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Conference Proceedings: Cataloging Sequential Conference Proceedings for the Science Branches

Prepared by: Becky Culbertson and Crystal Graham
Approved by: Cataloging Committee, April 12, 1999
Updated by: Marilu Vallejo and Becky Culbertson, April 12, 2004
Last Revised: June 8, 2005 

Background: Proceedings of conferences which appear year after year are often scattered in the collection as a result of (1) acceptance of call numbers appearing on copy, (2) certain shelflisting practices, and (3) AACR2 amendments/LC rule interpretations revisions.

Conferences are often cataloged as monographs because such records provide more individualized access-such as indication of venue, editors, subtitles, and subject headings for special themes. However, the bad side of treating continuing conferences as monographs is that acceptance of call numbers found on OCLC copy without consideration of the classification of earlier conferences leads to widely scattered proceedings of the same conference (often dividing science conferences between LC's Q and T classifications). Standard monographic shelflisting practice for sequential conferences entered under conference heading is to use one book number and the date of the conference in the call number. The problem with this latter practice is that sometimes sliding book numbers can lead to cutters which are unwieldy in length (and, in some cases, issues of the conference are put in non-successive order).

The following two paragraphs quote the text found in the LCRIs:

Amendments 2001 to AACR2 revised Category D of rule 21.1B2 to provide main entry for a Category D work under the heading for the name of a conference, expedition, or event if the name appears anywhere on the item being cataloged. Previously, main entry for a Category D work was under the heading for the name of the conference, expedition, or event when the name appeared prominently on the item.

LC practice: Effective December 2001, enter a work covered by Category D under the heading for the name of a conference, expedition, or event if the name appears anywhere in the item being cataloged. (Note: For the period January 1981-July 1991, LC entered a Category D work under the heading for the name of the conference, etc., when the name appeared prominently on the item. For the period August 1991-November 2001, LC entered a Category D work under the heading for the name of the conference, etc., when the name appeared on the chief source. Existing records are generally not changed to reflect current policy.)

When cataloged as serials, the run of conferences is classified and shelflisted in sequential order, regardless of changes in the name of the conference or title. This shelving order provides better user access, but fails to provide the other types of access mentioned above. In addition, often there are so many minor changes in heading for conference names and changes in title, many successive serial records must be created and linked. (For IEEE conferences it is not unusual to need a new serial record for each issue). Also, since the number and date of the conference do not appear in the conference heading on a serial record, it is very difficult for a user to locate the specific conference they seek.

For conferences which exhibit stable titles, after LC has acquired three or four successive years of a conference entered under title, they will change from cataloging the conference as a monograph to cataloging it as a serial. At this point, a particular conference which had formerly used sliding book numbers is put under a single book number to reflect its new serial status.

UCSD Principle:

In order to 1) keep sequential years of a conference together on the shelves and 2) simplify the sometimes confusing treatment which has been accorded these works in the past, UCSD uses serial classification and shelf listing procedures on certain conference proceedings cataloged as monographs, (i.e., a consistent classification number followed by a consistent cutter number and the year of the conference). This practice is intended whether the conference is entered under a conference heading or under title. NOTE: Even if the work is entered under title, the date of the conference (NOT the publication date) will be the date used in the call number.

Procedure:

Candidates for this procedure can be identified by the presence of a number or date in the title of the book. For example:

COMDEX '93 
Record of proceedings : the 12th annual Simulation Symposium 
Nonlinear optical properties of organic materials VI 
 

Review the copy available as well as UCSD's holdings under the conference title (or heading). If the conference is entered under name/title and there is authoritative serial copy (such as LC or CONSER), bounce the item to the SCU to re-evaluate for serial treatment. (We particularly like to do them as serials when there is a standing order, since there is a suppressed serials record anyway for Acquisitions).

NOTE: A blanket decision has been made to continue to catalog the blue bound IEEE conference proceedings and the yellow backed SPIE proceedings as monographs-the titles are not stable enough for serials treatment.

Do not use this procedure if the subject matter covered by the conference series varies widely from conference to conference. The following note is added to the authority record for the conference heading: 690 Considered for special conference procedure; classify/shelflist separately.

When the decision is made to use this procedure, as for example, when cataloging successive conferences with similar subject headings, catalogers will use the classification and book number assigned to the first received issue.

If UCSD owns multiple volumes entered under a conference name or title and the conference has already been cuttered in sequential order, then these volumes will not be recataloged. Start the new book numbering system based on the latest (highest) cutter and do not redo the established numbers.

If UCSD owns multiple volumes entered under a conference name or title and the volumes are already scattered (either in classification or cuttering), reclassify the scattered volumes, bringing them together under one number (either the number where the majority are already classed or the 050 call number from a serial record, if one exists).

Records with existing copy for sequential proceedings are handled by an CCSU cataloger, even if no call number exists on the record. Do not enhance the record if a non-standard cutter number is assigned. OCU Team catalogers will continue to enhance other records, such as one-time conferences.

Authority records:

In authority records for conferences, add a 690 note to the record to show the selected call number for works entered under conference heading. For example:

For headings use the following:

111 2 International Conference on Science Books 
411 2 Conference on Science Books, International 
690 CONFERENCE HEADING. Classify all proceedings of this conference regardless of entry, using the call number: QC375 $b .I5 <date of conference> 
910 bh

For titles use the following:

130 0 Nonlinear optical properties of organic materials 
690 CONFERENCE TITLE. Classify all proceedings of this conference regardless of entry, using the call number: 
QC374 $b .N662 <date of conference> 
910 bh

Example of an authority record for a conference entered under title which was cataloged prior to December 2001.

130 0 Ultrafast phenomena
690 CONFERENCE TITLE. Classify all proceedings of this conference regardless of entry, using the call number: 
QC689.5.L37|bU4675 <date of conference> 
910 mv

The conference proceedings for the above title issued after November 2001 are entered under the conference heading so you create an authority record for the conference with the same 690 note and an add an additional 690 note explaining 530 reference:

111 20 International Conference on Ultrafast Phenomena
411 20 Conference on Ultrafast Phenomena, Internationl
511 20 Topical Meeting on Ultrafast Phenomena
530 _9 Ultrafast phenomena|f<1984-1998>|5CUS 
690 CONFERENCE TITLE. Classify all proceedings of this conference regardless of entry, using the call number: 
QC689.5.L37|bU4675 <date of conference> 
690 Earlier conference proceedings entered under title: Ultrafast phenomena