8.10.2009
Surprise Issues!
Publishers are entertaining entities. While a lot of them are folding up their tents or going online only...there are several publishers who continue to send surprise issues! Often these issues are called "special" or "supplement" or "bibliography" and such...and then there is the one I just received today. It is not only a "special" issue -- it is also a change of publishing frequency! I haven't looked yet to see if this "extra" issue also adds onto the price for next year or if it a mere "bonus" by the publisher. *Sigh*
7.27.2009
twitter and Youtube meet the publishing world...!
I just joined twitter. I think it would be most amusing for publishers to figure out how to serialize a journal into tweets....and then link to YouTube:
"Found new species in Central America."
"Might be prehistoric."
"Might be a mutation due to global warming."
"Scientists unsure, but captured photos."
"Please see YouTube video for details."
"Click here for "live" tweets....!"
Just kidding. I do not want to encourage the publishers to create any MORE formats!
Can you imaging trying to read a National Geographic or Reader's Digest article in 140 character blurbs?!? And trying to archive or keep track of such a thing? How would library staff even try to keep track of such a thing....?
"Found new species in Central America."
"Might be prehistoric."
"Might be a mutation due to global warming."
"Scientists unsure, but captured photos."
"Please see YouTube video for details."
"Click here for "live" tweets....!"
Just kidding. I do not want to encourage the publishers to create any MORE formats!
Can you imaging trying to read a National Geographic or Reader's Digest article in 140 character blurbs?!? And trying to archive or keep track of such a thing? How would library staff even try to keep track of such a thing....?
Just an update
I can't believe it's been a month since my last blog post! I am not buried under a stack of serials. Although, with the amount we received in the mail today, it was a good possibility.
It has been a fun month in serials. :)
I have not only received journals that were published before they should exist (one sent me an Oct/Dec 2009 issue!), I received some "new" journals that are a mere seven or eight years behind their cover chronology (philosophy journals, mostly). I am still not quite sure why a 45 page academic journal takes 7 or 8 years to publish. The only thing I can figure out is that these are not very "active" topics and it takes that long to gather enough submissions to publish...?That then begs the question, though, about whether or not they should continue publishing with a 7 to 8 year lag?
My students got to process some government publications this month and the government apparently does not care about cover chronology matching actual publishing dates either. It looks like I am a "type A" person in a "type B" industry. Sigh.
It has been a fun month in serials. :)
I have not only received journals that were published before they should exist (one sent me an Oct/Dec 2009 issue!), I received some "new" journals that are a mere seven or eight years behind their cover chronology (philosophy journals, mostly). I am still not quite sure why a 45 page academic journal takes 7 or 8 years to publish. The only thing I can figure out is that these are not very "active" topics and it takes that long to gather enough submissions to publish...?That then begs the question, though, about whether or not they should continue publishing with a 7 to 8 year lag?
My students got to process some government publications this month and the government apparently does not care about cover chronology matching actual publishing dates either. It looks like I am a "type A" person in a "type B" industry. Sigh.
6.23.2009
Serials sisters/brothers in arms...
Last week I took a cataloging sound recordings class. I never knew that there would be another group in the library world like serialists...who are thrown into just as many odd situations and subjected to the quirks of publishers as we are.
Apparently, most of the cataloging for sound recordings is done from the piece in hand and not just copy cataloged. The information that is mandatory for each piece is sometimes not available since the cataloger is supposed to rely on the item itself (i.e. the cassette, CD, etc) and then go to the container and lastly resort to any printed material that accompanies it. We did examples of several different types of sound recordings and you would think that the industry would display the "standard" items like title, series and such on each piece or container. But, like serials, we had a merry chase determing these things on some of the items in question.
As if that was not enough to drive any sane person to distraction, the sound cataloger has to decide if it is a collection of works, if the sound recording is dominated by a principal peformer or the work of one person or a corporate body. There is a decision tree for this, but 2 catalogers looking at the same piece might, justifiably, arrive at different conclusions.
It would seem that the largest print might be the title, right? Wrong. Apparently the largest or most prominent typeface may just be a performer or narrator and not actually the title itself.
