Education for acquisitions and serials librarianship: The students' view

This study analyzes 27 student essays provided in response to examination questions on whether or not courses in acquisitions and serials should be included in the library school curriculum. The preponderance of student opinion supports a course in serials. Such a course should take a broad and integrated view of serials, encompassing serials publication and distribution, new technologies associated with serials, serials management and processing in libraries, serialsbased information services, and administrative, budget, and policy issues associated with serials. The majority of students did not support a course in acquisitions. Although recognized as an important library function, acquisitions was seen as lacking in “appropriate academic content” for the format of a three credit-hour course.     

From the Majors to the Minors: Playing the Game as the Rules Are Changed

In Australia no library school at either professional or paraprofessional level offers a course to meet the needs of serials librarians. In the absence of such provision, this paper summarizes the findings of research on serials courses in the U.S.A. and Britain. It highlights the dissatisfaction of practitioners with training in this area and the failure of serials training to meet the needs of the profession; it indicates that a survey in Australia would probably produce similar findings. It discusses the content of librarianship courses-both the core curriculum and a specialized serials librarlanship curriculum-with the objective of outlining a professionally relevant serials librarianship course for Australia, drawing on experiences such as those at Loughborough and Columbia Universities. Finally, the paper specifies the aims and objectives of the proposed Australian course in serials librarianship, and outlines the content of thirteen suggested components.     

SCCTP Electronic Serials Cataloging Workshop

This preconference was a presentation of the Electronic Serials Cataloging Workshop created by the Serials Cataloging Cooperative Training Program (SCCTP). The workshop assumed a general knowledge of print serials cataloging and focused on issues specific to cataloging electronic serials. Presenter Jeanne Baker followed the course content developed by SCCTP, while highlighting changes introduced by the new CONSER standard record where applicable.     

Education Trifecta: Win Attention,Place Knowledge,Show Understanding

Continuing education for librarians and educating library school students in the areas of technical services are topics often discussed within the field of librarianship. The presenters in this session provided alternatives to “on the job” education for technical services professionals. Two presenters provided strategies for instructing an online continuing education course on acquisitions. The third presenter shared information about the development and teaching of a serials course at a library school.     

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.     

The Integrated Serials Department

Historically, serials departments have been organized in diverse ways. The integrated serials department arrangement, including all serials functions, facilitates bibliographic control, provides effective service to the library user and promotes better communication. This study maintains the need for the integrated central serials department, with the University of Oklahoma Libraries Serials Department used as an example. The conclusion is reached that the automation of serials reinforces the need for a separate serials department.     

SERIALS DEPARTMENTS

Because tasks and materials related to serials processing and use are often dispersed in a library, serials specialists must develop personal influence strategies and use informal communication systems that cross organizational lines and boundaries. In the absence of a serials department, therefore, serials specialists and informal serials communication systems will continue to exist. There is wide agreement that informal communication systems do emerge spontaneously in organizations and that individuals without formally conferred authority may use various types of personal influence strategies to accomplish organizational objectives. While serials processing and public service could be most efficiently handled through a serials department, informal communication systems, utilized by serials specialists, will develop if such a department does not exist. In determining if a serials department has a place in a particular library organization, library planners should be concerned about natural communication channels and should, in addition, try to identify individuals who can communicate effectively across organizational barriers.     

高校图书馆纸质报刊服务提升策略

当前,探讨纸质报刊服务仍有现实意义。本文分析了高校图书馆纸质期刊现状,指出读者利用呈递减现象,纸质期刊数量减少,专业杂志收藏较少。重点从给予读者订购纸质报刊权利,逐步增加纸质报刊种类,积极提供纸质报刊阅读推荐服务,提供短期外借服务等七个方面对普通高校图书馆纸质报刊服务提升给出了可行性建议。     

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.     

Serials and Automation

An attempt is made to demonstrate that the frustrations and difficulties created for serials departments by the introduction of automation are coming to an end that the principal benefit automation provides the making of serials information immediately available to users-is making itself felt. It is indicated also that irony resides in the fact that the computer, which in its early uses proved refractory, now makes the work of the serials person as simple and effective as in the days of the manual check in arrangement. Some predictions are made as to the look of serials and serials departments in coming years.     

Approaches,Techniques, and Criteria for Serials Evaluation in the Electronic Environment

Abstract

An overview of traditional methods of evaluating serials collections and serial titles is presented and applied to electronic resources. Traditional methods such as holdings, checklist, conspectus, availability studies, document delivery studies, citation studies and use studies used for the evaluation of serials collections in print can be modified for the evaluation of electronic serials collections. Issues, problems and challenges associated with electronic serials evaluation are then outlined, and conclusions that emphasize the continuing importance of serials evaluation in the electronic environment are drawn.     

Serials Organization

A revolution in serials work has occurred during the last decade as libraries have moved from manual operations to the age of automation. For economic and technological reasons, a renewed interest in the organization of serials activities has developed, and there is debate between those who favor continuing the separate serials department (organization by form) and those who favor merging serials activities into other departments (organization by function). In this study, the views of each school of thought are considered. The conclusion is reached that serials specialists must organize, anticipate and plan for further organizational changes.     

Bibliography:

Before the information explosion caused the rise of serials as a phenomenon in libraries, serials were often seen from a reference point of view, causing there to be little dynamic interchange between the concepts of "serials" and "reference." More recently, because of the rise in serials consciousness due to the number and bibliographic complexity of serials, reference work has been often seen from a serials viewpoint, causing a polarization and active interaction between the concepts "reference" and "serials." Several articles and book selections concerning the relationship between serials and reference and covering the 10 year period between 1976 and 1987 are here annotated. Each annotation summarizes the argument of the article covered and relates it to the arguments of other articles covered, and to the arguments of the main essay.     

Creating Core Serials Lists in a Public Library

The creation of two core serials lists, a general reference serials list and a general periodicals list, is examined in a case study of a medium-sized, multi-branch public library. Definition, purpose and background of core serials lists are given, and the methodologies for creating core lists of serials for various purposes are reviewed. The process of core serials list creation at the Tucson Public Library is described and recommendations for other small and medium public libraries wishing to develop and maintain their own core lists are made.     

计算机期刊管理系统的机内格式研究

论述了计算机期刊管理系统在集成系统中的重要地位，列举了在系统设计时应考虑的期刊管理系统的基本功能，认为这些功能的实现很大程度上取决于数据结构．文章以较多篇幅讨论了期刊管理系统的数据结构，尤其是比较详细地分析了SIOCL-J期刊管理系统中编目文件、过刊和现刊登到文件的记录格式与功能的关系，并与一些文献报导作了比较。     

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.     

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.     

The Birth of a New Serials Database

While some bibliographic information on serial publications is abundant and available from various sources, many librarians want extensive and accurate serials data which is convenient for searching. This article describes the genesis and development of a new serials database and subsequent serials reference work.