Re: What would YOU say to this disgruntled patron? Mitch Turitz 28 Aug 2006 21:28 UTC
I used to go to the U. of M. for both my undergrad and graduate degrees. I never had a problem finding stuff, once I understood the layout and the LC classification scheme. I only used the grad library there as it was more fun to browse the subject areas. Excellent library. To the patron, I would say, "We shelve by subject, not title. This allows you to browse the shelves for similar items that are of the same subject matter as the title you are looking for. It allows for a serendipitous search. Whereas when periodicals are shelved by title, you must know the title before you can retrieve it from the stacks. What if you are looking for periodicals on the same subject, but only found one title, how would you find others? If they are classified by call number, then you need only look at the adjourning titles. If you want a list of periodicals you have, the better OPACs have report generators that should allow you to create an alphabetical list of all periodicals (by location and/or fixed field values). You should be able to designate which data you want to appear in the list, such as title, your library's holdings, "continues" & "continued by" notes, and location (if you have more than one location for periodicals). You can even include the URL if your want, for online titles which are still in print. Such a list would need to be regularly updated since titles are always being cancelled, suspended, or added as "new" titles. Essentially I don't understand why someone would want a paper list. Looking it up on a computer is just as fast as looking through a list of thousands of titles, since you already the title you are looking for. The list is out of date as soon as you do any kind of maintenance to any of the periodical records. The amount of maintenance done to create such a list, for a small number of people using it may not be justifiable. If I were rude, I might say, "You're a high school graduate, you should be able to type in a title to retrieve the record for it." -- Mitch Date: Sat, 26 Aug 2006 08:38:34 -0400 From: Pamela Bruner <pbruner@UMICH.EDU> Subject: Re: What would YOU say to this disgruntled patron? I heard these comments many times when I was head of serials at the University of Michigan Graduate Library. I explained that we were a research library, and researchers expected the periodicals to be organized by subject. I directed them to the undergraduate library, where they could find a smaller collection of popular titles, in alphabetical order. Also, I would hate to have to shift a large collection each time a title changed! Pamela Bruner Head of Serials Palm Beach County Library System -- _^_ _^_ (___)-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- ( ___ ) | | | | | | Mitch Turitz, Serials Librarian | | | | San Francisco State University Library | | | | Past President, | | | | SFSU California Faculty Association | | | | voice: (415) 338-7883 | | | | CFA: (415) 338-6232 | | | | FAX: (415) 405-0394 | | | | | | (___)-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-=-==- ( ___ ) V V http://www.cfasf.org (SFSU web site) cfasf@igc.org) or Mitch Turitz (x. 87883; turitz@sfsu.edu) & http://www.calfac.org/ (CFA State-wide web site)