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there arises the concept of a periodical. Essentially, then, a periodical is a work whose parts are issued periodically, that is, whose parts bear dates of one kind or another. From the point of view of the Anglo-American cataloging code, though, there is a limitation: for an item to be considered a periodical, it must be issued more frequently than once a year. So, on technical grounds, an annual, biennial, or triennial is regarded by catalogers as a serial publication, not a periodical. On the other hand, the North American text of the cataloging code excludes newspapers from its definition of periodicals, whereas the British text includes them.

Seriality is most commonly expressed on publications by means of cardinal numbers in the form of arabic numerals. Present-day practice in libraries is to convert roman numerals into arabic for record purposes and on bindings. Ordinal numbers tend to be found on annual reports, the sessional papers of international and other recurring conferences, and in other cases when the numeral in the edition statement is pressed into service as the numbering device for the serial publication. As with dates, there can be complications with numbers, and this quite apart from mistakes in numbering, which are fairly frequent on the issues of newspapers. It is not uncommon for a serial publication to have more than one set of numbers. An issue can be called volume 10, part 6, or it can carry one number because it is part of a main series and another number because it is at the same time part of a subseries. When only one term is on the issue itself, it is customary to omit the word "volume" or its equivalent from library records and bindings, but in compound situations each of the terms may be given along with the numbers. Occasionally letters are substituted for numerals, especially in the subdivisions of learned society and other scientific publications. So the Journal of Polymer Science is subarranged by letters: part A-1, polymer chemistry; A-2, polymer physics; B, polymer letters; and C, polymer symposia.

Often both periodical and serial numbers occur on one and the same item. The numbers then duplicate each other, at least as far as concerns either the arrangement of the parts of a volume or the posting on library checking records. The dual system is followed extensively in the United States because it is required by the regulations which govern second-class mailing privileges.

In themselves the characteristics of periodicity and seriality are not always sufficient to distinguish between a serial publication and a nonserial work which (1) looks as though it may be the first volume of a new serial or (2) is issued in parts, sometimes as unbound numbers, sometimes, as a bound volume in what will eventually be completed as a monographic set. Schneider put his finger on two factors which in doubtful cases could possibly aid in distinguishing serials from nonserials. He found the first difference between the two types of material in the publication program for serials: "By nature they are unlimited. They may be suspended, but they do not conclude. External circumstances, but scarcely exhaustion of the subject, bring about their end. A second difference lies in the number of their authors. Apart from collections and composite works, books possess more than one author only by way of exception. With periodicals it is the reverse.'

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Handover expresses the bibliographer's point of view when she says: "It is obvious that a periodical publication differs in format from a book, and that it does so because it must be printed and distributed at regular intervals; the shorter the intervals the greater the distinction in format. Because these publications must be produced regularly, the price must be kept low; the more frequent the intervals, the lower the price. It is periodicity that distinguishes newspapers, journals, magazines, reviews and even some annuals from books and from jobbing (posters, cards, tickets, etc.), and it is periodicity that dictates format and price.

"Moreover, a periodical publication is distinguished from a book or a piece of jobbing because it is dated and numbered. By giving this information the publisher indicates that at a certain interval the next number will appear. The method of dating often reveals this interval: daily, weekly, monthly or quarterly, The number identifies the place in the series and also serves as a promise by the publisher to produce further numbers."

Schneider and Handover, working toward the definition of a serial, reflect the needs of the bibliographer and historian, both of whom require guidance as

3 Georg Schneider, Handbuch der Bibliographie (4th ed.: Leipzig: (Hiersemann, 1930). p. 369.

4 P. M. Handover. Printing in London from 1476 to Modern Times (London: Allen & Unwin, 1960), p. 98–99.

they face problems of inclusion and exclusion in their bibliographical and historical studies. But these scholars tend to represent a world in which there are inherent difficulties in sorting out the forerunners of serial publications from conventional serials, difficulties which pervade research into ancient, medieval, and more particularly early modern works. For such a reason it was possible for Mott, in his History of American Magazines, to avoid a definition. Instead he could say that in the United States the terms journal, magazine, newspaper, periodical, etc., "are all more or less indistinct and confused in common usage, and the more so when one looks back over the last two hundred years. It would be pedantry to insist upon erecting . . . arbitrary distinctions which do not actually exist in usage, and it would be bad philology and bad history as well." He is talking of American conditions when he says that format is the decisive characteristic of a newspaper, because in Great Britain, for example, book format was standard practice for all publications until the 1640s, when a distintcive format began to emerge for newspapers."

