UCLA Film & Television Archive Cataloging Procedure Manual--Voyager

SECTION 44
SPECIAL PROBLEMS--TELEVISION AND RADIO SERIES

Although there are many resemblances between library serials, and television and radio program series, there are a number of reasons why archives do not catalog the latter in the same way that libraries catalog serials:

1. The most fundamental reason is that television and radio programs are almost never acquired by means of an ongoing subscription. They are commonly held in patchy, incomplete runs acquired haphazardly.

2. Episodes and parts are often identified (if at all) by means of episode titles rather than numerical or chronological designations.

3. It is often desired to "analyze" individual episodes or issues for titles, names of guest stars, subject matter, summaries, etc.

4. Locations of all episodes or issues in a series are commonly scattered throughout our storage areas.

For all these reasons, archives make a separate record for each issue or episode. This record will have as its primary title the title of the series, with the episode or issue title treated as a part title. The reason for this is that users tend to remember the series titles but not necessarily the episode or issue titles (if they are present at all). (See SECTION 3.4.8, ARCHIVE ANALYSIS POLICY, METHOD H; also see AMIM 1B1, and local policies related to AMIM 1B1.)

We will establish uniform titles for series when they are resyndicated under another title, choosing the uniform title according to our local rules. (See SECTION 4.2, UNIFORM TITLES AND FILING TITLES.) If a change of title takes place, establish a uniform title according to the same rules. In other words, rather than following AACR2 rules for successive entry of serials, we will choose one title for the multipart work (the series), trying to choose the best known title, and, failing that, the original title.

Last modified: February 5, 2007, my