Series & Serials
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 |
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Items related by chronology or created in a specific time period that may not be a calendar year. |
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Series titles authorized by the Library of Congress (generally used for government documents) |
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Archival collections and/or archival series |
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Published series |
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General categories of items within a collection that may improve browsing |
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For series titles to be most useful, the patterns for similar titles need to be consistent, particularly for chronological titles (e.g., Fiscal Year YYYY) where a single year generally refers to a range of time other than a calendar year. So, Fiscal Year 1970 would start summer/fall 1969 and end around summer 1970; Academic Year 1932 would start with the fall semester in 1931 and end in summer 1932.
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
Guidelines |
Examples |
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Main Title |
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Prickly Pear, Yearbook of Abilene Christian College, 1963 |
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City Water Board of San Antonio Annual Report: 1970 |
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University of North Texas Requests for Legislative Appropriations: 2010-2011 |
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Texas Veterans Commission Strategic Plan: Fiscal Years 2013-2017 |
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Interim Report to the 83rd Texas Legislature: House Committee on Natural Resources |
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Yankee Core Evaluation Program Quarterly Progress Report: April-June 1964 |
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Report of the Twenty-Seventh National Conference on Weights and Measures, 1937 |
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Proceedings of the Workshop on Techniques for Measurement of Thermodynamic Properties, Albany, Oregon, August 21-23, 1979 |
{title} ({city, st.}), Vol. #, No. #, Ed. #, {day, date} |
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Serial Title |
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Added Title |
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Alternate Title |
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Parallel Title |
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Children with Special Health Care Needs: Newsletter for Families, January 2013 |
Series Title |
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Sort Title |
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Uniform Title |
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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.”
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If a title includes abbreviations such as “Vol.”, “No.”, etc: |
Write out full words in the title and include a note |
Main Title: Cheiftain, Volume 12, Number 3,
March 1964
Display Note: “Vol. 12, Number 3.”
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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 the 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
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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.”
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Main Title: Chieftain, Volume [1], Number [2], October 1952 |
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
Guidelines |
Examples |
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The primary editor(s)/author(s)/compiler(s) of the issue should be listed as creator(s) In most cases, the first creator is the organization that publishes or sponsors the serial |
Name: North Texas State Teacher’s College Type: Organization Role: Author |
Name: Perryman, H. A. Type: Person Role: Editor Info: Editor-in-Chief |
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Name: Kraft, Michelle Type: Person Role: Editor Info: Co-Editor |
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Secondary agents should be listed as contributors, e.g.:
For formal journals, contributing writers are generally listed as contributors (role: author) with the title(s) of their contributions in the info portion of the field |
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 the Superintendent as Sensemaker |
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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: |
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If the role of persons is vague (e.g., “Contributors”): |
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If issues have an extremely large number of contributors (i.e., more than 20), especially with unnamed roles: |
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Publisher
Overview:
Guidelines |
Examples |
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Name: United States. Government Printing
Office.
Location: Washington D.C.
