Series title vs. main title

It can sometimes be difficult to determine whether a title is a series title or is part of the main title, and the rules related to this are spread throughout several chapters of AACR2R and several sections of the LCRI, and similarly across RDA and the LC-PCC PS.

When considering whether to treat an item as having a series title + volume title or as having a main title + part title, the first and most crucial decision to make is whether the item in hand is part of a "series" (such as a "monographic series" or "multipart item"), or whether it is "supplementary to, or a section of, another item".

An additional case is item title + original title for cases like collections of serials or of articles from serials.

Unfortunately, thanks to the capricious nature of authors, designers, and publishers, this is not always a simple, straight-forward decision. In general, if you mentally refer to it as a "series title", you've already made that decision.

Coding

Volume in a series

For series, create a record for each volume. If there is a volume title, put the individual volume title in the 245 field, subfield a, and the series title & numbering in 490. Put the authorized form of the series in an 8XX field.

If there is not a separate volume title, but you're cataloging the volume separately anyway (such as when the first book in a series has the same title as the series, or when cataloging a numbered-but-not-titled volume of something like "Dragonball Z" on a separate record), put the series title in the 245 field, subfield a, and and any numbering in subfield n.

If the the item is a video and the "series" is simply the title of the original TV series, the original radio series, or a movie series that is intended to be viewed in order, then put the "series" title in the 245 field, subfield a, the number (if any) in subfield n, and the specific volume title in subfield p. (This is why the form Star Wars.‡nEpisode 1.‡pThe phantom menace and Lord of the Rings.‡pThe fellowship of the ring is used for those movies.)

Under AACR2, LC catalogers generally weren't allowed to include the series in the record. Under RDA, they are supposed to transcribe series properly (490 field) but not add access points for them (8XX field), but because they are not allowed to look up series authority records--including whether or not a series should be transcribed as a series or as a quoted note--the end result is largely the same under both AACR2 and RDA. In order to work around this, some LC catalogers pretend that the volume title is "dependent" (that is, cannot stand on its own as a title) and use 245 ‡a series title. ‡p volume title coding for series. Other LC catalogers, especially when the series title is in a larger font than the volume title, will treat the series title as the "main title" and the volume title as a "subtitle", and thus use 245 ‡a series title : ‡b volume title coding for the series. Change these records to use the proper series coding for the comprehensive title and the proper main title coding for the specific volume title when importing these records into the CCS database.

Section of a single larger work

For supplementary parts or sections of a larger work that you are cataloging separately, put the title of the "whole thing" in 245 ‡a and the title of the part in hand in 245 ‡p.

Note that parts of a multipart item are not automatically considered to be sections of a larger work.

Republication from a serial

One special case that can be difficult to determine whether to treat a title as a "series" is when the item in hand is a collection of material originally published in magazine format. This includes comic books collected into a graphic novel and also collections of articles from periodicals like Better Homes & Gardens.

In general, a republication of a single issue or a limited number of issues of a serial should be cataloged as a monograph. This covers most of what public libraries are likely to collect along these lines.

If the "series" title is actually just the title of the original serial, treat that as a "related work" rather than as a series title or whole-work title and code it in a 730 field rather than a 490 or 245.

That said, if the title is authorized for use as a series in the LC authority file, then use it as a series. If the series uniform title is identical to that of the original serial, including any qualifiers, a 730 in addition to the 830 field is not necessary. If the series uniform title is not exactly identical to that of the original serial, including any qualifiers, then a 730 is required in addition to the 830, even if the "base" part of the uniform title is otherwise identical.

If you think series treatment would be more beneficial than related title treatment for a given series/serial title, then contact the authorities librarian to request a local exception. Examples of situations where a local series may be beneficial are cases where the serial title may be thought of as a "series" title by the public (such as many graphic novel series), because the series title displays on OPAC hit lists; or in cases where only some volumes of a "series" reprint issues from a serial of that title (such as the "Superman" series of graphic novels, which reprints issues from Superman, Adventures of Superman, Action Comics, The Man of Steel, and other serials), as then all volumes of the series are treated consistently, rather than those that reprint issues of the eponymous serial being treated one way and those that reprint issues of the related serials being treated differently.