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A sound definition of a serial and, for that matter, of a newspaper or periodical has long been sought, especially in book-trade, legal and library circles, as well as by bibliographers and literary historians. The futility of the quest can be seen from the attempts made by Du Prel,' Kienningers, and Lehmann. The last named, for instance, is at pains to list nine characteristics of periodicals: association with an editorial office, collectiveness, continuity, mechanical reproduction, periodicity, popularization, publication program, timeliness, and universality. After thirty-six pages of elaboration, in the course of which he points out that libraries adopt a very wide interpretation of what a serial is, Lehmann arrives at the following definition :

"A periodical is a printed work appearing regularly, founded with the expectation of unlimited duration, which is not predominantly concerned with events of the day, or else it pays attention only to the latest developments in a special field. Its issues are manifold both in their contents and in their layout, yet they present-the whole continuing series of them-an internal and external unity which is brought about by established editorial policy. For the most part periodicals serve limited fields, the extent of their audience is therefore varied. In their form they correspond to the needs of a circle of readers who are often widely scattered and who are accordingly only loosely connected with the place of publication."

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A number of writers have pointed out that the connotation of the various terms applied to serial publications has changed from century to century. Kirchner, for instance, has defined a seventeenth- or eighteenth-century periodical," but his definition will not suffice for later times. Likewise, the close connection that exists between periodicals and the postal service has been brought out."2 That connection developed in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries; before that, periodicals tended to be sold issue by issue as though they were books, so much so that in 1716 it was suggested that the name "bookstore" be supplanted by "periodical store."

19 13

Contemporaneously in the United States a periodical must satisfy the following requirements if it is to qualify for second-class mailing privileges:

1. The newspaper or periodical must be regularly issued at stated intervals. as frequently as four times a year, bear a date of issue, and be numbered consecutively.

Frank L. Mott, A History of American Magazines (Cambridge: Harvard Univ. Pr., 1939). v. 1, p. 8-9.

6 Handover, Printing in London, p. 116.

7 Maximilian Du Prel. Der Zeitungsbeitrag im Urheberrecht unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Unterscheidung zwischen Zeitung und Zeitschrift und die Autorrechte (Zeitung und Leben, no. 5 [Munich, 1931]).

Werner Kienningers, Die Einteilung der periodischen Presschriften (Straubing: Attenkofer, 1932).

9 Ernst H. Lehmann. Einführung in die Zeitschriftenkunde (Leipzig: Hiersemann, 1936). 10 Lehmann. Einführung, p. 81.

11 Joachim Kirchner, Die Grundlagen des deutschen Zeitschriftenwesens (Leipzig: Hiersemann. 1928). v. 1, p. 32-33. Kirchner's definition, as well as his seven characteristics for periodicals as they were at the end of the eighteenth century can be found in David A. Kronick. A History of Scientific and Technical Periodicals; the Origins and Development of the Scientific and Technological Press, 1665-1790 (Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow, 1962). p. 29-32.

12 Gerhard Menz. Die Zeitschrift, ihre Entwicklung und ihre Lebensbedingungen; eine wirtschaftsgeschichtliche Studie (Stuttgart: Poeschel, 1928), p. 121 ff. At the time of the manuscript newsletters there was a different kind of connection between periodicals and the postmaster.

13 Lehmann, Einführung, p. 4.

2. It must be issued from a known publication office.

3. It must be formed of printed sheets.

4. It must be originated and published for the dissemination of information of a public character, or it must be devoted to literature, the sciences, arts, or some special industry.

5. It must have a legitimate list of subscribers."

Legal definitions of a periodical or a serial stem from statutory law relating to second-class mail, which consists of newspapers and periodicals, or else from cases in court. The following, while it is not a good definition, is still good law, coming as it does from the leading case:

"A periodical, as ordinarily understood, is a publication appearing at stated intervals, each number of which contains a variety of original articles by different authors, devoted either to general literature or some branch of learning or to a special class of subjects. Ordinarily each number is incomplete in itself, and indicates a relation with prior or subsequent numbers of the same series. It implies a continuity of literary character, a connection between the different numbers of the series in the nature of the articles appearing in them, whether they be successive chapters of the same story or novel or essays upon subjects pertaining to general literature.15

A 1967 case, Fifield v. American Automobile Association,18 hinged on whether the AAA Northwestern Tour Book, published annually, would be classed as a periodical. The court held that the publication was a book, not a periodical. Two cases were cited in which a work was ruled to be a periodical: in 1892 a weekly magazine of serial stories and in 1945 a monthly magazine of cartoons. In two other cases the work was ruled to be a book: the 1904 Houghton case, which involved a series of paper-covered items, consecutively numbered, each one of which contained a novel, short stories, or poems; and, in 1912, a weekly each issue of which contained a complete story. In the 1967 AAA case the test of "common understanding" was reaffirmed; in the Houghton case the Supreme Court had ruled that, in addition to having periodicity, a work must be a periodical in the ordinary meaning of the term. In the AAA case the court said it was advised that in library science six months is the upper limit for a periodical: that is, a publication issued twice a year or less is classed as a periodical or serial, whereas one issued annually or in single volumes is classed as a book. Actually the library ruling is that a periodical must generally be issued more frequently than annually.

