National Bibliographic Control of Serials in Australia, 1980–1990

There is a long history of effective co-operation and national initiatives in controlling and sharing serial data in Australia. Prior to the 1980's this largely took the form of manually produced national union catalogues such as Scientific Serials in Australian Libraries: Serials in Australian Libraries, Social Sciences and the Humanities; and Newspapers in Australian Libraries. The commencement of the Australian Bibliographic Network (ABN) in 1980 provided the mechanism for both a national shared cataloguing venture and a truly national on-line union catalogue. The National Union Catalogue of Serials produced from ABN was dependent on the addition of holdings by ABN participating libraries. Several factors contributed to the growth of serials data on the national bibliographic database-notably the steady increase in the number of ABN participants undertaking serials cataloguing on ABN, serial conversion work on titles in the National Library card catalogues, and major serial conversion work undertaken by other Australian libraries. Allhough much has been achieved in the 1980's there remains much to be done to enhance the coverage of bibliographic and holdings data for serials on ABN.     

Identifying the Serials Librarian: Serials-Related Position Titles in the United States and Around the World

Serials are a familiar academic job responsibility, but serials librarians are becoming difficult to identify. While serials continue to exist, the transition from print to electronic resources contributes to a trend in which the job titles of librarians who manage serials no longer include the word “serials.” A content analysis was conducted to examine the prevalence of the word “serials,” as well as common synonyms including “continuing resources” and “periodicals,” in U.S. and non-U.S. academic library job titles. In a sample of 98 U.S. national and regional universities and colleges, 18 librarian and 98 staff job titles were found that included the word “serials” or a synonym for serials. By comparison, a sample of 71 universities from 8 non-U.S. countries revealed 17 librarian and 85 staff job titles that included the word “serials” or a synonym for serials.     

OCLC AND SERIALS PROCESSING

OCLC's on-line services began in 1971, but only for monographic cataloging. It was 1974 when serials records were first allowed into OCLC's data base. Then came CONSER in 1975, serials check-in in 1976, and card production for serials cataloging in 1977. The University of Illinois at Urbann-Champaign (UIUC) has gradually increased its use of 0CLC's serials services for preorder searching, precatalog searching, and, most recently, full serials cataloging and card production. But UIUC has not committed itself to the use of OCLC for serials check-in or the planned acquisitions system. It will depend on the alternatives.     

Australia's Declining Serials Resources and the Future Role of Its University Libraries

The major serials collections in Australia have been seriously affected by adverse economic trends and changing collection development policies. The university libraries now have a crucial role to play in preserving and improving the quality of Australia's serials resources. In the midst of major changes to higher education encouraging competition among universities and emphasizing specific national priorities in research, the university libraries must promote a national perspective on serials collections, if Australia's resources are not to deteriorate further.     

ANDREW OSBORN

An examination is made of the components of the serials librarian's job, and an attempt is made to show how serials librarianship has developed over the past decade according to precepts laid down by Osborn in his famous book on serials. Warning is given against the tendency to relegate serials responsibility to the larger umbrella technical services unit that has gained recent favor.     

Serials in the Libyan Jamahiriya,Past and Present

The article deals with serials publication and their acquisition and management of serials in libraries in the Great Socialist Peoples' Libyan Arab Jamahiriya. The introduction of printing and the earliest serials published in Arabic are detailed. Recent changes in government policies affecting general conditions in the country and expected changes in publication policies are discussed. Two lists containing serials published prior to 1975 and a third, consisting of current serials published under Green Book theories, are annexed.     

Evaluating Students' Serials Needs:

Even with the coming of the virtual library, selecting and deselecting serials remains a critical task. College librarians are in a particulary favorable position to evaluate students' serials needs. To help decide what methods work best and to help college library staff assume a leadership role in serials collection management, the authors compared four different methods for gauging need for titles. If defining need broadly, then bibliographies of students' projects or student surveys, not collection use studies, provide the most comprehensive evaluation.     

The Deactivation of OCLC's Serials Control System

This paper uses the literature to trace the history of OCLC's online Serials Control System (SCS), and it describes OCLC's plan to replace SCS with a stand-alone control system, SC350. Fifteen years of reports about SCS portray a system that never met all the needs of serials lbrarians. Reactions to replacement of SCS by SC350 emphasize the problems a library encounters when it changes from one serials control system to another. When considering such a change, a library should take the opportunity to re-examine its serials control needs and plan accordingly.     

