Special Serial Types

General

Listed below are several of the different types of serials that Beinecke collects. This list is not comprehensive, but touches on a few of the major categories within the collections. Special treatment and special tracings are specified for each category, along with any historical information. Serials should have appropriate subject headings (subdivided by Periodicals, if allowed) and applicable genre tracings. For general information on cataloging serials, see Serials Cataloging.

Almanacs

Almanacs can be cataloged either as monographs or as serials. Early almanacs, usually published before the mid-nineteenth century, often have many title changes, changes in the person who does the calculations and changes in the printer. Frequently there are two and sometimes three different editions of an almanac in the same year. In these situations, monographic cataloging is preferred; for guidance, see the Monographs manual page.

In addition to required special tracings, such as imprint tracings, the genre term Almanacs is used.

The following subject is also traced for American almanacs:

English Almanacs

BDU will catalog eighteenth-century English almanacs as monographs. This practice aligns with that of the English Short Title Catalogue (ESTC), which has created individual entries for each year of most almanacs; in addition, usable monograph copy for these almanacs can usually be found in OCLC. In cases where multiple titles are bound together, catalogers should treat these as a standard bound-with volume, applying the appropriate local notes and Holdings record linking.

Legacy Practice

In many cases a serial record for any given almanac title will also already exist in Alma. Prior practice (2019-2026) was that if a newly cataloged monograph almanac title also had an Alma serial record, the cataloger would not attempt to update any of the existing holdings on that record. Instead, the cataloger would add a new holding to the serial record that instructs the user to search by individual title. Effective June 2026, if this situation is again encountered, the cataloger should consult with the BDU Associate Director to determine how to proceed.

Legacy Examples:

(Note: The 8-digit numbers are old Voyager bib ID numbers; these will look different in Holdings records created in Alma using the MMS ID)

Monograph Holdings record: The ladies diary, or, the woman’s almanack, for the year of our Lord, 1720 (MMS ID 99145829523408651; bound with 11 other almanac titles for 1720):

Serial Holdings record: The Lady’s and gentleman’s diary (MMS ID 9931425103408651) [NB: This is a legacy Latest Entry serial record, which accounts for the title discrepancy]:

Note that the 852 $b for the serial holding should be “beingen,” even if the almanac in hand is going to LSF, because it’s possible that we could receive other issues of this title that might be bound with something that would need to remain at Beinecke.

If a newly-cataloged almanac title does not already have a serial record in Alma, do not create or bring in a serial record, even if usable copy exists in OCLC.

Comic Books

See Comic Books and Graphic Novels.

Directories

Many directories in the Beinecke’s collections were previously cataloged as serials. It is preferable to catalog these as monographs, however, if the title or geographical area covered changes almost every year. Whether cataloged as serials or monographs all directories receive a subject heading for the geographic area subdivided by Directories. The genre term Directories is also given.

Little Magazines

Little magazines is a term used to designate certain magazines that have as their purpose the publication of art, literature, or social theory by comparatively little-known writers. Little magazines differ from the large commercial periodicals and major scholarly reviews by their emphasis on experimentation in writing, their perilous nonprofit operation, and their comparatively small audience of intellectuals. Prototypes of the twentieth-century little magazine were The Dial (Boston, 1840–44), a transcendentalist review edited by Ralph Waldo Emerson and Margaret Fuller, and the English Savoy (1896), a manifesto in revolt against Victorian materialism.

Use the genre term Little magazines.

Also trace the following reference source (available in the BDU reference library), if the magazine is in the bibliography:

Newspapers

A newspaper is defined by the International Organization for Standardization as: A serial publication which contains news on current events of special or general interest. The individual parts are listed chronologically or numerically and appear usually at least once a week. Newspapers usually have a masthead rather than a cover and are normally larger than (297 mm x 420 mm) in size.

If newly-received newspaper issues are adding to holdings located at 121 Wall Street, the cataloger should contact Materials Movement staff to determine whether the holdings are bound or loose (unless that information is already in the item record(s)). If the holdings are bound, the relevant item records should be updated to reflect this information, and if the new issues cannot physically interfile with the existing holdings, the cataloger will create a new holdings record. If the holdings are loose, the cataloger should request all 121 Wall issues for delivery to 344 Winchester and then transfer all issues to LSF.

Newspapers are assigned the following tracings:

Obsolete Practice

For American newspapers, a local subject subdivided by place was also provided, but this practice is no longer followed.