The choice of the title proper (acronym or complete title) is determined by the way it is presented in the first issue of the serial publication. The chosen main title should be maintained for as long as possible.

When the acronym is the only information in the primary source it is regarded as the title proper, even if it is (part of) a logo or something like that. If the complete form appears in sources 2-3 it is given between square brackets as other title information. When the complete form of the title is taken from source 4 it is given in a note and not given as other title information. In both cases an extra title entry is given for the complete form of the title.

e.g.

When the title consists of an acronym that is more prominent than the complete form that is also on the title page, the acronym is given as the title proper and the complete form as other title information. An extra title entry is given for the complete form.

e.g.

When the complete form of the title and the acronym are not exactly the same the procedures described above still apply. A change in the complete form should be given in a note; an extra title entry should also be given.

When the complete form is more prominently displayed on the title page than the acronym, or when the acronym has been printed as a logo, the complete form of the title becomes the title proper. The acronym is then considered to be a variant of the title and is given in a note. An extra title entry is given for the acronym.

e.g.

When the typographical presentation of the acronym is the same as the complete form of the title the order in which they appear on the title page is decisive for the determination of the title proper. If the acronym is chosen as the title proper the complete form of the title is given in other title information. An extra title entry is given for the complete form (see A.1.2.1).

If the complete form of the title has been chosen as the title proper the acronym is considered to be a variant of the title and is given in a note. An extra title entry is given for the acronym (see A.1.2.2).

When an acronym is inextricably bound up with the title the Dutch rules in RT/S § 56-57 apply (see also A.3.1 and A.3.2).

If the acronym is written out in full elsewhere and not on the title page this is considered to be a variant of the title and it is given in a note. An extra title entry is given for the variant.

When a generic term appears as an acronym the Dutch rule in RT/S §17 applies.

e.g.

When the title proper of a serial publication has undergone major changes a new record is made. A cross-reference between the two titles is made in a note.

Major title changes are the case when:

a. nouns (proper names included), verbs, adverbs and adjectives in the title proper have been changed, added or left out;

b. the order of the words in the title proper has changed;

c. an acronym in the title proper has changed or has disappeared from the title proper;

e.g.

d. the name of the issuing body that is a part of the title proper changes significantly (see also c). This also applies when 1). a generic term issued as the title proper and 2). the name of the issuing body has been changed in the statement of responsibility (see A.1.2.5).

When, in the course of the publication of the serial publication described, the title proper has undergone minor changes no new record is made but the variant form of the title proper or a statement that there are title variations is given in a note. The changed title can be considered as a variant of the title and be given an extra title entry.

Minor title changes are the case when:

a. articles, prepositions and conjunctions in the title proper have been changed, added or left out;

b. the spelling, punctuation or the declensions of words have been changed without having any effect on the meaning of those words;

c. the order of parallel titles has been changed or parallel titles have been added [or left out];

d. an acronym that is presented as a logo has been added or left out, except when that acronym becomes an integral part of the title;

e.g.

When a serial publication is continued after a period of non-publication no new description is made.

When a serial publication that has been continued under a new title is published again with the former title a new description is made (in the Netherlands a so-called a-b-a construction).

A.3.1. When a statement of responsibility appears as a part of the title proper in an abbreviated form as an acronym it is repeated in the Statement of responsibility area providing that this form can be found in the issue described.

e.g.  A.L.A. bulletin / American Library Association

A.3.2. When the title proper consists of an acronym representing the statement of responsibility, the complete form is given as the statement of responsibility provided that this form can be found in the issue described.

e.g.   A.C.O.A. / Administrative and Clerical Officers' Association

These rules were meant to replace paragraphs 26-30 from the first edition of the Dutch Rules for the description of serial publications.

B.1.1.4.1.

A section is sometimes published under a separate title with or without a letter or a numbering indicating the section. Sometimes the section is only indicated by a number or by a letter. Supplements are also sometimes published under a separate title.

B.1.1.4.2.

Sections of serial publications and supplements published as a series are described separately.

There are two ways to describe a section or a supplement: a dependent or an independent description. {Foot note1}

{Foot note 1} In the first edition of the Dutch rules the term specific title is defined as a dependent title; in various paragraphs this term is also used for independent titles. Therefore the terms dependent and independent title will be used hereafter.

In principle the choice is the dependent description. No distinction is made between sections and supplements and for simplicity's sake the term "section/supplement" is used.

