Nonie Watt at Indiana University Law Library recently asked
about counting serials. Her questions deal with what
specifically constitutes a serial subscription; how (whether) to
count titles obtained through full-text databases and large
microfiche sets with numerous titles, and how to count looseleaf
sets with various components.
At Marquette we had a similar question on the looseleafs.
We are coding our INNOPAC check-in records so that we will be
able to create a more accurate subscription count than we have
had. The question came about on Bender's UCC service because we
check this in as one title with several parts. The question was
resolved that this should be counted as several titles, since
each part is very unique, and because each part can be purchased
separately.
One question that studying this brought up, however, is how
should the various law libraries count material as they move to
automated systems?
In the past some libraries would count KARDEX cards, or
begin with a base number and add or subtract as new titles
(subscriptions) were added and / or canceled. Automation can
provide the possibility to more accurately keep track of
materials, so the questions of what to count and how to count it
is becoming more pertinent. It seems as though there may be a
need for clearer guidelines as to what the ABA intends by the
serials subscription count and what the individual institutions
intend to gain by having these figures.
Perhaps an approach to dealing with this would be to gather
lists of specific "problem" titles and address them in a
systematic way in a public forum so that trends and problems can
be discussed, but more importantly so that guidelines for
specific cases can be developed.
Anyway, it's something to think about.
Jim Mumm
Acquisitions / Serials Librarian
Marquette University Law Library
9724mummj@vms.csd.mu.edu
(414) 288-7092
(414) 288-5914 FAX
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