Major and Minor Changes:

A new way to look at title changes

The main thing you need to know: We will be creating fewer new records when publishers make changes in a publication. We will make added entries (246s) if we do not need to create a new record, just as we always have. Please continue to send us changes just as you always have.

But we would like to let you know what rules we are using to make the decision. Here they are:

Major changes:

• The addition, deletion, change, or reordering of any of the first five or six words, unless the change is minor
• A change, addition or deletion after the first five or six words if this changes the meaning or the subject
• A change in a corporate body name anywhere in the title if the corporate body is a different body

Minor changes:

• Differences in representation of a word or words, for example:
• Spelled out vs. acronyms
• Singular vs. plural
• Addition, deletion or change of articles, prepositions or conjunctions in the title
• Bulletin of the Psychotic Librarian Society vs. Bulletin, Psychotic Librarian Society
• Rearrangements of the same corporate body and elements of its hierarchy
• Addition, deletion or change of punctuation
• Different order of parallel titles, as long as the original title proper is still present
• Addition, deletion, or change of words anywhere in the title that link the title to the numbering
• Annual report for the year … vs. Annual report for…
• Two or more titles proper used on different issues of the same serial according to a regular pattern
• Addition, deletion, or change in the order of words in a list provided that there is no significant change in the subject matter
• Addition, deletion, or change of words anywhere that describe the resource, such as “magazine,” “journal,” or “newsletter”
• But changes in frequency (Atlantic monthly vs. Atlantic) are still major changes L