Citations and Citation Metrics in a Serial Assessment Using Master's Theses

We analyzed serial citations in 72 marine biology master's theses as well as the ranking data of aquatic science serials from six global serial citation metrics, to assess serial use by marine biology graduate students from two perspectives. From 1,035 unique serials, a core of 123 titles was identified and evaluated for access. Citation ages averaged 13.5 years, with 27% of serial citations dated prior to 1996. Students cited serials from disciplines beyond marine biology, demonstrating broad title dispersion compared to several other studies. Recommendations are offered for future investigation to develop a stronger understanding of graduate students’ use of the library's serial collection.     

Eeee!-Serials

Summary

Two serials catalogers, Jennifer Edwards of MIT and Amanda Xu, formerly of MIT, presented their experiences working with electronic serials. Edwards discussed concrete experiences and issues such as MIT's pilot project for cataloging e-serials, current policies and work-flow, and problems of catalog maintenance. Xu presented a broader perspective on what is happening beyond MIT and how e-serials may develop in the near future. Her topics included definitions of electronic serials, access features provided by publishers, aggregators and libraries, and challenges presented by e-serials.     

On Your Mark,Get Set … Talk! The First-Ever NASIG Speed Rounds

This article examines the purpose, structure, and short-term outcomes of a new Strategy Session format introduced at the NASIG Twenty-Second Annual Conference. Borrowing from the trend in modern matchmaking known as speed dates, this interactive Strategy Session employed a moderated round robin format that brought publishers and librarians together to discuss serials topics of common interest. Limited by the clock, participants had the opportunity to ask questions and share thoughts from their perspectives as serials producers and serials consumers. Though of limited duration, discussions could touch on any topic related to the creation, use, and impact of serials in the participants' respective areas of work and interest. The Strategy Session was offered in two time slots on the first day of the conference.     

Chipping Away at Serials Processing Backlogs in Technical Services

The author reports on the results of a survey on serials processing backlogs in technical services. Approximately 40% of responding libraries had some type of backlog of serials, both print and electronic. The types of materials in the backlogs and the factors that contributed to them are discussed, together with the storage of backlogged materials and the public's access to them. The study examines possible methods to reduce the backlog and perhaps prevent future backlogs in serials processing.     

Methods for Collecting,Processing, and Providing Access to Electronic Serials

The issues surrounding methods for collecting, processing, and providing access to electronic serials are discussed. Weston debates the access versus ownership issues of electronic journals, and discusses the changing roles of systems and acquisitions librarians in the provision of access to these journals. Reinke outlines the University of Houston's acquisitions process, an approach paralleling traditional serials acquisitions methods. Morgan describes an automated serials acquisitions process developed at the North Carolina State University.     

Improving In-House Communication About Serials

Summary

Numerous departments are involved in the serials processing chain, with functions becoming more inter-related in the online environment. At the University of Maryland at College Park, no one person or individual acted as a central clearing house for planning, implementing, or disseminating information about serials processing. This workshop examines function and process of a continuous quality improvement (CQI) team which studied the issues surrounding processing of serials, as well as the team's recommendations and their implementation.     

The Serials Department, 1975-1985

The increase in the number of serial publications, the growth of holdings in libraries, and the maturation of librarianship are seen as largely responsible for the development of a specialty in serials librarianship by the time of the American Library Association's centennial celebration in 1976. This development often resulted in the organization of a separate serials department. In the decade following the ALA centennial several trends (e.g., economic stringency and automation) have converged to cause a re-evaluation of organizational patterns. In particular, the form versus function debate regarding serials organization is examined by reviewing professional activities and the published literature.     

Serials Management in Special Libraries: Present and Future Relationships Between Libraries and Vendors

Summary

The management issues facing those who deal with serials in special libraries may be common to all special libraries, unique to the particular discipline, or shared by all libraries struggling to deal with serials in the 1990s. A law librarian and a medical librarian described the history, nature, and use of serial literature in their respective subject areas, and discussed important customer issues facing their libraries, including the financial aspects. They were joined by a vendor's representative who summarized the similarities and differences in these library situations from a vendor's perspective, including the opportunities and limitations of the vendor/special library relationship.