colorado) respectively. The Oklahoma Regional Group held a one-day study ses- sion with Edmon Low and Alice Phelps Pattee (both Oklahoma State) and Edith Scott (University of Oklahoma) serving as communicators. Here, too, major revisions were the topics of discussion. Gertrude Oell- rich (Newark Public) summarized informally highlights of the Code and Institute for the New Jersey Group. Frances Lubovitz (Yale) reported on the Institute to the Connecticut Group. • 149 • The Maryland, Virginia, and District of Columbia Regional Group included the Stanford Institute as part of a panel appropriately titled "What's New?" Catalog code revision is old as contrasted with closed-circuit television for library applications, the experiment at the University of Virginia reported by Roger P. Bristol. Esther J. Piercy (Enoch Pratt) brought members up-to-date on cataloging-in-source for which she is conducting a survey of consumer reaction. Recent develop- ments in transliteration standards recounted by C. S. Spalding (LC) rounded out the panel presentation of cooperative efforts in progress, al- most all of which have promise of further cooperation, nationally and internationally. Dezoey Decimal Classification, Edition 16, is the other "news" of the Fall meetings, so new that only the Michigan Regional Group was able, through Benjamin A. Custer as guest speaker, to give its full meeting to "Dewey Moves Forward." Cooperation in centralized processing is receiving new appreciation and is expanding in new directions. "Centralized Cataloging for the School Library?" received unanimous approval from a panel of school librarians at the Wisconsin Group meeting. Marcella Slocum (Wiscon- sin Dells H. S.), Sylvia Nicholson (Wilbur Wright Jr. H. S., Milwaukee), Barbara Bartley (Columbus H. S.), Lois Blau (East H. S., Madison) and Joann Boggs (Racine) were representative of teacher-librarians, librarians in school systems with centralized cataloging, as well as those without centralization and with varying amounts of clerical assistance. The first year's operation of the Southwest Missouri Library Service, Inc., was described for the Kansas Group by its president, Willard K. Dennis. Mr. Dennis predicts that "The small to medium-sized library which is not in a cooperative of this type will discover in time that it has become 'Too Soon Oldt and Too Late Schmardt.' " The Public Library and Trustees Sections of the Kansas Library Association joined the Cata- logers' Section for this meeting. Cooperation becomes a necessity in an area where other specialized interests overlap, e.g. Serials. A paper on the basics of "Serial Processing" by F. Bernice Field (Yale) was the first of a series planned by the Boston Regional Group. The projected plan for the Union List of Serials was among the topics receiving emphasis in the discussion which followed. The Northern California Group also explored a topic requiring coop- eration: "Discarding, A Basic Need in Acquisitions." Dorothy Keller (University of California) was moderator of the panel. The Ontario Regional Group and the Reference Workshop met to- gether for a program on "Canada's History in Pictures," a slide show of early prints presented with commentary by F. St. George Spendlove, Curator of the Sigmund Samuel Canadiana Collections, Royal Ontario Museum. The Northern Ohio Catalogers met in the Maumee and Lu- cas County Library. A brief h^tory of that Library was included in the program, ancLjlTstl^^.MoorVhead then spoke on "American Folk Heroes." * • 150 • >y r\ --m ~ v .*- «bv* • ■: ^ :< »"*°. *> ,v^ ^ : «SR* : / s * -IBS ■ ^ r ^ A° -A % „°