Technical Services Procedures
Procedures - Copy Cataloging: SERIES SEARCHING in the online catalog: EXAMPLE of a SERIES CLASSED SEPARATELY
Page Editor:Leah Black
Last Updated: March 7, 2006
1. Search the online catalog by series title. Authority records are clearly identified in online catalog title search results displays. Choose line 1 to view the series authority record.
2. Identify the authorized form of the series title. The authorized form of the series title appears in the 130 field. This exact wording should appear in a 440 or 830 field in the bib record.
3. Determine how individual titles in the series are treated in the catalog.
644 field code f = fully analyzed
Fully analyzed means that each title that is part of this series is cataloged as a separate monograph – that is, on its own bib record.
645 field code t = traced
Traced means that there is a record in the catalog of the headings used to represent the series – that is, all of the title variations that exist for the same series title are recorded in a record in the database.
646 field code s = classed separately
Classed separately means that each title that is part of this series is classed according to the specific subject of the individual title, not with a number common to all titles in the series. If titles in the series are classed together, an 050 or 090 call number field will be present in the authority record. The lack of an 050 or 090 field is confirmation that the series titles are classed separately.
In this record, the |5DLC code that appears in the 644, 645, and 646 fields indicates that this is the way this series is treated by the Library of Congress. If no other codes appear here, you can assume that MSU follows Library of Congress practice – that is, we catalog titles from this series the same way the Library of Congress does.
In this case there is a |5MiEM code in these fields. MiEM is a code for the MSU Libraries, so the presence of this code means that the field describes MSU's practice.
4. Check to verify that the treatment of other titles in the series follows the authority record instructions. Click on EXPAND ALL to change the search result to display each of the 33 titles pulled as a result of this search on a separate line. These 33 titles are grouped together on line 2.
5. Click on 3-4 titles at random to view the brief bib information.
Notice that different call numbers have been assigned to these two titles.
From looking at the brief bib information for these two titles from the Brandeis Series in American Jewish History series you now know that the titles in this series appear to be classed as separate monographs, not together as a set. This is consistent with the information found in the authority record.
If the call numbers for the one of the titles had been the same except for a caption at the end of the call number string (such as “v.” or “no.”), then we would know that the treatment specified in the authority record has not been applied to at least one of the titles in the series. We would need to ask DataCat to check into this inconsistency.