ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries February 1986 / 131 D ra ft g u id elin es fo r pu b lish ers o f c o n fe r e n c e p ro ceed in g s P r e p a r e d by th e STS A d H oc C om m ittee o n D e sig n in g a C o n fe r e n c e P r o c e e d in g s Style D orothy M cGarry, Chair Recommendations that could improve bibliographic access to scientific and technical conference proceedings. E d i t o r ’s Note: These guidelines are in d ra ft fo rm only. The C om m ittee welcomes any com m ents or suggestions fro m the library co m m u n ity and other in terested parties, i f a p p ro ved , th e guidelines w ould then be sent fo r publication to journals is­ sued by various associations that publish confer­ ence proceedings, and to editors w ith in the associa­ tio n s, u rg in g th e m to fo l lo w th e g u id e lin e s . A nnoucem ents about the guidelines w ould also be sent to various library journals. Your com m ents m ay be addressed to D orothy M cGarry, P.O. Box 5803, Sherman Oaks, CA 91413. Published proceedings of conferences are very im portant in research. It is often difficult, how ­ ever, for people to locate the proceedings of a p a r­ ticular meeting. O ften, the title pages of these pro­ ceedings are confusing in their layout, or the title pages contain insufficient inform ation for identify­ ing a p articu lar conference. This is critical because the title page is the established standard source for inform ation used to catalog a book. The librarians who catalog the book and the library users who re­ quest it may not be sure w h at the title is intended to be, or who published the book, or even w h at the nam e of the m eeting is. This ćonfusion and uncer­ tain ty make it difficult for library users to know how to cite the book or how to look for it in a cata­ log. Those who prepare and publish conference pro­ edings could contribute to the usefulness of the nference lite ra tu re by applying th e following idelines. Title page The title page should include: A clearly indicated title. Examples: M icrocom puter software. Modern problems o f surf ace physics. Clearly indicated inform ation beyond th a t of title itself, including inform ation such as the m e of the m eeting if it had a nam e. Example: Proceedings o f the W orking Conference on Cir­ lation, Neurobiology, and Behavior, held Octo­ r 4-7, 1981, in Dallas, Texas, U.S.A. The relationship of the book to the conference uld be indicated on the title page. Examples: Proceedings o f the 23rd IE E E Conference on cision C Control. Selected papers fro m the W orkshop on... L ayout and typography can assist in identifying various elements of inform ation required. Include the num ber of the m eeting if any, and place and the date the m eeting was held. ce co gu the na cu be sho De the the 132 / C&RL News Names of sponsoring organization(s), w ith an explicit statem ent such as “sponsored by” or “orga­ nized b y .” An explicit description of fu n ctio n w ith the name(s) of the editor(s), such as “edited by” pr “chairm an/editor.” Series statem ent, if the publication is p art of a se­ ries, w ith clearly indicated series title and num ber­ ing. Place(s) of publication, name(s) of publisher(s), and date(s) of publication. Confusion can arise depending on how inform a­ tion appears on the title page; i.e., the initials of the conference may appear at the top of the page fol­ lowed by the nam e of the conference or “Proceed­ ings of th e ...” followed by words which might ac­ tually be the book’s title m eant by the publisher or the editor. A library may choose a title the p u b ­ lisher or editor didn’t intend when describing the book in a catalog, not being sure which of the parts was m eant to be a title. The library user may come up w ith two different citations for the same confer­ ence, perpetuating problems in retrieval. As an ex­ ample: Proceedings o f the Workshop on Geological Dis­ posal o f Radioactive Waste (top of page). In Situ Experiments in G ranite (middle of page). This might result in one cataloger putting as the title “Proceedings of th e ...” and another using “In situ experiments in granite.” In this case, the title on the front cover was “Geological disposal of ra ­ dioactive w aste,” which could add to the confusion over w hat the title was m eant to be. All inform ation on the title page should be con­ sistent w ith inform ation on the cover and spine; ti­ tles should not differ from cover to title page, nor should the nam e of the meeting nor the title of the series differ from location to location w ithin the book. Back of the title page The back of the title page should include: Nam e and address of distributor, if different from publisher, w ith an explicit statem ent of func­ tion; e.g., “distributed in the U.S. b y ,” or “avail­ able from .” Copyright inform ation. Miscellaneous Num ber the pages consecutively if possible. If the nam e of a corporate body