Record Format Explanations
Cataloging records are derived from the records in the library's online catalog and will usually be very similar to the records found there. These records provide information about books or periodicals seen as whole bibliographical units. The periodicals Fantastic Four and The Comics Journal, for example, have only one cataloging record each.
SAMPLE CATALOGING RECORDS.Analytic records provide information about individual issues of a multi-part publication, or about individual features or articles within those individual issues. Fantastic Four and The Comics Journal therefore potentially have an analytic record for each story or article that has been published in either magazine. In these records, when possible, the artists, writers and other creative personnel, the characters, and the topic featured or critiqued, will be included as part of the indexing. SAMPLE ANALYTIC RECORD.
Back-of-the-book records are transcribed or adapted from the indexes found in certain of the books owned by the library, and are intended to lead researchers to those particular books. SAMPLE BACK-OF-THE-BOOK RECORDS.
Blank in the Comics records refer to a system of envelopes collecting daily comic strips by topic. These topics are all listed in the main A-Z index.
PCVF (Popular Culture Vertical File) records refer to file folders containing articles and ephemera arranged by topic, company, or individual comics professional.
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Here are two cataloging records, one for a Tintin album, and
one for the comic book All-Star Western. Note that the final
paragraph of each entry, which ends with the Michigan State
University call number, sometimes includes a variously numbered list
of terms. These are the "tracings" which govern where in the
alphabetical index each record will be reproduced. These tracing
paragraphs are being phased out, though the practice of reproducing
each record in multiple locations in the list is still active in
general, hyperlinks are gradually replacing the most inefficient
kinds of repetitious listing.
----------------------------------------------------- King Ottokar's Sceptre / Hergé ; translated by Leslie Lonsdale-Cooper and Michael Turner. -- Boston : Little, Brown, 1974. -- 62 p. : col. ill. ; 30 cm. -- (The Adventures of Tintin) 1. Adventure story comics. 2. Belgian comics. I. Hergé, 1907-1983. II. Tintin. III. Series. Call no.: PN6748.T483K5 1974 ----------------------------------------------------- WESTERN COMIC BOOKS, STRIPS, ETC. All-Star Western. -- New York : National Periodical Publications, 1970-1972. -- col. ill. ; 26 cm. -- Published no. 1 (Aug./Sept. 1970) - no. 11 (Apr./May 1972), cf. Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide. -- Continued by: Weird Western Tales. -- HOLDINGS: no. 1-2, 4-5, 7-9 (1970-1971) 1. Western comic books, strips, etc. I. National Periodical Publications. Call no.: PN6728.4.N3A5 -----------------------------------------------------
This entry lists an article about Milton Caniff, by R.C. Harvey, in
the periodical Nemo. This record will be found in the
alphabetical list under Caniff and under Harvey (as shown here), and
also under Steve Canyon and Meanwhile ... :
----------------------------------------------------- "Caniff's Private War to Save Steve Canyon" / R.C. Harvey. p. 32.4-32.21 in Nemo, no. 31/32 (Jan./Winter 1992) -- Excerpt from Harvey's forthcoming biography: Meanwhile, The Life and Art of Milton Caniff. -- Call no.: PN6725.N43no.31/32 ----------------------------------------------------- Harvey, Robert C. "Caniff's Private War to Save Steve Canyon" / R.C. Harvey. p. 32.4-32.21 in Nemo, no. 31/32 (Jan./Winter 1992) -- Excerpt from Harvey's forthcoming biography: Meanwhile, The Life and Art of Milton Caniff. -- Call no.: PN6725.N43no.31/32 -----------------------------------------------------
These entries tell us the page numbers on which Oskar Lebeck is
mentioned in Ron Goulart's Great History of Comic Books and
The World Encyclopedia of Comics , and provide the Michigan
State University call number for each:
----------------------------------------------------- Lebeck, Oskar. Index entry (p. 18, 43, 51, 212, 218) in Ron Goulart's Great History of Comic Books (Chicago : Contemporary Books, 1986). Call no.: PN6725.G635 1986 ----------------------------------------------------- Lebeck, Oskar. Index entry (p. 472) in The World Encyclopedia of Comics, ed. by Maurice Horn (New York : Chelsea House, 1976). Call no.: PN6710.W6 1976 ----------------------------------------------------- Back to the top of this page
Further questions should be addressed to the Comic Art Bibliographer at comics@msu.edu
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Page edited October 5, 2005