In both the British and North American texts of the Anglo-American cataloging code a serial is defined as “a publication issued in successive parts bearing numerical or chronological designations and intended to be continued indefinitely. This statement, identical in the two texts, is followed by a sentence which is punctuated differently in the two editions, and the punctuation implies variant practices. The British text reads: "Serials include periodicals (e.g., newspapers, journals, and the memoirs, proceedings, transactions, etc., of societies), annuals (reports, yearbooks, etc.), and numbered monographic series. " The North American text reads: "Serials include periodicals, newspapers, annuals (reports, yearbooks, etc.), the journals, memoirs, proceedings, transactions, etc., of societies, and numbered monographic series. Similarly, the definition of a periodical is identical: "a serial appearing or intended to appear indefinitely at regular or stated intervals, generally more frequently than annually, each issue of which normally contains separate articles, stories, or other writings." The British text stops at that point, but the North American text goes on to say: "Newspapers disseminating general news, and the proceedings, papers, or other publications of corporate bodies primarily related to their meetings are not included in this term." 19

18

These definitions reflect much more the periodicals of the early 1900s than the extremely varied product of today, and their intention carries on the unsatisfactory separation of society publications from periodicals, more particularly in their subject cataloging. There are extremely important periodicals, notably

14 United States Code, Title 39. Section 4354.

15 Houghton v. Payne (1904) 194 U.S. 88, 24 S. Ct. 590, 48 L. Ed. 888, affirming (1903) 22 App. D.C. 234.

18 262 F. Supp. 253 (1967).

17 Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules: British Text (London: The Library Assn., 1967). p. 268.

18 Anglo-American Cataloging Rules: North American Text (Chicago: American Library Assn.. 1967). p. 346.

19 Ibid., p. 345.

national bibliographies and statistical publications, as well as others, which do not fit the Anglo-American cataloging code definition.

Ulrich's International Periodicals Directory has adopted another American Library Association definition which is more satisfactory: "A periodical is a serial publication which constitutes one issue in a continuous series under the same title, usually published at regular intervals over an indefinite period, individual issues in the series being numbered consecutively or each issue being dated." ." 2o The directory also includes United States government periodicals, which are usually listed in the February issue of United States Government Publications: Monthly Catalog. It also lists newspapers which do not appear more often than five days a week.

The inclusive term "serial" has established itself in American library usage. The word is in the title of major tools such as New Serial Titles and the Union List of Serials, and since 1942, when the Central Serial Record (now the Serial Record Division) of the Library of Congress was first mentioned, the Annual Report of the Librarian of Congress has made frequent and important reference to serial publications, whereas it paid scant attention to them earlier. European practice has generally inclined to "periodical" as the inclusive term. As evidence there is the British Union Catalogue of Periodicals (not "of Serials"), as well as the World List of Scientific Periodicals. Both Davinson 21 and Grenfell 22 elect to continue the British preference for "periodical" as against "serial." Grenfell says: "The term 'serial' is becoming unpopular and a more comprehensive interpretation is being given to the term "periodical." The latter term finds almost universal favour in other European countries, added to which it is one which is more easily interpreted by the layman. Whether a distinction is necessary is a highly debatable point and warrants the closest examination by those responsible for the various aspects of international standardization in library work." 23

Grenfell was writing before the adoption in 1967 of the word "serial" in the British text of the Anglo-American cataloging code. Added to that development is the position taken by the editor of the British Union Catalogue of Periodicals, who says:

"As for the class of document I am mainly concerned with, it will have been noticed that I have referred principally to 'serial publications,' when ‘periodical' is the word used in the name of the publication of which I am editor, as well as in BS 2509 (1959). 'Serial' is to become the preferred term with 'periodical' representing a sub-class of the term 'serial.' Although I do not propose to advance any definitions myself, I would point out that any definition for 'serial' will have to include publications appearing in a continuous, indefinite or ‘openended' sequence under a common title and with some sort of sequence designation. 'Serial' will have to be distinguished from 'periodical' and 'series'; it will also need to specify a relationship to the term 'monograph,' since a 'monograph series' is a 'serial.' The term 'monograph' is often taken as being the opposite of the word 'serial,' and can be applied to single works whose nature can be described as 'polygraphic' in that they consist of papers, or sections, by different hands, such as a symposium or a manual. The word 'symposium' opens the way to other classes of document, serial or non-serial, monographic or polygraphic, which need precise definition, such as research and development reports, administrative reports, conference proceedings, etc." 24

The great advantage which the inclusive term "serial" enjoys is that it is not ambiguous, even though in some respects it may of necessity be vague. "Periodical," on the other hand, is decidedly ambiguous, in addition to being somewhat vague; it may mean "serial" in general, as it tends to in Europe, or it may, in Europe and elsewhere, mean "journal" or "magazine" in particular. Beyond this, in subject cataloging a periodical issued by a society was formerly distinguished from one issued by a nonsociety, particularly when it contained the transactions and other official notices of the organization. So there arose mutually exclusive subject headings such as Mathematics-Periodicals and Mathematics-Societies, a practice that persisted at the Library of Congress until 1971 (see chapter 13).

