Date: Thu, 20 Mar 1997 09:46:27 -0700
From: "Mike A. Beier" <MAB@mail.lib.byu.edu>
Organization: Harold B. Lee Library - BYU
Subject: Re: Newsweek (v. 129 #1 ???)

Tim Lawrence <lawrencet@NKU.EDU> wrote:

> Kevin M. Randall <kmr@nwu.edu> wrote:
> >I have been noticing an increasing trend for journals to combine the last
> >number of a volume with the first number of the next volume, and it is very
> >disturbing.  Does anyone have any idea of how we can broadcast our extreme
> >displeasure about this?
>
> I find this annoying as well, but how is it our business to criticize this?
> It makes sense to howl about bad title changes, because these are bad for
> everybody in the end, including publishers and subscribers. But end of year
> combined issues are for the most part awkward only to us. And by far the
> biggest reason they are awkward is that our automated prediction systems
> aren't designed to handle them, and that's nobody's trouble but ours.
> Patrons might find such citations irritating enough to just skip sometimes,
> but this isn't going to hurt a major popular weekly.
>
> Tim Lawrence                            Northern Kentucky University
> Serials Assistant                       Steely Library Serials/Periodicals
> lawrencet@nku.edu

I would have to disagree that it is annoying only to us (serials
dept).  Patrons looking for bound volumes also have to deal with not
finding the issue they want, because the last issue of volume 20 is
bound with volume 21, or visa versa.  And it is also annoying to the
bindery process.  And even if the the information is printed on the
spine, it then also becomes an annoyance to the labelling process who
has to think of creative ways to indicate on both labels that an
extra issue of each volume is included, or missing, from that
binding.  Problematic all the way around.  The larger the
institution, the more people and areas it annoys,  especially
the patrons.

Mike Beier

Mike Beier, Periodicals Librarian
3220 HBLL
Brigham Young University
Provo UT  84602

E-mail: Mike_Beier@byu.edu      FAX: 801-378-6708