Prioritize 800/830 for series display before 490 field
Sometimes the series displayed on the item (i.e. what goes in the 490 field) is not unique enough to distinguish it from another series with a similar title. However, the 800/830 fields allow for this distinction by displaying the unique authorized version of the series. Therefore we would like the 800/830 prioritized for display and the 490 to only display if there is no 800/830 field. Attached is the example we encountered where the series statement displayed on the graphic novel series (490 field) exactly matched that of the regular print (not graphic) series. This resulted in the link to that series in Vega combining regular and graphic editions whereas the PAC correctly keeps them separate, since it uses the 800 field to construct the series link in this case.
Margaret Rose O'Keefe
shared this idea
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Alison Hoffman
commented
Favoring the 800 field above the 490 would provide a more consistent user experience and help save significant staff time. The current settings that favor the 490 field above the 800 field result in either inconsistent results for users or a significant amount of otherwise unnecessary bib editing by catalogers. The 490 is not a controlled field and not necessarily consistent across different titles in a series - in addition to sometimes being too generic to distinguish one series from another. The 800 field is a controlled field and intended to be a consistent access point across all titles in a series. Ideally, if both an 830 and 800 are present, the 800 is also favored above the 830 - to avoid a generic series (such as Thorndike Large Print) from displaying instead of the title's unique series.