Then we come to dates. Now, here is where things parallel serials quite well. In serials there is publication date and cover chronology. Publishers do not feel compelled to make sure these match. In sound recordings they have something similar -- there might be an original recording date and a release date. And to throw one more twist in, if the item is a spoken version of a book or play, there is also the date of the publication for the print item. And it is often left up to the mercy of the cataloger to figure out which is what. Again, there is the emphasis on using the piece in hand as your primary source of information. If there are dates with no notes next to them it can be tricky to figure out which date goes to the recording, the book/play and the release date.
As for mediums, the sound cataloger has more types to be potentially tortured by than serialists do. There is something called a playaway, which is a self-contained sound recording. They also have to deal with items on the internet, as well as 8 tracks, cassettes, something called dual discs, mini cds, dvd audios, cd-roms, midi files, mp3 files and shaped discs. Unlike serials, though, they might have to catalog each piece separately, even if it is in a series. The poor cataloger working with each of these items also has to describe the physical item as well, sometimes in a note when measurements do not make things clearer.
Oh, and did I mention that if it is a musical sound recording there are different rules for if the piece is an artist's interpretation of the work, like popular music, rock and jazz or if the performer is merely executing the work, like classical music? Or that if it is a book with a readalong sound component...it is up to the cataloger which is primary -- the book or the audio....And on it goes...!
I think there should be a retreat for befuddled serialists or sound catalogers. Those who strive valiantly in the cause of making items accessible to patrons, but who are inevitably driven to distraction or even insanity due to the publishers and distributors who endeavor to make themselves and their works as clear as mud as often as possible...!
Apparently, most of the cataloging for sound recordings is done from the piece in hand and not just copy cataloged. The information that is mandatory for each piece is sometimes not available since the cataloger is supposed to rely on the item itself (i.e. the cassette, CD, etc) and then go to the container and lastly resort to any printed material that accompanies it. We did examples of several different types of sound recordings and you would think that the industry would display the "standard" items like title, series and such on each piece or container. But, like serials, we had a merry chase determing these things on some of the items in question.
As if that was not enough to drive any sane person to distraction, the sound cataloger has to decide if it is a collection of works, if the sound recording is dominated by a principal peformer or the work of one person or a corporate body. There is a decision tree for this, but 2 catalogers looking at the same piece might, justifiably, arrive at different conclusions.
It would seem that the largest print might be the title, right? Wrong. Apparently the largest or most prominent typeface may just be a performer or narrator and not actually the title itself.
Then we come to dates. Now, here is where things parallel serials quite well. In serials there is publication date and cover chronology. Publishers do not feel compelled to make sure these match. In sound recordings they have something similar -- there might be an original recording date and a release date. And to throw one more twist in, if the item is a spoken version of a book or play, there is also the date of the publication for the print item. And it is often left up to the mercy of the cataloger to figure out which is what. Again, there is the emphasis on using the piece in hand as your primary source of information. If there are dates with no notes next to them it can be tricky to figure out which date goes to the recording, the book/play and the release date.
As for mediums, the sound cataloger has more types to be potentially tortured by than serialists do. There is something called a playaway, which is a self-contained sound recording. They also have to deal with items on the internet, as well as 8 tracks, cassettes, something called dual discs, mini cds, dvd audios, cd-roms, midi files, mp3 files and shaped discs. Unlike serials, though, they might have to catalog each piece separately, even if it is in a series. The poor cataloger working with each of these items also has to describe the physical item as well, sometimes in a note when measurements do not make things clearer.
Oh, and did I mention that if it is a musical sound recording there are different rules for if the piece is an artist's interpretation of the work, like popular music, rock and jazz or if the performer is merely executing the work, like classical music? Or that if it is a book with a readalong sound component...it is up to the cataloger which is primary -- the book or the audio....And on it goes...!
I think there should be a retreat for befuddled serialists or sound catalogers. Those who strive valiantly in the cause of making items accessible to patrons, but who are inevitably driven to distraction or even insanity due to the publishers and distributors who endeavor to make themselves and their works as clear as mud as often as possible...!
Newsflash...
If you work in serials, please sit down. You will not believe what I am about to relate!
I have worked in the quirky realm of serials with all of its oddities for just over nine years now. I have never come across a journal that changed its title AND a) warned its subscribers in advance b) warned them again when the first issue of the new title was sent and c) provided the new ISSN as well as d) information about the publication frequency and e) advised the subscribers about the changed appearance (size) too.