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Name: Texas Commission on Environmental
Quality
Location: Austin, Texas
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Common Issues:
If the publisher’s location is unknown or unclear: |
Leave the location portion blank or generalize (e.g., a state or country only, 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:
Guidelines |
Examples |
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1968-07-24 2012 1983-04 2001-23 |
Common Issues:
If the issue is a seasonal publication: |
Some publications will list a specific issue date on the cover or title page, or will have a statement about publication frequency, often where staff are listed (e.g., “Published quarterly, every February, May, August, and November…”) – in that case, use the corresponding month, otherwise use the season |
1973-04 1959-23 |
If the issue covers multiple months, seasons, etc. |
For regularly published journals or magazines (e.g., January/February issue), use the first month/date (Generally a bimonthly publication is issued at the start of the listed period, with content/ announcements over that time) |
2000-01 |
For reports that describe activities, or work completed in a timeframe (e.g., “…for year ending August 31 1945”), use a reasonable date just after the report’s scope – e.g., the first month in the next fiscal year, the season after a quarterly report, or the next year for an annual calendar-year report (Generally these reports are describing work completed so they have to be published after the year/month/etc.) |
1990-23 1963-03 |
Language
Overview:
Guidelines |
Examples |
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Include the language(s) of the item, chosen from the list |
English Spanish |
Common Issues:
If the item is in a non-English 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 non-English language and you cannot determine the language: |
Language: Other Display Note: Language of the text is unknown |
Description
Overview:
Guidelines |
Examples |
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Content Description |
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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. |
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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.” |
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Yearbook for Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene, Texas including photos of and information about the university, student body, professors, and organizations. Name indexes start on page 314. |
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Weekly newspaper from Livingston, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising. |
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Monthly report outlining tax revenues and remittances for alcoholic beverages, listed by city, for January 2021. It also compares the statistics to the same period for the previous year. |
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Physical Description |
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254 p. : ill., ports. ; 32 cm. 82 p. ; 23 cm. 12, HC12 p. : ill. ; 27 cm. iv, [141] p. [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 |
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If the pages are not numbered or the pagination changes many times: |
Include the total number of content pages in [square brackets] (i.e., pages that would have page numbers if they were printed/sequential) |
[44] p. ; 25 cm. |
If the pages are numbered continuously across each volume: |
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Physical Description: [28] p. : ill. ; 28 cm. Citation Page Start: 60 Citation Page End: 88 |
Physical Description: vii, 180 p. Citation Page Start: 1 Citation Page End: 180 |
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Display Note: Pagination is continuous across volumes. |
Subject
Overview:
Add terms that would aid users in finding the items
Use terms that are generally applicable to the entire publication, but you may also include some terms that are specific to an issue
Type |
Guidelines |
Examples |
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Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) |
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Library of Congress Genre/Form Terms (LCGFT) |
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University of North Texas Libraries Browse Subjects (UNTL-BS) |
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Keywords |
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Common Issues:
If you cannot find an appropriate UNTL-BS term for a Portal item: |
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Government and Law Social Life and Customs |
Coverage
Overview:
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Guidelines |
Examples |
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Place Name |
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Dates |
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Time Period |
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mod-tim (Into Modern Times 1939-Present) |
Common Issues:
If the timeframe is known but ambiguous (e.g., fiscal year 1970): |
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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
Type |
Guidelines |
Examples |
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Publication Title |
This is the Serial Title for the item |
Scouting Las Sabinas Southwest Retort Journal of Applied Rehabilitation Counseling |
Volume/Issue |
Include the volume and/or issue number(s) as single Arabic numerals |
Volume: 40 Issue: 2 |
Pages |
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Page Start: 211 Page End: 282 |
Common Issues:
If the volume/issue/other numbers are known to be incorrect: |
Use the correct numbers in the Citation field and ensure that the error has been documented in a Display Note |
Main Title: The Message, Volume [3], Number 24, April 8, 1949 Volume: 3 Issue: 24 Display Note: The volume number is misprinted as “Vol. II.” |
If the issue has multiple issue numbers: |
Add separate entries for each issue number |
Main Title: The Beekeeper’s Item, Volume 5, Number 11-12, November-December 1921 Volume: 5 Issue: 11 Issue: 12 |
Resource Type/Format
Overview:
Guidelines |
Examples |
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Choose the most appropriate resource type |
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The format should match the type |
text |
Common Issues:
If you are uncertain about the type: |
Choose the type that most closely matches, based on the glossary |
Identifier
Overview:
Guidelines |
Examples |
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Include any known identifiers on the item or from an OCLC/catalog record, e.g.:
Note that most identifiers will be the same for every item record in the same serial |
OCLC: 16855105 ISSN: 0038-478X LCCN: 12020299 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 |
If you are using an LCCN from an OCLC or catalog record: |
You will need to verify that it has been normalized to a standardized format (e.g., no spaces or punctuation) and that it is still a valid identifier in the LC catalog |
LCCN: 2001201316 LCCN: sf93091440 |
Resources
Selected Web Links:
Worldcat via FirstSearch (Accessible to UNT staff/students)
More Guidelines: