Yes, I agree; the format is *not* "neutral". The 300 for each of these records indicates the size of the publication, and as Regina pointed out, each record describes a specific format.

Perhaps the best way to describe our "neutral" records is to say that they are print records that don't have a "Print" qualification to them the way online records do. But we felt a need to differentiate between these two types of records. The following records, for instance, have multiple formats, and we need to differentiate between them:

"Aboriginal self-government" has the following records associated with it:
  -- Print: lccn cn 00703510; OCLC 45133041; ISSN 1193-9656
  -- Online: lccn cn 00471909; OCLC 45133030; ISSN 1495-5881
  -- 'neutral': lccn cn 93071073; OCLC 28166488; ISSN 1193-9656

"Air charter statistics" has the following records associated with it:
  --  Print: lccn ce 99303536; OCLC 43833965; ISSN 0828-8208
  --  Online: lccn ce 98470563; OCLC 40429672; ISSN 1480-8765
  --  'neutral': lccn 86651674; OCLC 15020971; ISSN 0828-8208

I found the same situation with "Adult correctional services in Canada," "Algebraic & geometric topology" (though the 'Print' record there is now marked for deletion), and I'm sure others exist.

More importantly, though, librarians told us that they wanted us to respond in different ways when there were different types of print records. So we developed a way to do that. Perhaps, in retrospect, the term "neutral" is not a good one. I've certainly been spending time recently trying to ensure that we agree, internally, on various specific definitions, and I see how important accurate definitions are. I welcome ideas on what we should call these. We could say "print1" and "print2", since both types of records represent print, but then we have to remember which is which. We could use "print," "online," and "qwijybo," or another made-up term, but that would definitely cause confusion.

If the collective community has a better term for these types of records, to better define and differentiate them from the print records that explicitly say that they're print, then I'm all ears.

So, in conclusion, we *don't* describe or represent these as format neutral. They're print records that differ from the print records that are more explicit about it. We found a need to differentiate between the two types, and we used a term that occasionally causes confusion, but has worked reasonably well for us over the past six years that we have been delivering MARC records to libraries. If there are ways that we can do a better job of that, we're of course interested in doing so.

Peter Mc

Peter McCracken, MLS
Co-founder & Director of Research, Serials Solutions
peter@serialssolutions.com
(607) 262-0941 - cell

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-----Original Message-----
From: SERIALST: Serials in Libraries Discussion Forum [mailto:SERIALST@list.uvm.edu] On Behalf Of Steven C Shadle
Sent: Monday, May 05, 2008 11:35 AM
To: SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU
Subject: Re: [SERIALST] Question about neutral records

Peter -- Thanks very much for the explanation.  I understand that there is no GMD (245|h) in square brackets or uniform title that indicates that the record is describing a print format, but the inclusion (at least until the CSR) of pagination in terms of physical volumes is a clue to other catalogers that the record is describing the print.  In fact, lack of GMD indicates print as (I'm assuming by inference from LCRI) print is still being considered the default format.

As Regina pointed out, it is potentially a little misleading to refer to it as format neutral as the ISSN in 022|a is associated with the format of the record, so the record is not a 'neutral' format.  However, as you've already mentioned, many of your customers prefer to use the print record as the default record for any format as it is typically the most complete record.

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