Metadata Input Guidelines: Serials and Series
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Definitions
The term serial describes items published under the same title, generally as separate issues or annual texts. Some examples include: newspapers, yearbooks, journals, magazines, annual reports, newsletters, conference proceedings, etc.
The term series describes items published under different titles that all have the same secondary title, such as a series of individual books that form a trilogy. In archives, series may refer to a “record series” or group of items in a collection that have the same format, topical context, or other similarities.
Serials and Series in the Digital Collections
The UNT Libraries’ Digital Collections include a large number of serials and series. Although there are many variables, this page lays out specific examples about how we typically handle metadata for these items to maintain consistency.
Series Titles
“Series” in the Digital Collections are designated by Series Titles. These are often used to collocate groups of items to take advantage of the way that series and serial titles are browseable across collections and as a facet option for search results. Here are some broad categories of series used in the Digital Collections:
Series Types | Examples |
---|---|
Series of items related by chronology or created in a specific time period that may not be a calendar year | Fiscal Year 1975 Academic Year 2013 112th Congress 80th Legislature of Texas |
Series titles authorized by the Library of Congress (generally used for government documents) | AEC research and development report Biological services program FWS/OBS Research report (Southwest Region University Transportation Center (U.S.)) |
Archival collections and/or archival series | Schuhmann Family Photograph Collection Charles B. Moore Family papers, 1832-1917 Austin Papers: Series IV, 1831-1834 |
Published series | Publications of the Texas Folklore Society War and the Southwest series |
General categories of items within a collection that may improve browsing | Flood Insurance Rate Maps The Ship and the Sacred Tree: Textiles from South Sumatra (exhibition title) 10th Annual Texas Folklife Festival [North Texas Politics & Public Officers] |
Serial Records
As a general rule, formatting and values for serial records align with the Input Guidelines, however, some fields are more consistent across serial records than other kinds of records, or fit in common exceptions. The general characteristics of serial records in the Digital Collections include:
- A standardized Main Title that fits a patterned template to ensure consistency, sorting, and findability for users
- Many fields that stay essentially the same across all items in a serial with changes to numbers (e.g., volume/issue/quarter/etc.), dates, and personal names
- Inclusion of Citation field information for publications with volume/issue numbers
This section provides an overview of general rules and common concerns specific to serial records in the Digital Collections with example values. It does not repeat in-depth formatting explanations covered by the general Input Guidelines for Descriptive Metadata.
Title
Overview:
- All serial records have one Main Title and at least one Serial Title
- Serial records may have additional titles, as appropriate
Type | Guidelines | Examples |
---|---|---|
Main Title | The main title for a serial is constructed so that it stays consistent even if there are relative changes across issues (e.g., yearbook title pages tend to change every year even though the essential serial title stays the same). Here are some common title patterns: | |
{title}, Volume #, Issue #, {date} | The Battlecry, Volume 1, Number 5, October 5, 1979 NEW Source, September 1991 Scouting, Volume 67, Number 4, September 1979 The Pickwicker, Volume 20, 1952 Rawls Exchange, 2004 L.I.P. Bulletin, Volume 5, Spring 2011 |
|
{title}, Yearbook of {school}, {year} Catalog of {school}, {year}, {type} |
Prickly Pear, Yearbook of Abilene Christian College, 1963 Catalog of North Texas State University, 1979-1980, Undergraduate Catalog of Texas Tech University, 2012-2013, Undergraduate and Graduate Catalog of Abilene Christian University, 1978-1979 |
|
{organization} Annual Report: {date} {organization} Strategic Plan: {date} {organization} Requests for Legislative Appropriations: {date} Interim Report to the # Texas Legislature: {organization} |
City Water Board of San Antonio Annual Report: 1970 Texas Veterans Commission Strategic Plan: Fiscal Years 2013-2017 University of North Texas Requests for Legislative Appropriations: 2010-2011 Interim Report to the 83rd Texas Legislature: House Committee on Natural Resources |
|
{organization} Quarterly Report: {date} Report of the # {conference}, {date} Proceedings of the # {conference}, {date} |
Physics of Reactor Safety, Quarterly Report: October-December 1977 Report of the Twenty-Seventh National Conference on Weights and Measures, 1937 Proceedings of the Workshop on Techniques for Measurement of Thermodynamic Properties, Albany, Oregon, August 21-23, 1979 |
|
Newspaper titles tend to follow slightly different rules, to align with other guidelines: {title} ({city, st.}), Vol. #, No. #, Ed. #, {day, date} |
