Date: 19 Feb 1993 16:40:00 -0400 (EDT)
From: BOWEN@SNYCORVA.BITNET
Subject: Editing member input records

As a cataloger who has worked with "member cataloging" for both monographs and
Serials I have to say that there is a world of difference between member
cataloging for monographs and any CONSER record.  Editing of CONSER records is
often merely a matter of cosmetics at my library.  We convert 362  1  closing
dates into one single 362 statement.  It is not a question of dangerously bad
cataloging and mis-tagged fields as is the case with member cataloging for
monographs.  Serial records also need close scrutiny because you may have to
edit a record to reflect information you know to be true, but a CONSER library
has not yet cought up with some change.  Shifting sands to be sure.

Johanna Bowen, Coordinator of Technical Services, SUNY College at Cortland
bowen@snycorva
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   Shifting sands indeed--and therein lies the rub!
   Serials are truly a moving target to catalog. We subject almost all serials
copy, whatever the source, to fairly close scrutiny. (Fortunately to date we
have had sufficient staff resources to be able to do this; clearly staffing
resources and priorities will vary from institution to institution).
   For currently received titles, our receivers are trained to recognize
several types of situations that require editing (such as frequency changes
and numbering problems). However when the title reaches cataloging, our serials
catalogers often notice other aspects of the record that need modification,
such as imprint changes and additional access points for corporate bodies.
We fully realize, however, that our work may be out of date as soon as the
next issue arrives!
    While we have a lot of rather wretched older recon records in our database,
we are investing some time and effort in series especially, in an attempt
to dovetail series authority records, serial bibliographic records, and
tracings on analytics for improved retrieval by our users. Despite improved
"clean-up" techniques, this process is still very labor-intensive (but we
think it is worth it).

Ann
_______________________________________________________________________
/ Ann Ercelawn                       /            Bitnet:             /
/ Cataloging                         /       ERCELAA@VUCTRVAX         /
/ Resource Services, GLB             /           Internet:            /
/ Vanderbilt University              /  ercelaa@ctrvax.Vanderbilt.Edu /
/ Nashville, TN 37240                /      Phone: (615) 322-3504     /
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