Library of Congress Series Decision

by Jan Militello

Library of Congress issued a decision, effective June 1, 2006, stating that its catalogers will no longer create series authority records. Additionally, LC catalogers will no longer consult or follow treatment in existing series authority records. Nor will they update existing bibliographic records to reflect the new policy. LC bibliographic records created since June 1, 2006 contain uncontrolled series statements in an untraced 490 0 field. The result of this decision is inconsistent treatment of and access to series information in LC bibliographic records.

As an example, prior LC cataloging of books in the Boxcar children mysteries placed the authorized series statement in a 490 1/800 combination where it is traced and consistently accessible in a local circulation system:

14 |aThe giant yo-yo mystery /|ccreated by Gertrude Chandler Warner.
1_ |aThe boxcar children ;|v#107
800 1_ |aWarner, Gertrude Chandler,|d1890- |tBoxcar children mysteries ;|v#107.

Books in the series cataloged by LC since the June 1, 2006 decision use a 490 0 series statement which provides no signal for the circulation system to collocate the new books with the others. In other words, searching the Boxcar children mysteries as a series would locate the old titles but ignore the new:

245 14 |aThe creature in Ogopogo Lake /|ccreated by Gertrude Chandler Warner.
490 0_ |aThe boxcar children mysteries ;|v#108

Children's materials are often issued in series that are vital to collections. Cataloging these materials consistently is essential to maintaining accurate access. Therefore, the BTSB cataloging staff, along with many other cataloging agencies around the nation, will continue to create and maintain in-house series authority records and will upgrade LC series statements as needed with controlled access in 440 or 490 1/800/830 fields as appropriate.

LC's Cataloging Policy and Support Office provides information about the series decision at: http://loc.gov/catdir/cpso/series.html