The Wylie News (Wylie, Tex.), Vol. 48, No. 41, Ed. 1 Wednesday, March 15, 1995 Breckenridge American (Breckenridge, Tex.), Vol. 33, No. 26, Ed. 1 Tuesday, February 10, 1953 |
|
Serial Title | The serial title is the part of the Main Title that stays the same for every item and should be capitalized in the same way as the Main Title | Applied Nuclear Physics Division Annual Progress Report Texas Highways Texas Public Utility Commission Agency Strategic Plan The Shinnery Review Quarry Accidents in the United States During the Calendar Year |
Added Title |
|
135th Annual Report to the Governor & Legislature: For Fiscal Year 2010 ending August 31, 2010 House Committee on Business & Industry, Texas House of Representatives interim report, 2008: a report to the House of Representatives, 81st Texas Legislature Fourth Quarter 1999 State Sales and Use Tax Analysis Report Forty Fifth Annual Report of the Sabine River Compact Administration for the Year 1999 Legislative Appropriations Request for Fiscal Years 2014 and 2015, Submitted to the Governor's Office of Budget, Planning and Policy and the Legislative Budget Board by Fourteenth District Court of Appeals Yellow Jacket '71 Agency Strategic Plan: For the Fiscal Years 2011-2015 Period |
Alternate Title |
|
Report of the 35th National Conference on Weights and Measures 1950 Federal Communications Commission Reports, Second Series, Volume 27, January 29, 1971 to March 26, 1971 LULAC News, Volume 1, Issue Number 3, Wisconsin, October 1977 |
Parallel Title |
|
Niños con Necesidades Médicas Especiales: Boletín para familias, Enero de 2011 Lista de Proveedores de Cuidado Primario y Hospitales, Diciembre de 2008 |
Series Title |
|
Argonne National Laboratory Reports Fiscal Year 1994 |
Sort Title |
|
Retort, 1959-10 Texas Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages by Industry and County, 2009, Q1 Texas General and Special Laws, Legislature 57, Session 3 FCC Report, S2, V40x, P1 Links Western Area Conference, 25 Texas Talking Book News, 2012-24 |
Uniform Title |
|
Agency Strategic Plan, for the fiscal years... Annual financial report for fiscal year ... of the Court of Appeals--Eight District. Summary of Enactments ... Legislature: Regular Session ... Called Session ... Recreational Fishing Regulations: Effective... |
Common Issues:
If the volume/issue (or another) number is written in Roman numerals: | Use Arabic numbers and include a note | Main Title: The Hexagon, Volume 98, Number 2, Summer 2007 Display Note: "Vol. XCVIII, No. 2." |
If a title includes abbreviations such as "Vol.", 'No.", etc.: | Write them out in the title and include a note | Main Title: Chieftain, Volume 12, Number 3, March 1964 Display Note: "Vol. 12, Number 3." |
If information on the item is known to be incorrect (e.g., if the Roman numerals are not changed from volume to volume, or are written incorrectly): | Put the correct information in the title using [square brackets] and include a note as needed | Main Title: The Age, Volume [10], Number 10, October 1989 Display Note: "Vol. XII, No. 10." Main Title: Chieftain, Volume [1], Number [2], October 1952 |
If the issue covers multiple volume/issue numbers or months/seasons: | Include both/all with a hyphen or slash -- generally match item formatting, but choose most common/logical punctuation to keep titles consistent across a particular publication | Scouting, Volume 70, Number 3, May-June 1982 Hillviews, Volume 42, Number 1, Fall/Winter 2011 |
Creator/Contributor
Overview:
- Name formatting and entry should align with Creator or
Contributor guidelines, e.g.:
- Names of persons should be inverted (Last, First), with a space between initials
- Hierarchical organizations should have a period after each level of the hierarchy (and at the end)
- Whenever possible/applicable, an authorized form of the name should be used, if available (this is particularly true for government agencies and organizations)
- Every creator/contributor must include a type and role
|
Name: North Texas State Teacher's College Type: Organization Role: Author Name: Perryman, H. A. Type: Person Role: Editor Info: Editor-in-Chief Name: Kraft, Michelle Type: Person Role: Editor Info: Co-Editor |
|
Name: United States. Department of Agriculture. Type: Organization Role: Originator Name: Klocko, Barbara A. Type: Person Role: Author Info: Designing Sustainable Schools: The Emergent Role of Superintendent as Sensemaker Name: Marshall, Steve Type: Person Role: Other Info: Business Manager |
Common Issues:
If a person named in the item has an ambiguous relationship to the item: |
|
Name: United States. Office of Experiment Stations. Type: Organization Role: Author Info: W. O. Atwater, Director Name: Cooper, Sam B., III Type: Person Role: Author of introduction, etc. Info: Manager, Purchased Health Services Unit |
If the role of persons is vague (e.g., "Contributors"): |
|
|
If issues have an extremely large number of contributors (i.e., more than 20), especially with unnamed roles: |
|
Publisher
Overview:
|
Name: United States. Government Printing Office. Location: Washington D.C. Name: Texas Commission on Environmental Quality Location: Austin, Texas |
Common Issues:
If the publisher's location is unknown, or unclear: | Leave the location portion blank or generalize (e.g., "United States" instead of a city) | Name: Brookhaven National Laboratory Location: United States |
