Changes Requiring a New Description: What to Consider

Owned by Ronald Flewellen
Last updated: Nov 05, 2024
2 min read

Changes to a serial resource may be Major or Minor.  Major Changes usually require a new description for the resource. Minor changes will not require a new description but will necessitate revising the existing description in some way in most situations.

What constitutes a Major Change has been established by RDA and adopted by CONSER.

Changes to the following elements or areas may constitute a major change depending on the situation.

  1. Title proper

  2. Authorized Access Point representing a corporate body when used in conjunction with the Preferred Title representing a work to construct an authorized access point ($130 qualifier).

  3. Corporate body when used as an addition to the authorized access point representing a work

  4. Preferred Title for different language expressions

  5. Edition statement

  6. Mode of issuance (RDA 1.6.2.1

⮚How Changes are Detected

There are a number of ways in which changes may be discovered. When a cataloger is creating a description with a run of a serial in hand, the change may be detected from looking at the pieces in hand, or a related description may be found that suggests a change.

In other cases, changes will be found by staff checking in the serial. For online resources, the change may be noticed first by a patron or reference librarian. Once the change is detected, the cataloger must then decide whether it is major or minor (CCM:16.2.2).

Occasionally, catalogers receive information from publishers about important forthcoming changes, for example, changes in publisher or issuing body. The MARC 21 588 field is used to record this type of information in advance of the change.

⮚Major or Minor Change: Things to Consider

The Cataloger should consider all of the following factors in assessing whether the observed change is major or minor and if major, whether it warrants a new description. 

RDA Guidelines for what constitutes a major change requiring a new description. The first step is to test the change against the major change instructions for the element undergoing the change and whether the change fits into one of those exceptions outlined in RDA: 2.3.2.13.2. 

Evidence that another cataloger has determined the change major or minor. If it is questionable whether the change should have been treated as a major change, but another CONSER cataloger has already created a record, prefer to let the record stand. CONSER policy is to accept the work of other CONSER catalogers in most cases. One cataloger may have only one issue while another has a more complete run. (CCM: 16.2.2b)

Other information in hand. There may be information available from the publisher’s Web site that explains the change

Publisher's intent? Did the publisher really intend to change the title proper and will future issues look the same? However, not all intentional changes are major! If a change is clearly minor according to RDA, it is not treated as major even when the publisher makes it clear that the change was intentional. (CCM: 16.2.2.c)