The statement "the titles proper are too vague" is part of the problem the library world has with understanding these kinds of titles. The "title proper" is NOT vague, because the titles proper in the example below are not:

California practice guide

Rather, the titles proper are:

California practice guide. Bankruptcy

California practice guide. Civil trials and evidence

California practice guide. Landlord-tenant

When a number and/or name of part is included with the title, the *entire string* constitutes the title proper. No part of it stands alone.

One of my dreams is that one day we'll actually have a way to unambiguously code the title proper in a *single* element, so that parts of it don't get inadvertently truncated or forgotten about. Likewise the preferred title (not authorized access point, but preferred title—those are different things).

Kevin M. Randall

Principal Serials Cataloger

Northwestern University Library

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(847) 491-2939

Proudly wearing the sensible shoes since 1978!

From: Program for Cooperative Cataloging [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Christopher Thomas
Sent: Thursday, September 11, 2014 3:57 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [PCCLIST] NARs no2011170134 and no2013027752

245 |n and |p allow catalogers to show part/whole relationships in titles. For example, we have

245 00|aCalifornia practice guide. |p Bankruptcy

245 00|aCalifornia practice guide. |p Civil trials and evidence

245 00|aCalifornia practice guide. |p Landlord-tenant

Some catalogers would treat California practice guide as a series, and enter the title of the part as the title proper. The trouble with that is the titles proper are too vague and do not adequately convey the content. The title of the whole is needed to provide context.

It’s too bad these subfields cause problems in OCLC, but if indexed properly they can be helpful. In Innovative/Millennium, for example, 245 |p can be indexed separately for title searches, so if just the part title is searched it will be retrieved. We normally enter a 246 corresponding to the 245 |p, but this duplication shouldn’t be necessary.

Christopher Thomas, M.L.S. | Electronic Resources and Metadata Librarian

(949) 824-7681 | fax (949) 824-6700 | [log in to unmask]

Law Library · University of California · Irvine

www.law.uci.edu.library

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