If the publisher's location is known, but not printed on the item: | Include the location in [square brackets] | Name: United States. Patent Office. Location: [Washington D.C.] |
Date
Overview:
|
1968-07-24 2012 1983-04 2001-23 |
Common Issues:
If the issue covers multiple months, seasons, etc.: |
|
1973-04 1959-23 |
Language
Overview:
|
English Spanish |
Common Issues:
If the item is in a foreign language not on the list: | Choose "Other" and add a Display Note | Language: Other Display Note: Includes passages in Vietnamese. |
If the item is in a foreign language and you cannot determine the language: | Choose "Other" and add a Display Note | Language: Other Display Note: Language of the text is unknown. |
Description
Overview:
Content Description |
|
Agency strategic plan for the Texas Department of Motor
Vehicles describing the organization's planned services, activities, and other goals during fiscal years 2013 through 2017. Journal published by the Texas State Historical Association containing articles written by members of the Junior Historians about various aspects of Texas history. Biannual publication "devoted to the rich history of Dallas and North Central Texas" as a way to "examine the many historical legacies--social, ethnic, cultural, political--which have shaped the modern city of Dallas and the region around it." This issue focuses on "Law and Disorder." Yearbook for Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene, Texas includes photos of and information about the university, student body, professors, and organizations. Name indexes start on page 314. Weekly newspaper from Livingston, Texas that includes local, state and national news along with advertising. |
Physical Description |
|
254 p. : ill., ports. ; 32 cm. 82 p. ; 23 cm. 12, HC12 p. : ill. ; 27 cm. 53-102 p. : ill ; 28 cm. [357] p. ; 28 cm. 4 p. |
Common Issues:
If the frequency of the publication changes: | Change the content description to match, or remove the frequency reference, if it isn't consistent | |
If the pages are not numbered or the pagination changes many times: | Include the total number of pages in [square brackets] | [44] p. ; 25 cm. |
If the pages are numbered continuously across each volume: |
|
Physical Description: 60-88 p. : ill. ; 28 cm. Display Note: Pagination is continuous across volumes. |
Subject
Overview:
- Add terms that would aid users in finding the items
- In most cases, there will be a combination of terms that are generally applicable to the entire publication and those that are specific to an issue
- Some kinds of publications (e.g., annual reports) may tend to only have general terms
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) |
|
United States. Bureau of Mines -- Periodicals. Texas Tech University -- Curricula -- Catalogs. Texas. Office of Public Insurance Counsel -- Appropriations and expenditures -- Periodicals. North Texas State University -- Students -- Yearbooks. |
University of North Texas Libraries Browse Subjects (UNTL-BS) |
|
Government and Law - State Agencies Business, Economics and Finance - Medicine - Doctors Education - Colleges and Universities |
Keywords |
|
newsletters strategic plans annual reports water conservation |
Common Issues:
If you cannot find an appropriate UNTL-BS term for a Portal item: |
|
Government and Law Social Life and Customs |
Coverage
Overview:
Place |
|
United States - Texas United States - California - Los Angeles County - Los Angeles |
Dates |
|
Coverage Date: 1942/1943 Coverage Date: 1963-09-01/1964-08-31 |
Time Period |
|
mod-tim (Into Modern Times 1939-Present) |
Common Issues:
If the timeframe is known but ambiguous (e.g., fiscal year 1970): |
|
Coverage Date: 1969-01-01/1970-12-31 Coverage Date: 1969~/1970 |
Citation
Overview:
- For some types of serials (especially those that have multiple parts – e.g., volume, issue, etc.), citation segments can be parsed out
- Each part should go in a separate entry with an appropriate label
Publication Title |
|
Scouting Las Sabinas Southwest Retort Journal of Applied Rehabilitation Counseling |
Volume/Issue |
|
Volume: 40 Issue: 2 |
Pages |
|
Page Start: 211 Page End: 282 Pages: 72 |
Common Issues:
If the volume/issue/other numbers are known to be incorrect: | Use the correct numbers and ensure that the error has been documented in a Display Note | Main Title: Chieftain, Volume [1], Number [2], October 1952 Display Note: "Vol. 30, No. 3." Volume: 1 Number: 2 |
Resource Type/Format
Overview:
|
Journal/Magazine/Newsletter (text_journal) Report (text_report) Yearbook (text_yearbook) Book (text_book) |
|
text |
Common Issues:
If you are uncertain about the type: | Choose the type that most closely matches, based on the glossary |
Identifier
Overview:
|
OCLC: 16855105 ISSN: 0038-478X LCCN: 12-20299 TxDOC: A900.3 ST82 |
Common Issues:
If you do not have an OCLC record or standard identifiers: | Identifiers are not required and not all serials have externally-assigned identifiers (e.g., ISSNs or LCCNs). If there are identifiers on the title or cover page (e.g., report numbers, series numbers, etc.), include those with appropriate labels; otherwise, leave the field blank. | Report Number: LF-16 |
Resources
Selected Web Links:
- OCLC Worldcat
- Worldcat via FirstSearch database (Requires UNT authentication)
More Guidelines: