Periodicals Usage Survey (3 messages) Marcia Tuttle 05 Aug 1999 19:29 UTC
----------(1) >From jfrank@ISL.STATE.ID.US Thu Aug 5 15:26:55 1999 Date: Thu, 5 Aug 1999 10:09:16 -0600 From: Julia Franklin <jfrank@ISL.STATE.ID.US> Subject: Re: Periodicals Usage Survey (Dani Lichtenberg) I certainly hope you are not going to try and archive any of the periodicals you are"taping or stapling magazines shut and seeing if anyone "unfastens" them." especially after patrons get through ripping them open to look at an article. AAAACCCKKKKK!!!!! Tell me it isn't so. The method of encouraging patrons not to shelve, and counting what is left out to shelve, sounds like a much better, less destructive method, then taping and stapling issues. Julia Franklin Serials LAI Idaho State Library jfrank@isl.state.id.us The opinions are my own, and not the opinions of anyone, anywhere, else...in the world. ----------(2) >From Jody.Newton@FEMA.GOV Thu Aug 5 15:26:55 1999 Date: Thu, 5 Aug 1999 14:03:23 -0400 From: "Newton, Jody" <Jody.Newton@FEMA.GOV> Subject: Re: Periodicals usage survey We keep all our unbound periodicals (mainly the current year issues) in a separate room that only staff our staff has access to. Therefore, we know which titles we have to run for the most. After they are bound, they go out on the shelves and students have access to them. This may not be....well, possible for many places because of space restrictions, but it works well for us. Jody Newton Serials Technician National Emergency Training Center Library jody.newton@fema.gov ----------(3) >From lgrosch@ITPLD.LIB.IL.US Thu Aug 5 15:26:55 1999 Date: Thu, 5 Aug 1999 13:27:17 -0500 From: "Grosch, Linda" <lgrosch@ITPLD.LIB.IL.US> Subject: Re: Periodicals Usage Survey (Dani Lichtenberg) I am at a medium size library in Wheeling, Illinois. We have open stacks in both Adult Services and Youth Services. In order to check out periodicals, one must fill out a green periodical check out card. These cards list the tile and date of the four magazines you are allowed. The magazines get put in a plastic bag which has a barcode on it so we can at least track who had what last. Every morning I collect these cards from Circ. and do the slash marks on index cards for each title. Monday's are the worst because I have three days of cards to do. This takes about a half hour to 45 min. a day. I would love to hear of another way to do this job. ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Thu, 5 Aug 1999 11:42:56 -0400 From: Dani Lichtenberg <p005386b@PB.SEFLIN.ORG> Subject: Periodicals Usage Survey I have a question regarding tracking periodicals usage. In a public library with open stacks, how are other libraries tracking how often titles are used? Encouraging patrons to not reshelve materials, and then keeping track of which ones are reshelved by library staff is one way to track usage. Another way is to conduct some kind of survey, requesting patron comments on which titles they consider useful and which they don't find useful. I seem to remember other techniques mentioned while I was in library school, such as taping or stapling magazines shut and seeing if anyone "unfastens" them. What other methods are being used for this purpose? Dani Lichtenberg Serials Supervisor Palm Beach County Library System p005386b@pb.seflin.org