is placed on the title page, provide it w ith some explanation of the relationship of th a t body to the conference or to the publication; e.g., published by, sponsored by, or­ ganized by, supported by. Catalogers attem pt to determ ine, when check­ ing a conference publication, w hether the confer­ ence is “nam ed” or “unnam ed.” A book whose title page reads Semiconductor physics: Proceedings of an International Conference would not be consid­ ered to be the proceedings of a “nam ed” confer­ ence, while Proceedings o f the International Con­ ference on Semiconductor Physics would lead to access under the nam e “International Conference on Semiconductor Physics.” In the first case, “an international conference” is taken to be a purely ge­ neric description; in the second case, “the In tern a­ tional Conference o n ...” indicates a specifically nam ed event. In cases where different forms of a conference nam e appear in different locations, the cataloger must determ ine w hether the nam e of the confer­ ence is, e.g.: Com puter Society Conference on Artificial In ­ telligence Applications (title page) Conference on Artificial Intelligence Applica­ tions (cover) IE E E C om puter Society Conference on A rtifi­ cial Intelligence Applications (preface) W hile in some situations this might not m atter much, in putting a record for this work into a cata­ log for patrons’ and librarians’ use it is im portant to rem em ber th a t the record could appear in any one of three different locations in the catalog. F u rth er­ more, if the conference is one in a series of similar conferences, and each year there is a change in the order of the words in the nam e, such as Condensed M atter Physics Symposium (first year), Symposium on Condensed M atter Physics (second year), the records for these conferences will not appear next to each other in the catalog and the works will not appear next to each other on the shelves. The nam e of the conference, if it has one, should appear clearly on the title page, back of the title page, pages before the title page, the cover, or the spine in order for provision of clear and prim ary ac­ cess to th a t nam e in bibliographic records; librari­ ans would appreciate it if it actually appeared on the title page. If the nam e of the meeting does not appear in any of the places m entioned above, ac­ cess to the nam e of the conference on a record would depend on w hether the cataloger noticed the nam e elsewhere (e.g., in the preface or intro­ duction) and w hether a note and an additional ac­ cess point were made. Of course, if the meeting has no nam e as far as the conference arrangers are con­ cerned it is not necessary to create one; if one is used it should be the same in all locations in the book. “ V olum e” and “ e d itio n ” have very specific meanings in libraries. “Volume 2 ,” for example, should not be used for the second conference in a sequence, but only for a separate physical unit for the same conference. Volume usage only for m ulti­ ple volum es w ith in th e sam e co n feren ce year rather than in relation to the num ber of the confer­ ence w ould reduce confusion. A statem ent th a t calls something a “second edition” should refer to the same text reworked or reset, not to totally new text. Proceedings of a second conference w ould not, therefore, be either a “second edition” or a “volume tw o” of the first conference. Although librarians are among the prim ary col­ lectors of conference proceedings, catalog records February 1986 / 133 for these proceedings appear in machine-readable databases which make the information available to millions of library users. Proper access to these pro­ ceedings makes them more valuable to the scien­ tific, academic, and business communities. W ith the help of those who prepare and publish confer­ ence proceedings library users will be able to locate and use those proceedings more efficiently. Members o f the A d Hoc Com m ittee that pre­ ared these guidelines are: D orothy M cG arry chair), University o f California, Los Angeles; race A gnew , Georgia State University; Carol ubberley, University o f Central Florida; Edward . Garten, Tennessee Tech University; Sara Shat- rd, University of California, Los Angeles. ■ ■ p ( G C D fo ACRL list o f m aterials availab le A complete checklist of ACRL publications in print. S in g l e copies of ACRL standards and guidelines are free. Other publications are priced as listed. To ensure that your order is properly processed, in clude ISBN, author, title, list price, and applicable discount for each item ordered. Both institutions and individuals may order on account, plus postage and handling; however, pre paym ent should accompany individuals’ orders o $15.00 or less. No postage or handling charges are added to p rep aid orders (check, money order, credit card). All prices are payable in U.S. funds. 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