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FOR DISCUSSION AT MIDWINTER COMMITTEE TO STUDY SERIALS CATALOGING
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MESSAGE No.1

BACKGROUND

About a year ago I issued a series of messages concerning problems applying
the provision in RI 25.5B for qualifying uniform titles by corporate body
when two or more serials have the same title and are published in the same
place. I proposed some solutions that involved qualifying by place and date
in certain circumstances. I was contacted by LC and informed that this RI
had already been modified many times and that it most likely would not
be modified again. Then Eleanor Cook, then chair of the Committee to Study
Serials Cataloging, contacted me and asked me to write a letter to the Assis-
tant Chief of LC's Serial Record Division, Dorothy Glasby, and explain the
problems and my proposed solutions, and cc: the Committee. The letter was to
have been discussed at ALA last summer but it was postponed to Midwinter this
February. I have been invited to participate in the discussion.

Dorothy Glasby's reply was similar to what the other person from LC told me;
even though they acknowledge problems with the current version of the RI,
they are not planning to revise it.

I am trying to drum up support for the amendment and will post the basic body
of the letter here. Many of us have probably been stumped, or made unhappy,
by the current provisions of 25.5B. If you identify with any of what I
discuss below, reply with your thoughts, and if you're going to Midwinter,
consider attending the committee session. A representative from LC will be
on hand, and the chairman of CC:DA has informed me of his interest in
attending the session (CC:DA deals with rule revisions, not RI revisions, but
this is a special case where the situation is not really covered in the
rules).