Introduction

These Guidelines present codes of good practice, and recommended standards for bibliographic and holdings control, to be used in the creation and maintenance of union catalogues of serials, bearing in mind the requirements for international exchange. They are intended:

to have universal relevance to all countries:

—in improving physical and bibliographic access to serials resources, thus removing some of the barriers to effective utilization and preservation;

—in making the most of opportunities provided by computerized production, while ensuring the traditional principles and recognized standards are maintained in effecting the change from manual to more sophisticated automated systems;

to give practical guidance on:

—the components in the preparation and production of a union catalogue of serials, with consideration of all pertinent standards;

—the administrative machinery required to bring each project to fruition (i.e., the role and function of both the editing agency and the participating institutions, and the underlying principles of cooperation);

—the interface with other serials control systems and other information networks.