Because the change (dropping of subtitle) does not affect the title proper (245 $a$n$p), it does not affect determination of major/minor change.  At our institution, the checkin staff would likely forward the title to serials cataloging for record maintenance and we would note the dropped subtitle.

Steve Shadle/Serials Access Librarian  *****  shadle@u.washington.edu
University of Washington Libraries      ***     Phone: (206) 685-3983
Seattle, WA 98195-2900                   *        Fax: (206) 543-0854

On Fri, 26 Jan 2007, Fogler Patricia A Civ AUL/LTSC wrote:

> I've been off the serial list for some time now and I've not been as
> clear as I'd like to be about the newer (or not so new anymore) criteria
> in what constitutes a major title change.    This morning AQ : Journal
> of contemporary analysis was brought to my attention.   A year ago (vol.
> 78, iss.1) Jan/Feb 2006,  the publisher noted the masthead change to:
> AQ: Australian quarterly.
>
> While noting that preceding issues already included "Australian
> quarterly" after AQ on the inside page, it appears that the official
> removal of the phrase "journal of contemporary analysis" by the
> publisher is simply viewed as a change in "other title information".
> Is that so?   With such a generic main title, I would have thought that
> the removal of "other title information" would at least justify a note.
> Or do most libraries simply note the dropping of the subtitle from the
> record in their own systems?      Since there are 71 holdings on the
> current OCLC record (#38273642), I wanted to make sure that I'm reading
> this correctly before I annotate our own record.
>
> The title change is significant enough for local staff to wonder (now
> that it's been noticed -- & especially as we come to bind last year's
> issues), so we will definitely want to note this.  I am just wondering
> what other libraries are doing in their own systems.    And also whether
> there is a reason the OCLC record has not been updated.
>
> Thanks for any insight.
>
> Patricia Fogler, Catalog Librarian
> Muir S. Fairchild Research Information Center
> 600 Chennault Circle, Maxwell AFB, AL 36112
> (334) 953-2135  patricia.fogler@maxwell.af.mil
> https://catalog.au.af.mil
> http://www.au.af.mil/au/aul/lane.htm
>