Please excuse duplicate postings.  Since the topic of a possible change of title for BusinessWeek has been discussed on several lists, I am posting this outcome on those lists.

Before making a final confirmation that the ISSN for BusinessWeek should remain the same despite the addition of “Bloomberg” to the title, I consulted the managing editor. Although the publisher does not get to decide what is a major or minor change for ISSN purposes, since this situation fell into a gray area of the rules and since there were good arguments on both sides, it seemed reaonsable to get publisher input, especially about whether further changes in the title presentation were planned. The managing editor indicated that typically, changes in titles or title presentations can take from 6 to 9 months to “settle down,” and he was very concerned when I told him that if we gave a new ISSN to Bloomberg businessweek and the title underwent another major change, another new ISSN would be needed.

The managing editor asked about the consequences of a new ISSN and I told him that a new bibliographic record would be created and linked to the old one and that citations and linkages would be changed.  He was further dismayed and took some time to confer with higher management. Finally, he called and emailed me with the following information:

“It is our emphatic desire that Businessweek and Bloomberg Businessweek be considered one and the same magazine. The adjustment to the name of the magazine reflects a change in corporate ownership from The McGraw-Hill Companies to Bloomberg LP, but other than that, Businessweek remains the same publication that was started in 1929-with the same commitment to journalistic integrity and the same loyal subscribers...”

So, no new ISSN will be assigned and the CONSER record should remain as it is, including a 246 for Bloomberg businessweek. I have asked Robert Bremer of OCLC to delete the record(s) for Bloomberg businessweek and add a 936 to the CONSER record stating: “The change from BusinessWeek to Bloomberg businessweek has been determined to be a minor change.  No new ISSN will be assigned and no new record should be input.”

Thanks for your patience as we worked this out in the U.S. ISSN Center.

Regina

Regina Romano Reynolds

ISSN Coordinator

Library of Congress

(202) 707-6379 (voice)

(202) 707-6333 (fax)

rrey@loc.gov