Overview

Series, serials, and volumes can be entered in any number of ways, and datasets are rarely consistent. Search results are sorted first by title and then by volume. So, when the series name and/or volume number entered in different ways on different items, the items may sort incorrectly and be harder to find. We recommend that you choose one uniform way of representing series and serials information and make sure it's applied consistently from item to item within a particular series.

For example, here's a search for "hunger games." See the first one? It's a bit out of order because the title and series are formatted differently.

• Title: The Hunger Games: Mockingjay vs. Mockingjay
• Series: The Hunger Games vs. The Hunger Games trilogy

In this case, it's not that big of a deal, because you can see all of the items on one screen and figure out which one you're looking for. But that won't always be true, especially in a more vague search or for a series or serial with a lot of volumes. 

Best Practices

We recommend catalogers choose one uniform way of representing series and serials information and make sure it's applied consistently from item to item within a particular series. Here are a few recommendations:

Standardize the title of each series or serial.

• The series tag for Mockingjay could be The Hunger Games OR The Hunger Games trilogy – pick one and then make sure it's the same for each item in the series.

Standardize the Volume field. Pad your numbers with zeroes and, if you'd like, use a prefix.

• Book 001
• Volume 233
  
  

Above all, be consistent!

Series Tags

A series is a group of separate but related items which have their own distinctive titles but are issued with a collective title, or series title, that applies to the group as a whole. We  We recommend recording the series title in fields 490 and 830, or just 830 if you're keeping things simple. Generally speaking, the series title your patrons will know and search by should be recorded in field 830_a, but Alexandria includes both fields when searching for a series.

Standardize Series Titles

Search results are sorted first by title, then by volume. So if you have "Hunger Games" and "Hunger Games Series" and "Hunger Games trilogy," all of the Hunger Games volumes will be listed before the Hunger Games Series or Hunger Games trilogy" volumes. Enter the series title exactly the same in each associated item; otherwise, Alexandria will treat the different entries as separate series, and your patrons may have difficulty finding all of the titles in any particular series.

It's It’s also a good idea to check that the full series name is in the series title field. If, for example, it's it’s been added to the Title, Subtitle (245_b), or Statement of Responsibility (245_c) fields, Alexandria won't won’t know how to search or sort it as a series.

Series Authority Control

Series titles (490_a and 830_a tags) are managed in Authority Control. Here, you can search for a series to see all of the variations of that series title, and edit any irregular titles to update all of the corresponding terms in your database to match your changes. It's a great way to improve and maintain your series cataloging.

1. Go to Tools > Authority Control.
2. Choose the Series category on the left.

3. On the right, search for the series you want to modify.

   • Search for the exact title. If the series title is "The Hunger Games," a search for "Hunger Games" will not return results.

   • Authority Control terms are case-sensitive, but the search function is not. This allows you can to and select terms that differ only by case.
4. Select one of the irregular results, then click Edit Term.
5. Modify the series title, then click YES to agree to modify all of the records with the original term.

Alexandria will queue a utility to modify the records, so the time it takes to complete depends on the number of records being modified and the capabilities of your server. Basically, it shouldn't take long, but it could.

Change a MARC Tag Utility

Use the Change a MARC Tag utility to change the series title (830_a) in bulk for the titles matching your selections.

1. Go to Tools > Utilities.
2. Search for and select Change a MARC Tag.
3. Enter criteria in the Selections and Options tabs.
4. When you're ready, click Run.

Serials Tags

Serial publications are issued in discrete parts, each of which carries a number or date that uniquely identifies it. Examples include journals, magazines, annual reports, newspapers, etc.

Serial titles are recorded in fields 505 and 830.

Standardize Serial Titles

The title of a serial links volumes together in a way similar to a traditional series. It's important to enter the serial titleexactly the same in each associated item. When titles are different, Alexandria will treat them as different serials, and your patrons may have difficulty finding all of the associated titles.

Here are a few other things to keep in mind:

Duplicate Titles

It's important to distinguish one series from another. When two or more series share the same name, add a qualifying term or phrase, usually the place of publication, to the series heading that will distinguish one series from another.

• Open Doors (published by an architectural organization in Tucson, Arizona) becomes Open Doors (Tucson, AZ)
• Open Doors (published by a psychologists association in New York, New York) becomes Open Doors (New York, NY)

Inconsistent Titles

Sometimes a series title is published inconsistently from one volume to the next. Enter the established series heading in field 830 so the stray volume isn't lost.

• Volume 1: Geophysics Research Series
• Volume 5: Geophysical Research Series
• Established series heading: Geophysical Research Series

Example

Let's look at this example of MARC records for the series Biography Today. The serial title is recorded in 830_a, the volume in 830_v, and a note about the volume is in 505_a. So a search for "Biography Today" would result in all of the items in that serial publication, and the notes identify the contents of that specific issue.

Title 1

245_aBiography Today_bProfiles of people of interest to young readers_nVolume 21_p2012
830_aBiography Today_v021
505_aList of the individuals profiled in 2012

Title 2

245_aBiography Today_bProfiles of people of interest to young readers_nVolume 22_p2013
830_aBiography Today_v022
505_aList of the individuals profiled in 2013

Volume

Enter the volume number in the same format and in the same field(s) for each title in a series or serial. We recommend recording the volume in fields 830_v — in the Item Editor, it's the field next to the series title. You can also use the MARC View editor to catalog the volume number in Series Statement 490_v.

The volume field sorts alphabetically, not numerically, so there are two things to keep in mind:

1. Prefixes: Use one or not, but be consistent. Don't enter "Vol 30" in one title and "Book 030" in another.

2. Pad with zeroes: Enter "001" and not just "1" – you don't want volume 10 to show up before volume 2.

   Padded	Not Padded
   001 002 010 020 100	1 10 100 2 20

It's important to be consistent in how you enter volume data. For example, let's look at this search for "Harry Potter". The books are out of order because the volume numbers are entered differently: one digit, two digits, three – it's madness!

Change Series Volume Utility

The easiest way to pad your volume numbers and add or remove a prefix is to use the Change Series Volume utility. It takes the volume number from Series Added Entry 830_v, converts it to a three-digit number, then adds the (optional) prefix you specified in the Options tab. So "bk1" is converted to "Prefix 001", and "volume two" is converted to "Prefix 002", etc. Basically, it makes your series volumes uniform and easy to sort.

It can't change everything, though. If the 830_v field is nonsense, or something Alexandria can't identify, the results will also be nonsense.

1. Go to Tools > Utilities.
2. Select the Titles category on the left and the Change Series Volume utility from the list on the right.
3. Fill out selection criteria, such as Titles in the Series, to limit the changing titles to a manageable size. 
4. In the Options tab, enter your preferred volume prefix, such as Vol, Volume, Book, #, etc. If the prefix is left blank, the volume field will show only the number (001, 002, etc.).
5. Run the utility. 
6. Download the information file from Operations Management to see if any volumes failed to update. 

For example:

• Selections – Titles in the Series: Harry Potter
• Options – Add Volume Prefix: HP
• Results: HP 001, HP 002, HP 003, etc.