Email list hosting service & mailing list manager


Re: Classifying bound periodicals (5 messages) Birdie MacLennan 31 Aug 1998 16:34 UTC

5 messages, 201 lines:

(1)----------------------------
Date:         Fri, 28 Aug 1998 17:43:41 -0400
From:         Lisa Macklin <lisa.macklin@IBID.LIBRARY.GATECH.EDU>
Subject:      Re: Classifying bound periodicals

Bill,

I have worked with 3 different shelving arrangements for journals in 3
different libraries:

1) all journals shelved by call number (bound and current)
2) all journals shelved alphabetically (bound and current)
3) current journals shelved alphabetically and bound volumes shelved by
call number

Each arrangement has its good points and bad points.  It really depends on
your collection and your users.  The drawbacks I saw for option 2 is that
the journal collection has no subject arrangement and title changes are
very problematic for users.  Also, there is no way to integrate your
journal collection with your books.  The drawback of option 3 is that
current issues have no subject arrangement, although the bound volumes do.
The plus is that users can simply look for their title on the shelf,
without having to look up a call number.

As part of your discussion in making the change, I would suggest you
consider the following:

1. The cost (both in staff and supplies) for putting call numbers on your
bound journals.
2. Whether or not you want to integrate the shelving of bound journals with
books.
3. Consider putting the call numbers for the bound volumes on the title
label for the current journals.  This will make it easier for your patrons
to go from current to bound issues.

Lisa A. Macklin
Head, Serials Control Dept.
Georgia Institute of Technology
Library and Information Center
225 North Ave. NW
Atlanta, Georgia  30332-0900

Phone:  (404) 894-4517
FAX:  (404) 894-1723
e-mail:  lisa.macklin@library.gatech.edu

(2)---------------------------
Date:         Mon, 31 Aug 1998 07:02:16 -0500
From:         Merle Kimball <makimb@JANUS.SWEM.WM.EDU>
Subject:      Re: Classifying bound periodicals

Bill,

      Our bound periodicals are classified and intershelved with the
monographs, serials, etc. The current periodicals are arranged
alphabetically. It seems to work well though we have had people complain
about the current issues not being classified so periodicals in the same
subject area are together. We are not going to try adding call numbers to
current issues as we are understaffed. Our feeling is we would get the
opposite complaint.

       The Library had a number of periodical sets unclassified when I
came in 1973 and everyone wanted them classified as it was confusing to
patrons. I much prefer classification as then they are arranged by subject
matter and title changes can be kept together.

       However, we are considering separating all the bound periodicals
and putting them in a separate area but keeping them classified. Has
anyone done this? What kind of problems did you have in doing this? Was it
worth while? It is being considered because we are going to have an
addition built with compact shelving. Has anyone found shelving
periodicals in compact shelving difficult?  Does it cause problems for the
user?

       We have concluded that our patrons' preference all depends on the
arrangement they have been used to using at other libraries. We get
queries and complaints but there is no way to make everyone happy.

                                Merle Kimball
                                Serials Collection Management
                                & Preservation Librarian
                                Earl Gregg Swem Library
                                College of William & Mary
                                Williamsburg, VA  23187-8794

                                 e-mail: makimb@mail.swem.wm.edu

(3)---------------------------
Date:         Sun, 30 Aug 1998 11:18:22 +0000
From:         rachel ben-eliezer <rachelb@mofet.macam98.ac.il>
Subject:      Re: Classifying bound periodicals

Dear Bill

Last summer we spent  the best part of 3 months reorganizing our
periodical collection so that both the bound and current journals were
organized alphabetically. All I can say is that we have never regretted
the move.Both the students and teachers are much happier with this
arrangement and find it much easier to locate journals. Our current
subscriptions stand at about 500 journals.

