Journals often change titles over the course of many years of publication. GOKb aims to provide information about each title that's occurred during a journal's lifespan. (This group is often known as a title family.) Many providers, however, don't include complete title history information as part of their title lists. Some providers may list only the current iteration of each title. Others may list some earlier titles, but often this information is incomplete or incorrect.

**This project is not currently active. Many thanks to all of our volunteers who participated!

Resources for Adding Title History Details

GOKb web application: https://gokb.openlibraryfoundation.org/gokb/

Instructions

Step 1: Search title

• Sign in to the GOKb web app.

• Copy title from Title History Spreadsheet 

• Search the title by using the GOKb Global Search box, or Search by Title.

• Select title.

• Open the publisher’s web page for the title using the Availability tab in GOKb or the URL in your spreadsheet.

Step 2: Update fields

• Status is will always be Current for this project.

• When the status is Current, Status Reason will be Empty.

• Under Title details tab, code for OA Status and Continuing Series. Both the spreadsheet and the publisher site will provide information on open access.  Select Unknown if status is unclear.  Code "Yes" if the title is a monographic series.

Step 3: Research title history

• Copy ISSN off of title history spreadsheet or the title record in GOKb.

• Look up in the publisher's website. 

• Copy URL off of the title history spreadsheet or from the TIPP in GOKb.

• Paste in a new browser tab to view the resource at the publisher site.

• Compare publication dates listed in WorldCat or Library of Congress (or other resource) and on publisher site. If there is a difference, prefer dates given on publisher site.

• Note any title history data.

Step 4: Update publishing information

• Back at the top of the page, fill in beginning publish date in Published from, with YYYY/MM/DD format, using information on the publisher website.  Do not necessarily assume that the first volume was published in January.  In general, use first day of the first month published.  Click on the check box to the right of the field to add the date.

• Enter the Published to date, leaving the field Empty if title is not ceased.

Step 5: Add title history

• Select Add to Title History tab

• Highlight the title and move it to either the Before or After box, as appropriate.

• To find the earlier or later title(s) associated with the title history, click in the Search for … box. (Note that here again, the dropdown is a keyword search, NOT browse and it sometimes takes a couple of seconds to populate.) Sometimes a title will not be found, and will need to be added to the knowledgebase.

• When title populates, select and Add.

• Lastly, add Event Date, by clicking in the box and selecting the appropriate date from the pop-up calendar.  This date reflects the first date following when a change occurred between two titles.  Ex: Title XYZ ceases in 2013 to become title ABC beginning in 2014, so the event date would be 01/01/2014.

• Add Title History Event.

Step 6: Review your work

• Look at the Title History box summary at the top of page.

• If dates are missing in the title that was added to the history of the title being worked on, click on its link in the box, and follow Step 2.  If you discover more title history related to the initial two titles involved, repeat Steps 2-4 to input the additional history.

Step 7: Set the Edit Status field to “Approved.”

Adding a title to the knowledgebase: If you are certain that a title is not found in the knowledgebase

1. Go the the lefthand menu, select Create TitleInstance.

2. Click on the Create and Edit button.

3. Click on the Alternate Names tab

4. In the Variant Names box, type in the Title. Click Add.

5. Click on the Alternate Names tab again. The title will now display as an Alternate name.

6. Click on the Make Authorized link beside it.

7. Title will appear at the top of the Title instance display.

8. Back under the original title history, type in the newly added title in the correct title history box.

Good overall examples

-- Vistas in Astronomy

-- Air Medical Journal This is a good example of complex title change situations where the title relationships are not readily apparent in the current GOKb interface.

-- Composites, Composites Engineering, Composites Manufacturing, Composites Part A: Applied Science and Manufacturing, & Composites Part B: Engineering This list also involves title splits and absorptions.

FAQ

1. What if kb doesn’t contain a title needed to complete title history? You can create a title but be sure that it doesn’t already exist by Searching the title.  

2. Are we coding for OA Status?  What constitutes a “hybrid”? Yes, go ahead if the information is readily available.  Code “Unknown” to signal that this status was reviewed.  Often the publisher site will provide it.  A “hybrid” is a mix of paid and open access; sometimes this will be indicated by the phrase “supports OA “.  “Delayed” status means that there is a time constraint on access.

3. Explanation of Status -- Current, Deleted, Expected, Retired  Most of the titles will be coded as Current, even if ceased.  A Retired title is one that is no longer accessible.

4. Are we coding for Continuing Series every time?  -- “No” if journal?  Yes, code for each title.  Continuing Series is referring to MONOGRAPHIC series.  Journals will be coded “No.”

5. When would we use the Available actions box on the right hand side?  One of the dropdowns says “Title change” and then asks if you are sure you want to perform the action.  Do not use this feature when adding title histories.  It is a universal change tool for all instances of a given title.

6. Also noted is the parenthetical Modify title through variants below.  In order to add any title variant, it must be added as a new title under Add new +.

7. When you are creating a title, should you add identifiers?  If you come across an ISSN that is missing, you can add it, but you do not need to spend a lot of time on this if the information is not readily available.

8. What’s the difference between creating a title and creating a TIPP when it comes to adding metadata? A title is the work-level version of a journal; a TIPP is the unique version of that title that is offered as part of a specific package hosted on a specific platform. For this project, you should not need to add new TIPPs.