Normally, I try not to name journals by title, since I do not want to incur the wrath of the publishers...but since this is a miracle and the publisher shows not only forethought, but consideration of its subscribers...I will name the journal. The old title was Australian Meteorological Magazine and the new title is Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Journal.
There is yet another strange twist to this. Apparently this journal is published by a *gasp* government department! Not only did the journal pre-plan its title change, but it was done in an efficient and timely manner by a government department....!
Sorry, just fell off my chair in disbelief as the realization of that last bit hit me.... The terms "efficient, timely, organized and journal" do not usually fall in the same sentence. Even much less likely is the linking of the phrase "published by a government department" to occur in the same sentence as well.
I do think that if a foreign government department can do this (warn subscribers of a title/size change AND publication frequency) in a mere insert that the other journal publishers should aspire to do so as well...! But alas, we all must have dreams...!
I have worked in the quirky realm of serials with all of its oddities for just over nine years now. I have never come across a journal that changed its title AND a) warned its subscribers in advance b) warned them again when the first issue of the new title was sent and c) provided the new ISSN as well as d) information about the publication frequency and e) advised the subscribers about the changed appearance (size) too.
Normally, I try not to name journals by title, since I do not want to incur the wrath of the publishers...but since this is a miracle and the publisher shows not only forethought, but consideration of its subscribers...I will name the journal. The old title was Australian Meteorological Magazine and the new title is Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Journal.
There is yet another strange twist to this. Apparently this journal is published by a *gasp* government department! Not only did the journal pre-plan its title change, but it was done in an efficient and timely manner by a government department....!
Sorry, just fell off my chair in disbelief as the realization of that last bit hit me.... The terms "efficient, timely, organized and journal" do not usually fall in the same sentence. Even much less likely is the linking of the phrase "published by a government department" to occur in the same sentence as well.
I do think that if a foreign government department can do this (warn subscribers of a title/size change AND publication frequency) in a mere insert that the other journal publishers should aspire to do so as well...! But alas, we all must have dreams...!
6.04.2009
Cover chronology
There are days I think publishers enjoy torturing library staff with some of their odd decisions. I just received a journal that has the cover chronology v. 12 no. 2 Fall 2005. In the inside, of course, it admits to being published in 2009. At what point should publishers give up and send out a note to libraries and subscribers -- "sorry, we didn't publish between 2005 and 2009. We are now going to restart out cover chronology with v. 13 Spring 2009" and let the catalogers put a note in the record....and move forward....
That said, though, I am still waiting on a journal that suspended publishing back in 2003. It resumed publishing recently and changed publishers. It plans to keep its old cover chronology as well. *Sigh*
That said, though, I am still waiting on a journal that suspended publishing back in 2003. It resumed publishing recently and changed publishers. It plans to keep its old cover chronology as well. *Sigh*
Most Creative Use of Numeration Award goes to...!
I understand that some journals are not doing well financially and that submissions have not kept up with publication schedules. However, I do not think creating bizarre enumeration is the answer.
I have in hand a math journal that was behind in publishing. Instead of just waiting and publishing one issue and creating the cover chronology of v. 46/47 2008-09, which would have been the most sensible thing to do, they came up with a creative (read nightmarish) solution of their own.
Each new issue now says v. 46/47 Jan/Feb 2009 no. 1, v. 46/47 May/Jun 2009 no. 2 and such. I am grateful that I bind this journal and as soon as number 4 is in my hands, off it will go...and I will also change the MARC record to collapse these two volumes into one. Only math geniuses could be this creative in creating enumeration.
I have in hand a math journal that was behind in publishing. Instead of just waiting and publishing one issue and creating the cover chronology of v. 46/47 2008-09, which would have been the most sensible thing to do, they came up with a creative (read nightmarish) solution of their own.
Each new issue now says v. 46/47 Jan/Feb 2009 no. 1, v. 46/47 May/Jun 2009 no. 2 and such. I am grateful that I bind this journal and as soon as number 4 is in my hands, off it will go...and I will also change the MARC record to collapse these two volumes into one. Only math geniuses could be this creative in creating enumeration.
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