Rachel Ben Eliezer
Serials Librarian
David Yellin Teachers College
JERUSALEM, ISRAEL
rachelb@dyellin.macam98.ac.il

(4)----------------------------
Date:         Mon, 31 Aug 1998 08:16:15 -0400
From:         Stephanie Gehring <stepgeh@REGENT.EDU>
Subject:      Re: Classifying bound periodicals

Please respond to the list.  I'd be interested in hearing opinions on this
as well.  Thanks.

Stephanie S. Gehring
Law Serials Assistant
Regent University Law Library
Virginia Beach, VA
Phone:   (757) 226-4377
E-mail:  stepgeh@regent.edu

"To the world you may be nobody, but to somebody you may be the world."

(5)--------------------------

Date:         Mon, 31 Aug 1998 11:57:16 EDT
From:         Birdie MacLennan <bmaclenn@zoo.uvm.edu>
Subject:      Re: Classifying bound periodicals

Bill (and others),

If you haven't done so already, I suggest searching the SERIALST archives
(http://list.uvm.edu/archives/serialst.html) for a range of other
perspectives on this topic . The question of whether or not to classify
periodicals has come up several times during the years -- at least once a
year since 1992 -- since SERIALST has been in existence.  It appears to be
a question that serialists ask themselves often, and re-think from time
time.

I was curious as to what I might be able to find in the archives on a
simple keyword search: "classify periodicals".  There's a bit of
noise in the hit rate, but, for what it's worth, I'm appending the index
of search results.  Note that the "Recs" column indicates the length of
the message(s) in terms of line numbers.

Good luck in your process.
Best regards,
        Birdie MacLennan
        Coordinator, Serials & Cataloging
        University of Vermont
        bmaclenn@zoo.uvm.edu

Search results � SERIALST

 Item #   Date       Time         Recs          Subject
  000972   91/11/14   14:12       237    Re: Arrangement of Current
                                                Display Area
  001090   92/01/06   22:17        87    Retrospective Conversion of
                                                Serials records
  001502   92/07/16   14:13        99    Opinion on serials (fwd)
  001535   92/08/07   17:30        69    Classifying newspapers
  001616   92/09/22   17:37        63    Classifying Serials
  001617   92/09/22   22:00       117    Classifying Serials
  001619   92/09/23   10:40        91    Classifying Serials
  002527   93/09/28   15:32        46    Classification of periodicals/serials
                                                query (Charles F. Tremper)
  002534   93/09/29   12:32        66    Re: Classification of
                                                periodicals/serials query
  002953   94/03/29   19:57        92    Re: Alphabetical to Classified Shelf
                                                Arrangement (3 messages)
  003339   94/08/11   16:21        76    Re: Online catalog access
  003566   94/10/17   09:35        28    Re: Classified periodicals
  003939   95/02/24   13:40        32    Classifying Periodicals
  003946   95/02/27   14:16        52    Re: Classifying Periodicals
  003951   95/02/28   11:20        21    Re: Classifying Periodicals
  004150   95/05/01   16:46        25    alpha vs classification
  005424   96/03/12   14:10       239    Summery of shelving issues.... (long)
  006830   97/01/10   10:31        38    Re: Shelving journals with title
                                                changes
  007846   97/08/07   13:03        96    Re: Classifying periodicals
  009380   98/08/28   14:01        20    Classifying bound periodicals
  009383   98/08/28   17:47        74    Re: Classifying bound periodicals
                                                (2 messages)

----------
Bill Warren wrote:

> We are considering classing our bound periodicals (which are now shelved
> alphabetically), and leaving our current periodicals in alphabetical order.
> We have about 2,000 current subscriptions.  We would be interested in the
> experiences of libraries with alphabetical current and classed bound
> collections: any problems this arrangement causes for users or staff, and/or
> advantages for either group.  We thank in advance anyone who might respond.
>
> Bill Warren
> Middlebury College Library
> Middlebury, Vermont USA
> WARREN@MYRIAD.MIDDLEBURY.EDU