----------(1)
Date: Tue, 5 Mar 2002 08:10:26 -0600
From: Dana Belcher <dbelcher.MATHSCI.ECOK@MAILCLERK.ECOK.EDU>
Subject: Re: Security for loose journals (Jody Morris)

We have the exact same setup.  We tag the loose issues just like our
books, videos, and cds.  However, the tags that go in the books say "date
due" on them.  The tags we use for the magazines/journals look like
barcodes (they are the same size as the date due stickers).  Years ago, we
had problems with students ripping them out (but they do the same with the
books and other media) and taking the journals, but we haven't had any
problems with this in the past 3 years.  We do not remove the tags when we
send them to the bindery.

We have had our loose issues available to the patrons since the library
opened.  I think it is very important to provide this access and the
"browsing" of issues for research (especially by the faculty).

Dana Belcher, Periodicals Librarian
East Central University
Ada, OK

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 5 Mar 2002 08:38:06 -0500
From: "Morris, Jody" <Jody.Morris@FEMA.GOV>
Subject: Security for loose journals

I know this topic has come up many times before, but....

I am at a small, specialized library.  We carry about 400 serials and bind
about half that, maybe less.  We have a Checkpoint system that operates on
radio frequency and currently use square tags in the books and on the videos
that set off the alarm.

Currently, we keep all loose, yet-to-be-bound journals locked up, but due to
a renovation that will give us a LOT more room, we are considering keeping
the loose journals available for students to just take them off the shelves.
I am worried about this, and have been asked to find out what other
libraries are doing.

If your library has a similar Checkpoint system and you  tag your loose
journals, could you email me and tell me what you use and how well they
work?  Do students just find them and rip them out?  Also, when you bind the
journals, how do you remove the tags?  Anything else you can tell me would
be helpful.

Thanks!

Jody Morris
National Emergency Training Center Library
FEMA
Emmitsburg, MD

jody.morris@fema.gov
(301) 447-1354

----------(2)
Date: Tue, 5 Mar 2002 08:49:37 -0600
From: Karen Chobot <karen.chobot@NDSCS.NODAK.EDU>
Subject: Re: Security for loose journals (Jody Morris)

HI Jody - we don't use Checkpoint in our library here, but I have worked
in 2 other libraries where we did use checkpoint and kept the journals on
open shelves.  We followed pretty much the same procedure in both
places.  Also, both were fairly small collections and open areas, so it
was easy to keep an eye on what patrons were doing to the journals in the
stacks.

We only put the square "targets" on those items where we were actually
concerned about theft.  In the medical library we got most back titles on
microform and didn't keep the paper after about 3 years, so theft and
damage were less a problem than they might be in other areas.  In one
library we had square labels made that were just larger than the
"target"; and, we put the "target" on the front cover in a prominent
place and covered it with the label.  I can't remember exactly what we
had on there, something with the library name on it I think.  We had to
hand those around the gate system since we had no other way of
desensitizing the targets.  In the other library we put the targets
inside the pockets and had date due cards that went in the pockets that
neutralized the radio frequency.  That, I think, is the recommended
method, and it worked very well.

Most patrons never did figure out about the target in the pocket, but
they did figure out if the security device was under the label.
Occasionally we did find that they had been cut out and removed - we
would find the loose ones on the floor or in the stacks.  But since we
did check out journals in both places, theft was not as much of a problem
as it would be if we did not check them out.  We also had a cheap and
convenient copy machine easily accessible, so making personal copies was
easy.

In neither place did we bind the journals, so I don't know what you would
want to do there.  I think that the method of putting them in the pockets
would work best for you, because then the pockets could be removed easily
before binding.  You do not want to leave them in because I understand
that having more than one target can confuse the machine, sometimes going
off and sometimes not.

In my present library we also keep the magazines in closed shelves, and I
am not as happy with it as I was with the other two systems.  It makes a
lot more work for circulation and keeps the students from happily
browsing the piles of issues.  If having too many things out on the
shelves does not work for you, you might look into one of those shelving
systems where you can keep a year's worth out and available, and the back
issues in storage.  That is what we did in the library where we put the
targets on the front, since we knew we would always want them there.

I hope these ideas and thoughts are useful. Karen

701-671-2385
Karen.Chobot@ndscs.nodak.edu

Visit the library web site at www.ndscs.nodak.edu/information/library