Subject:      CONSER help

In the past, I have asked for help from a CONSER library to help fix/upgrade
a serial record, and I would like to do so again.  If anyone can take the
time to look into this problem and fix it, I would be most appreciative.

We recently received the first issue of
  General technical report SRS  (sn96-15054, OCLC# 35032339)
The catalog record for this indicates that it was formed by the merger of
two other U.S. Forest Service publications,
  General technical report SE (Asheville, N.C. : 1981)  (sn86-14106,
    OCLC #10683395)
    and
  General technical report SO   (sf85-3092, OCLC# 8278223)

There are a number of problems that seem to be happening here:

1) The uniform title on the SE publication doesn't agree with the hdg.
found on the series authority record, n83-707886.  I don't see why there
is a uniform title on this record either.

2) The bib. record for the SE shows a final publication date of 1995 and
says that the final issue was report 93.  However, we just received reports
94, 95, and 96, all of which have publication dates of March 1996. This
would seem to indicate that either the publication has not actually
ceased, or that it ceased with a later issue and publication date.  In
either case the data in the serial record need to be corrected.

3) The bib. record for the SO publication shows a final publication date
of 1995 and a final issue of report 119.  We just received reports 118 and
119. 118 has a publication date of June 1996, 119 is dated September 1995.
A search in OCLC turned up a bib. record for 120 (OCLC #35838727), which
has a publication date of September 1996. So, again, 119 is not the
terminal issue of this title, and 1995 is definitely not the terminal date
of publication.  The serial seems to be alive and well, unless it finally
ceased with 120.  We have not yet received 115 and 116 (sometimes they
appear out of order), and these could very well also have publication dates of
1996 or 1997 by the time they appear.

So, can any kind soul whose library also receives these reports go in and
fix all the bib. records for these serials?  I haven't called the Southern
Research Station in Asheville, NC to ask if SO and SE have indeed ceased
being issued in favor of SRS, but I am inclined to think that SRS is just
a new publication, and not the merger of SO and SE.

Thanks very much in advance to whomever can help with this.

--Adam Schiff

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* Adam L. Schiff        Associate Librarian for Technical Services *
* aschiff@cas.calacademy.org        California Academy of Sciences *
* (415) 750-7104                                  Golden Gate Park *
* (415) 750-7106 fax                       San Francisco, CA 94118 *
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