THEORY AND DESIGN OF SERIAL HOLDING STATEMENTS IN COMPUTER-BASED SERIALS SYSTEMS

Abstract

Natural language and encoded character-string types of holding statements are described, together with views of the precision or specificity of hard- ings information. Components of holding statements, that is, natural language identifiers, issue identification data, and date labels, set the scene for examining general serials system holdings considerations, An example of a scheme developed in the course of research by the author at the Uniuersity of Minnesota is used to point out how internal representations of complex character-strings of holding statement dafn can be given a structure permitting a high degree of automatic manipulation at the character leuel while still preserving a trans- lated nntuml language in data display. With increasing activity and interest in computerized serials systems apparent each year, it is appropriate for those concerned with the design or use of serials systems to give serious attention to the theory and design of holding statements. Due to the numerous types of serial publications, all of which potentially may deserve inclusion in an automated system, our view of holding statement construction must be broad. The purpose of any serial holding statement is to convey useful infor- mation to those who either operate, depend upon, or use the data to verify or locate a specific serial issue reference. To fulfill this broad purpose, varying levels of specificity of information may be required. However, due to the complexities of issue-specific holdings and the frequency of updating required, union bibliographic serial data bases rarely use an issue-specific form of statement. Presently, holding statement data found in computer-based serials sys- tems conform to two general patterns. Table 1 shows examples of each of these patterns. Pattern One consists of a character-string containing hold- ings data displayed in natural language, which may or may not be issue specific, but which is commonly updated by manipulation of the complete field of data. This pattern is most frequently encountered in union lists or catalogs whose main purpose is to serve as a bibliographic 1ocater.Pattern Two consists of a character-string containing holdings data in an encoded