Re: To bind or not to bind? (Mitch Turitz) Mitch Turitz 14 May 1999 22:49 UTC
Iris: San Francisco State University is currently only binding selected titles because we no longer have the room to bind and shelve all the periodicals that we subscribe to. We are subscribing to JSTOR, Ideal, ACS, and a few other full text collections. For those titles we have electronic access to, we plan on putting the volumes into remote storage which will essentially not be accessible. The problem is that those titles alone will not make enough room to accomodate what we already have. We need to put additional titles into storage which will NOT be available electronically, but which could be made available through inter-library loan, CARL UnCover, etc. We don't have circulation statistics for our titles because our periodicals are not in the circulation system. However, we can tell that if there is a layer of dust on the entire run of a periodical, that it does not appear to being used. One of the problems of the "paper in the library" vs. "electronic access to the desktop" is that not all of our students have access to a computer. Of those that use the computers in the library, not all of our workstations have printers (only certain locations which charge for printing, do). Additionally, as we make more titles available only electronically, the demand for computer access (both within and outside of the library) increases. We regularly have more people wanting to use our computers than we have computers available (we have about 100 available for the public). Unfortunatley, we can't police the use of each computer either. Whereas we intend that the computers in the library are for research and access to electronic resources, there are students playing games, using "chat rooms" checking e-mail, and just surfing the web. Our reference librarians don't want to have to police the use of computers any more than they are supposed to stop our patrons from brining food into the library. Basically we are working under the order that we have to get as many bound volumes out of the library as soon as we have 1.) informed the teaching faculty about the titles to be removed; and, 2.) worked out the procedures and details for everything from the notes in the bib records to how the volumes will be packed and shipped. I hope that helps some. -- Mitch ------------------------------ _^_ _^_ ( ___ )-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-( ___ ) | | | | | | Mitch Turitz, Serials Librarian | | | | San Francisco State University Library | | | | Internet: turitz@sfsu.edu | | | | http://userwww.sfsu.edu/~turitz | | | | | | ( ___ )-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-=-==-( ___ ) V V "Warning: Dates in calendar are closer than they appear." ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 13 May 1999 12:32:27 -0400 From: "Anderson, Iris" <IANDERSON@IMF.ORG> Subject: To bind or not to bind? I am interested in hearing from other libraries about the pros and cons of continuing to bind journals that you are currently receiving electronically through services such as JSTOR or other electronic means. 1. How do you determine the value of paper vs. electronic archives for individual titles? Do you look at circulation statistics or rely more on perceived or historical value of "core" journals? What is your professional opinion of the "paper in the library" vs. "electronic access to the desktop" debate? OR how do you envision best serving your clientele in the future, while also considering physical space constraints,shrinking budgets, and pressure to downsize your in-house periodicals holdings? 2. Do you think binding journals will become a thing of the past? If you have stopped binding or never done it, have there been any awful consequences? 3. Can you recommend any "best" articles on this topic? Please respond to me directly and I will be happy to summarize for the list. Thank you very much in advance! Iris Anderson Team Leader Document Delivery Joint Library International Monetary Fund-World Bank Washington, DC ianderson@imf.org 202-623-6403