Every reader of Serials Review knows the old truism that necessity is the mother of invention. Although I have been handling serials acquisitions, collection development, public service, and union listing for about a decade, I have never done serials cataloging. About a year ago, however, I was asked to do the journal cataloging for my library. Since twothirds of my library's budget is spent on journals, this was no small favor to ask. Sure I know a little bit about AACR2 and the MARC Serials Format. I even know how to use OCLC. But creating a serial record from scratch, that is something else entirely. I pulled out my outdated library school books on the subject and ordered several up-to-date ones. I placed orders for The CONSER Editing Guide and The Library of Congress Rule Interpretations. I asked for advice from acquaintances who are serials catalogers, and I bothered friends at NLM and NSDP with my first stab at original cataloging. But I still found that I lacked someone to consult about my difficult One day it occurred to me that I was not in this boat alone. Surely a great many librarians responsible for serials cataloging learn and apply the rules pretty much on their own. So, I thought, wouldn't it be nice if ALL of us had someone to turn to with our problems. Even catalogers who work in large cataloging departments might enjoy a forum in which to discuss problem titles. Being editor of a professional journal that deals with serials, I decided to do something about