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>From jcerqua@WINSLO.STATE.OH.US Tue Jul 14 10:07:05 1998
Date: Mon, 13 Jul 1998 16:25:05 -0400
From: Judy Cerqua-SLO <jcerqua@WINSLO.STATE.OH.US>
Subject: Re: Question about Title Alphabetizing (Joe Edelen)

I think we have the same vendor.  Yes, this is frustrating.  We have @ 800
titles with this vendor and after a number of years, we have simply taken
the approach that this is how they do their lists.  While we are not
really happy with list as is, we can find everything we need and it has
not been worth fighting over with the company.  HOWEVER, if I have 2 or 3
thousand titles - it would definately be a problem.  It would be nice if
they could reindex to LC standards.

Judy Cerqua
Head, Acquisitions
State Library of Ohio

> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> Date: Sat, 11 Jul 1998 09:46:09 -0500
> From: Joe Edelen <jedelen@USD.EDU>
> Subject: Question about Title Alphabetizing
>
> An original question I sent to a national vendor (it is at the bottom of
> this message) recently was in regard to the alphabetizing that their
> system does with journal titles.  I received the following response.
>
> I am curious to hear comments from others about this.  I find it very
> difficult to work with as titles appear in places that I am not used to
> finding them.  Our mainframe here at USD does not ignore articles within a
> title  (my main complaint with their system).  This gets especially
> confusing to me when "Journal of the American Chemical Society" files
> before "Journal of American Culture".  There are, obviously, many other
> examples.
>
> I am very interested in others' experiences.
>
> ******************************************************************************
> ***  Joe Edelen                                 I.D. Weeks Library
> ***  Bibliographic Control Librarian            University of South Dakota
> ***  605-677-6082                               414 East Clark Street
> ***  605-677-5488 (fax)                         Vermillion, South Dakota 57069
> ***  jedelen@usd.edu
> ******************************************************************************
>
> - REPLY I RECEIVED -
>
> Here is the way our alphabetization systems works:
>
> blank  .  (  &  )  -  /  ,  a  b  c  d  e  f  g  h  i  j  k  l  m  n  o
> p  q  r  s  t  u  v  w  x  y  z
>
> 1)  The priority sequence above covering some punctuation symbols,
> letters of the alphabet, and numerals will determine where a title is
> listed based on each character or blank space in the writing of the
> title being evaluated, compared to other titles, against the above
> priority list.
>
> Example:
>
> ABTU News,  Aalers,  Ab Crane News,  (A) Trip
>
> #1 - (A) Trip comes first because the parenthesis sign has highest
> priority.
>
> #2 -  Aalers comes second because its second character a, is higher on
> the priority list than any other second characters.
>
> #3 -  Ab Crane News comes third because its third space is a blank and a
> blank has priority over any other third space including T which is third
> in ABTU News.
>
> #4 -  ABTU News
>
> My Emphasis============================================================
> 2)Articles, which in the English languages are "a, an, the" will
> always be included in the title, but they will be disregarded in
> alphabetizing in favor ofthe next word of significance.  This rule
> includes foreign articles as well.
> ======================================================================
>
> My Emphasis=============================================================
> 3)  The most common prepositions and conjunctions, which are listed
> below, are disregarded in alphabetizing except when they are the first
> word in a title.
>
> Prepositions:  in  for  of  on  to  with
> Conjunctions:  and  or
>
> Alphabetization systems are very numerous and each is subject to be
> forever debatable.  Each works well as long as it is adhered to without
> deviation.  I hope this helps clarify _______  system of alphabetization.
> ===========================================================================
>
> My Original Question===============================================
> >
> > I noticed that ART IN AMERICA files before ART CRITICISM.  I am
> > assuming
> > that the word  IN  is some sort of stop word for _______  in sorting.
> > Can
> > you please provide me with a list of those words?
> >
> > Thanks
> > Joe
>
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>From NobleStation@COMPUSERVE.COM Tue Jul 14 10:07:05 1998
Date: Mon, 13 Jul 1998 22:58:01 -0400
From: Albert Henderson <NobleStation@COMPUSERVE.COM>
Subject: Question about Title Alphabetizing (Joe Edelen)

I am very interested in others' experiences.

In compiling catalogs, I found that using the Union List of Serials
and New Serial Titles for guidance eliminated most complaints
except the tedium of all the titles that begin "International Journal
of ..." and so on. If I am not mistaken, the rule includes every word
except initial articles. It also neatly clusters certain titles under a
corporate author such as Akademiia nauk.  A library catalog can
include cross references to subjects and key words which will
be quickly memorized by users.

Albert Henderson, Editor, Publishing Research Quarterly
70244.1532@compuserve.com
.
.