All item records created for newly bound serials must comply with the guidelines outlined in this document. It is not necessary to edit previously created item records unless the serial is being transferred to the LSF. If a serial is being transferred to LSF, please consult the Creating/Updating Item Records for LSF Transfer Serials document.

A new serial item record must contain the caption, enumeration, and year of the bound volume. This is the same information that is included in the holdings record (MFHD), except that each item record only records the caption information for the pieces that are included in the bound volume. If any issues were missing at the time the volume was bound this must be reflected in the item record as it is in the holdings record.

You may use the links below to access the sections of this document that outline and provide examples of item records for serials, including those which require pagination or article numbers, are missing issues, or are otherwise out of the ordinary.

Parts of an Item Record | Simple Serial Item Record | How to Record Enumeration & Chronology | Records with Pagination or Article Numbers | Double Volumes & Multi-Years | Records for Volumes with Missing Issues | Caption Abbreviations

Figure 1 is a screenshot of a sample item record with the fields labeled.

Caption information like the caption information recorded in the MFHD (holdings record) is recorded in the Enum field. The year is recorded in the Chron field. Do not record anything in the Year, Caption or Spine fields. Where they are required pagination or article numbers can be recorded in the Free text field. The Copy number field should contain a 0 (zero).

If one complete volume of a serial is bound together, and there are no issues missing from the volume, record the volume number in the Enum field and the year in the Chron field. See Figure 2 for an example in which all issues for 1959, comprising v.2, of The Physics of Fluids are bound in a single volume:

Use captions in the Enumeration field of serial item records. Captions include the words or abbreviations for volume, Band, Heft, part, number, tome, etc.. In other words, when recording enumeration in an item record use the enumeration that appears on the actual piece, and the same caption abbreviations that are used in MFHD records. Figure 3 illustrates an example of caption information recorded the enumeration field:

As stated above, when a bound volume represents an entire volume of a serial you may record just the volume number after the caption without recording the issue numbers, unless there is an issue missing. For information about recording missing issues in item records see Records for volumes with Missing Issues. For more information about the punctuation to be used in recording captions and enumeration please see Punctuation Conventions.

The year should be recorded in the Chron field. Please do not put the year in the Year field.

If a subject selector has indicated that pagination or article numbers are required for the item records of a particular serial you should record the pagination or article numbers in the Free Text field. In the past it was common to include pagination for many serials that no longer need pagination. Please do not continue to add pagination or article numbers unless specifically instructed to do so. For an example of pagination recorded in an item record see Figure 5 below.

If a serial is published with double or multiple volume numbers, or with multiple years a diagonal (/) should be used to record the enumeration or year information. Figure 4 shows an example of a serial item record in which the double volume number of 214/215 was issued for the year 2000. Note that there is a difference between a bound volume which contains multiple volume numbers or years of a serial, and a serial that is published with multiple volume numbers or multiple years.

If a serial was issued with a mutli-year chronology the Chron field would contain the two years with a diagonal between them. For example if v.214/215 above was for a single period of coverage that included 2000 and 2001, as recorded on the piece itself, the Chron field would contain the text: 2000/2001.

If a volume is bound incomplete or bound with missing issues the item record should record the issues that are bound. Missing issues are indicated with commas as they are in the MFHD record. If pagination or article numbers are required the pagination or article numbers in the Free Text field should reflect the missing pages/articles. An example is given in Figure 5:

Plural forms of the terms listed above have the same abbreviations as their singular forms. For example, the abbreviation for volumes is v., and the abbreviation for numbers is no.. NOTE: If there is no abbreviation for a caption here or in Appendix B of the AACR2 2002 Revision (see: http://www.library.yale.edu/cataloging/abbrev.htm) use the full form of the term.