Roger, Two-Ten, and Out: Access and Display of Abbreviated Journal Titles In OPACs

[Gerry McKiernan]

               Roger, Two-Ten, and Out:
      Access and Display of Abbreviated Journal Titles
                      In OPACs

   For my other ever-ending review of Data Mining and
Knowledge Discovery in Database (KDD) [which I am
interpreting technically as well as theoretically,
philosophically and in practice], I am interesting in
learning about online public access systems (e.g
OPACs) that offer users the ability to search and/or
browse/scan journal title abbreviations in the local
OPAC. I have  identified one OPAC and one paper
relating to this functionality. The paper is by
Kathleen Pratt who describes the LANL OPAC in her
spine-tingling [:->] article

    "Accessing abbreviated journal titles in the online
catalog at Los Alamos National Laboratory"  _Serials Review_
v .22 (Summer 1996): 57-59. [Our copy of this issue is
currently on vacation, so I have not been able to read it {:->]
However ....

   If one, [if one?], accesses the LANL OPAC and
browses the title field with an abbreviated journal title
(e.g. Ser Rev) one finds the abbreviated title listed
alphabetically in order with other 'SER' titles. Please
find below a (modified) screen shot for

     Sequential test procedures for detecting protracted materials losses (1)
     Sequential tests of statistical hypotheses (1)
     Sequential trigger procedure for use in monitoring nuclear power plant
     The sequestration of metals; theoretical considerations and practical
     Sequoyah Unit 1 Charge Converter Examination Results (1)
     >>> SER. REV (1)
     Seramikku detabukku '86 (1)
     SERBER SAYS ABOUT HIGH ENERGY PROCESSES AND NUCLEAR FORCES (1)
     SERBER SAYS ABOUT MESOTRONS (1)
     Serber-Wilson method formulae and computation methods (1)
     SerboCroatian-English dictionary (1)

   I am particularly interested in:

   A> Existing or Current Vendor plans for this functionality
   and
   B> Personal and/or Professional Views on the Value
      and Usefulness of the functionality!

  BTW: The Two-Ten above refers to the MARC 210 field.
With regards to abbreviations in general, I'd recommend
that these be ISO and/or ANSI and that there be the
ability to add additional standard abbreviations [e.g
those established and accepted by an professional society
or an abstracting and indexing service] in additional
210 fields]

   Citations to any and all related work would also be
of great interest!

      <strong> Thanks ! </strong>

     Regards,

Gerry McKiernan
Curator, CyberStacks(sm)
Iowa State University
Ames IA 50011

gerrymck at iastate.edu
http://www.public.iastate.edu/~CYBERSTACKS/

        "The Best Way to Predict the Future is To Invent It!"
                              Attributed to Peter Drucker