The Prevalence and Distribution of Serials Union Listing Records in OCLC's WorldCat

ABSTRACT

This study takes advantage of recent enhancements to OCLC's WorldCat as presented in the FirstSearch family of databases to assess the extent of serials union listing. Variables examined include library types, library locations, and serial publication status. Results indicate that libraries' union listing behavior varies greatly among the states, and that academic libraries are less inclined to have union listing records associated with those serial titles they have cataloged. Additionally, academic libraries that are members of ARL are even less likely to have created union listing records than are academic libraries in general.

KEYWORDS:

• Serials union lists
• local data records
• WorldCat