When a section or a supplement has a title that can be separated from the common title, because of the typography on the title page, it is an independent title; that title of the section or supplement is described. In these cases a distinction is made between the treatment of sections and supplements.

In a dependent description of a section/supplement the common title precedes the section number or letter and the section/supplement title.

If there is no letter or numbering the section/supplement title immediately follows the common title. (Examples are found in the Dutch rules par. 46: cases in which "other title information" precedes the section/supplement title.) {Foot note 2}

{Foot note 2} Serial publications published in sections with independent titles may also be described by two level description.

e.g.

The ISSN of the main publication can be given in a note.

e.g.    Note:  ISSN main publication: ISSN 0475-9915

B.1.1.4.4.
When the title of a section/supplement is missing from the title page or the alternative of the title page but it can be found elsewhere in the issue described, the title is placed between square brackets.

B.1.1.4.5.
The numbering or other data pertaining to a chronological indication of the series, that is to say those parts of a series which are published successively and are not sub- series published independently, are not given after the main title, but are given in the Numbering area.

e.g.   On the title pages:

    Nuovo archivio veneto Ser. 2 (1891-1900)

    Nuovo archivio veneto Ser. 3 (1901- )

    Main title:

    Nuovo archivio veneto

B.1.1.4.6. Independent

When a section of a serial publication supplement is described independently different rules apply regarding the transcription of the title and the ISSN of the main publication. {Foot note 3}

{Foot note 3} The data regarding the section/supplement, such as title, ISSN and numbering of monographic publications from an independent section/supplement are given in the Series area; the data regarding the main publication are given in a note.

B.1.1.4.7.

When a section is described independently the title and the ISSN of the main publication are given in the Series area:

e.g.   Studia latina upsaliensia / Uppsala Universitet. - 1 - ... - Uppsala [etc.] : Uppsala Universitet, 1961- ... - 25 cm. - (Acta Universitatis upsaliensis, ISSN 0346-5462)

B.1.1.4.8.

When a supplement is described independently the title and the ISSN of the main publication are given in a note. {Foot note 4}

{Foot note 4} An extra title entry is given for the title of the main publication.

e.g.    Advances in Physics
    Note:  Suppl. to: Philosophical magazine = ISSN 0031-8086

B.1.1.4.9.

Separately described sections/supplements published with the main publication are not given in the description of the main publication. A general note such as "with suppl." is given as a reference.

e.g.   Monatsberichte der Deutschen Bundesbank
    Note:    With suppl.

B.2.1.
Serial publications published in different versions, sometimes called "editions" the contents of which are partly the same and partly different are treated as independent sections (see chapter B.I). The statement regarding the version is given in the Title and the Statement of responsibility areas and not in the Edition area.

e.g.   FNV magazine / [uitg. van de Federatie Nederlandse Vakbeweging]

    FNV magazine. Industriebond FNV / [uitg. van de Federatie Nederlandse Vakbeweging en de Industriebond FNV]

B.2.2.
Publications with regional and/or local "editions" are treated as independent sections. The statement regarding the "edition" is given in the Title and Statement of responsibility areas and not in the Edition area. {Foot note 5}

{Foot note 5} This is a deviation from the Dutch rules paragraphs 62-64 which say that all the statements containing the word edition should only be given in the Edition area. The 1988 revised edition of the ISBD(S) has not been changed regarding this subject in comparison with the earlier 1977 edition.

e.g. De posthoorn. Editie 1, Den Haag:
      Scheveningen/Duindorp

    Cambridgeshire farmers' journal. Northern edition

B.3.1.
When describing serial publications with exactly the same contents but published in another language (so-called language editions) the language of the publication is given in the Edition area.

e.g.   Bulletin van de Europese Unie / Europese Commissie. - Nederlandse ed.

    Bulletin of the European Union / European Commission. - English ed.

A statement regarding other language editions is given in a note.

e.g.   Also published in the other official languages of the EU

    Also published in French

C.1.1.
An index of a serial publication pertaining to 1 year and published without a separate title, is not given a separate statement in a note. The customary note "with index" does not apply any more.

C.1.2.
An index covering more than one year published separately or in an issue of the serial publication (cumulative or not) is always given in a note in the description of the serial publication (at a general bibliographical level).

e.g.   With index: Cumulative citation and subject index, 1987- ...

    Register op dl. 1-25 (1927-1951) in dl. 26 (1952), nr. 1

This note should contain volume numbering, dates, section numbering and so on and be given according to the structure found in the Numbering area.

C.1.3.

