Virginia Tech has almost 8,000 check in records for currently received
periodical subscriptions that are generated from MARC holdings records
coded with 853/863 tags.  Whenever a publication changes frequency or
publication pattern, our practice has been to add the current pattern in a
new 853 tag, leaving the former pattern in the first 853.  We plan to
migrate to a new ILS in the next year, and are wondering if we face any
migration problems because of multiple patterns in our holdings
records.  We would like to know what issues other libraries have faced when
migrating publication patterns, especially if multiple patterns exist in
one record.

Another question we'd like to pose:  are there any good arguments for
deleting former pattern data vs. leaving it in the record?  We think that
compressing the data in free text/summary holdings would provide a cleaner
holdings display to patrons, but it would obviously slow down our work.  If
you have experiences or opinions to share, please respond directly to me,
and I will summarize responses for the list if there is any interest in the
topic.

Leslie O'Brien
Director for Technical Services
University Libraries
Virginia Tech
Blacksburg, Virginia  24062-9001
540-231-4945 540-231-3694 (FAX)