Series formatting, comma or no comma?

[Jordan]

There seems to be a discrepancy in the librarian manual for formatting the series part of a book's title. On the sort title page and a pop-up, it shows a comma should be placed after the series name, but on the book editing help page, it shows examples without the comma.


Using the sort by title field

Examples of sort by titles:
title: The Unsung Hero (Troubleshooters, #1)
sort by title: unsung hero, the (troubleshooters, #1)

Book title (editing books)

Examples of series mirrored in titles:
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (Harry Potter #1)
Among the Living (PsyCop #1)

The pop-up help on the book edit details page when you click on the edit field shows:

If the book is in a series, put which book it is in parenthesis after the title. For example: Breaking Dawn (Twilight, #4).

Which is right?

[Paula]

Either is acceptable practice

[Jordan]

Paula wrote: "Either is acceptable practice"

If most books of the books in series use a comma, should the other books be updated to include it?

It looks a bit strange when 8 books of a series choose one format and 1 doesn't on the series page. Or perhaps, it's just my OCD.

[Paula]

It's up to you, depends on your OCD, I would but then my OCD rules

[Dobby]

As Paula noted, either is acceptable. From your second link:
Previous conventions used a comma after the series name and before the number; this is also acceptable. If formatted in this fashion, the parenthetical part of the title will be replaced by the actual series object's name and number on the book page as a link to the series.

My personal preference is the newer standard (no comma), as this is how the series name displays on the book page. I don't change an existing record's format, though, as I don't want to instigate a comma war. ;-)

And since either is correct, I would hesitate to change a record from one librarian's personal preference to my own personal preference.

[Philip]

If I am already fixing the title of a book I make the rest of that book match the one I worked on.

I never use the comma, think it looks better without.

[Sandra]

Haha, I always use the comma, to me it doesn't look right without it.

However, I'd never just change another librarians commaless entry. Though I might if I had to fix something else & the other titles in the series were with commas.

[Melanie]

I personally prefer the comma, but will only add or delete the commas on an entry if the rest of the series is done a certain way.

[Arenda]

I don't like the comma, but will not change any existing editions. When creating new editions, like an ACE, I will not use the comma, even when all other editions do have them.

[Gerd]

Can't say I noticed before, of care about it.
I just use what has been used before when a series exists, otherwise I go by the example given in the pop-up.

[Dobby]

Arenda wrote: "I don't like the comma, but will not change any existing editions. When creating new editions, like an ACE, I will not use the comma, even when all other editions do have them."

That's what I do, too.

[Diana]

As a user, I had noticed the comma/no comma discrepancy, but I didn't know whether there was a reason behind it. To me it looks better with it, but it may be due to my primary language not being English. :)