An (either cumulative or not) index (covering more than one year) can have been published separately in a monograph or as a monograph. We recommend giving extra title entries for the titles of the serial publications when describing monographic publications such as these (in accordance with the Dutch rules). In these cases there need not be a note in the description referring to the serial publication.

C.1.4.

In local library catalogues a statement could be made in the serial publication description regarding the presence in the collection of the volumes covered by the index.

Some cases mentioned below also have connections with the chapters 4 and 7 of ISBD(S).

We are not that familiar with - for instance - AACR2 to see if the following "problems" have a solution in those rules.

The term "first and last issues" needs some more clarification. What if the in time first published issue is not the first issue in the numbering sequence? Therefore we would like to extend the sentence: "this is the lowest in the numbering sequence as the first issue or the highest in the numbering sequence as the last issue". So that there will be no confusion with the in time first or last appeared issue of the title. A lot of periodicals are appearing very irregular, even concerning the way of numbering the issues.

Is it recommended to give information in a note (7.4) when the in time first published issue is not the lowest in the numbering sequence? Often the year of publication differs in such cases. What is the choice of statement in the numbering area compared to the date / year of publication in the publication and distribution area (4.4)?

The same problem occurs at the publication of a last/final issue, sometimes this issue bears a numbering that looks normal to its direct predecessor, but it is published (very) much later in time. When such an issue contains an index of a greater period another complication turns up, see hereafter.

Some serial publications begin their life unnumbered, and sometimes a numbering is used later on. Sometimes the already published unnumbered issues are stated in an overview with a later given numbering. Should all this information be mentioned in the numbering area, or is it preferred to make a note?

The first example in 3.2: "Bd. 1-70" seems to give problems compared with the first examples given in 3.3 and 3.5. We would like to repeat the whole identification of the number of the last issue. It occurs many times that a kind of volume designation has appeared, has been changed (for instance in another kind of designation, or in another language) or has been dropped during the life of the serial publication.

In example 3.6 what is the policy when a new numbering of a new sequence occurs without the statement of such a designation in the publication itself? Is it useful to give that statement of the new sequence in square brackets, like "[n.s.]", or is it recommended not mentioning such a statement at all: "vol. 1, no. 1 (1983) ; vol. 1, no. 1 (1983) - …"? This example may look a bit strange, but it has indeed occurred.

Moreover we would like to extend the simple dash (or hyphen) with three dots to show the serial publication is still continuing its life. Just for "readability" within the lot of textual information of a bibliographic description. This is the same case in the chapters 4.4.1, 4.4.4 and 4.4.5. In the examples of chapter 4.4.5 there seem to be (intentional?) an extra space between the square bracket and the dash. For readability we would like to see those extra spaces in all examples.

If the interpretation of the numbering scheme proves to be incorrect during the life of the serial publication, is it allowed (or is it an obligation?) to change the information in the numbering area? Even if a cataloguer has found more correct data on his bibliographic searches?

When changes in the numbering scheme occur during the life of a serial publication may they be stated in a note? We feel that not every "small" change can be mentioned in the numbering area. This might have consequences for 4.1-4.2 and 7.5-7.6.

When a separate index, covering more than one year or volume of a serial publication, appears in a later year than the last issue of the ceased publication it is not allowed to change the publication year mentioned in chapter 4.4. This is so, because the index is then not to be considered an integral part of the numbered issues themselves.

Of course, there are indexes that have been published in a later year and they do carry some kind of an extra issue number. The publisher obviously wanted to count the index within the numbering sequence of the already ceased serial publication. If so, the numbering area and the publication date are to be adjusted.

A preliminary (introduction) issue or zero-numbered issue of a serial publication (which has been published for marketing reasons) is not to be considered an integral part of the issues stated in the numbering area. Their existence may be mentioned in a note.

In the ISBD(S) there is no example or rule given of making a note concerning a cessation of a publication. Is it allowed to make a note like for instance: "Ceased publication", or like the note used in ISSN-Compact: "Title no longer being published"?

When a serial publication does not appear anymore after a vol. 1, no. 1 issue and the publication therewith is to be considered as ceased, it seems useful to mention that fact in a note like: "Only published issue" or: "Publication ceased after vol. 1, no. 1". A frequency statement as in 7.1 seems to be superfluous, or that statement could be changed in something like: "Originally meant as a quarterly publication".

What is regarded to be "too numerous"? 3 or more, 5 or more, 10 or more? Or is that to decide by the bibliographic center?