20 This definition is taken from Library Statistics, a Handbook of Concepts, Definitions, and Terminology (Chicago: American Library Assn., 1966), p. 139.

21 D. E. Davinson. The Periodicals Collection; Its Purpose and Uses in Libraries (London: Deutsch. 1969), p. 33-38.

23 David Grenfell, Periodicals and Serials; Their Treatment in Special Libraries (2d ed.; London: Aslib. 1965), p. 1, 183-88.

23 Ibid., p. 188.

24 Porter, "Standards," p. 30-31.

It is clear that a truly precise series of definitions, if indeed they can ever be contrived, will entail a large amount of elaboration, in part because the essential characteristic of a serial-namely, its formation by periodical or serial numbering is by no means always present. On the one hand, there is a whole category of publications known to librarians as unnumbered series; there are numbered series whose first or later volumes lack numbering; there is an increasing number of serials which are republished in simple monographic form; and there are serial publications, many of them pseudoserials, whose numerical or chronological arrangement is derived from the edition statement or from the date of publication as given in the imprint-even from the sales number, as in the case of some League of Nations and United Nations documents. On the other hand, there are the so-called author series (that is, successions of works by a single author but held together by a serial name and numbering), which most libraries do not regard as serials, and there are nonserials (for example, the Pauly-Wissowa Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft) which have all the earmarks of serials: their volumes are numbered, they never seem to exhaust their subjects, they have a plurality of authors, and so on.

One other significant factor must be borne in mind. The most experienced serial librarians cannot always tell whether an item is a serial or a nonserial when it first appears. On occasion they counsel treatment as a monograph until such time as it may be necessary to reopen the case, i.e., on receipt of other issues; or a work, originally thought to be a serial publication, may have to be recataloged as a monograph because no further issues ever appeared. It is all very well to say that periodically and seriality are infallible signs of a serial; difficulties arise because the intent of the publisher is not always known or ascertainable. It is not at all an uncommon experience for a library to decide on the evidence of the first issue, or what may be taken possibly as the first issue. that a work is or is not a serial, only to reverse the decision when the publications' true character has at length been discerned. The editors of the Union List of Serials and New Serial Titles have frequently been confronted by titles which some libraries have treated as serials while others have taken them to be monographs, further evidence of the uncertainties which prevail through lack of an exhaustive, authoritative definition.

On all counts, therefore, it seems wiser to adopt a working definition than to confuse both theory and practice with endless exceptions and borderline cases. In these respects librarians are like the bibliographers and historians who look for a definition of terms such as "newspaper" and "periodical" so they can tell whether a title should be included in their studies or not. The librarian needs definitions to enable him to channel publications as surely as he can along the special lines which have been laid down for monographs, newspapers, periodicals, and society publications.

It was customary once to try to make hard and fast distinctions, particularly among government publications, newspapers, periodicals, and society publications. Nowadays there is a tendency to operate with as much latitude as is possible. Bella E. Shachtman represented this trend when, in the National Agricultural Library, she interpreted the term "serial" broadly "to include any title issued in parts which is incomplete in the library collection, thus periodicals, annuals, biennials, and even incomplete works-in-parts are considered serials." The Enoch Pratt Free Library, which formerly drew a rather interesting distinction between periodicals and serials, has now eliminated the distinction and employs just the term "serials." Within its Processing Division it has a Serials Unit which is charged with the responsibility for checking in all serials, placing subscriptions and claiming missing issues, preparing serials for binding, and maintaining a shelf-list for bound volumes.

20

In keeping with the times, then, a serial can be defined for library purposes as any item which lends itself to serial treatment in a library; that is, to listing in its checking records, whether they are manual or computerized; to cataloging and classifying as a serial; and to shelving in the current-periodical room or among the bound volumes of serials in the bookstacks. It is not necessary for a publication to go through all these serial stages; the current checking records

25 "Current Serial Records-An Experiment." College and Research Libraries 14:240 (1953). In an earlier article. "Simplification of Serial Records Work," Serial Slants 3:6 (1952). Miss Shachtman says simply: "Our definition of a serial is: Any title issued in parts, which is incomplete in the library collection."

20 For the former practice see footnote 25, p. 16-17 of the first edition of Serial Publications.

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