Chapter 9 Serial Services

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Chapter 9Serial Services

• LIST 1105
• October 25, 2006
• Amy Moore Lora Mirza

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Serial Definition

• A publication issued in successive parts, usually
  at regular intervals, and, as a rule, intended to
  be continued indefinitely
• Serials include periodicals, annuals (reports,
  yearbooks), memoirs, proceedings, and
  transactions of societies

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Periodical Definition

• A publication with a distinctive title intended
  to appear in successive numbers of parts at
  stated or regular intervals and, as a rule, for
  an indefinite time
• A periodical is a type of serial

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The Exception

• Newspapers are NOT considered periodicals.

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Role of Serials in Public Service

• Serials play a key role in the dissemination of
  information
• Serial publications are often the basis for
  research and other scholarly activities
• Researchers are dependent upon quick access to
  serials

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Role of Serials in Public Service

• Currency
• Often the first printed source of information
  about a new subject or development
• Provide the latest information
• Speed
• Articles are usually short and focus on a narrow
  subject
• Provide the desired data more quickly than books

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Philosophy of Serials

• Each title represents a long term commitment (at
  least a year)
• Serials change over time because of shifting
  interests of editors, publishers, and subscribers
  (Title changes make ILL difficult)
• Serials arrive in parts (Volume, issue, date)
  this presents storage issues. Librarians must
  decide how far back to keep issues

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Current Philosophy

• By the late 1990s, libraries were spending more
  time deciding which titles to cancel than which
  titles to add
• Why?
• Online databases that index full-text articles
• Electronic journals publications that only
  exist in electronic format

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Types of Serials

• Institutional Reports
• Covers annuals, semi-annuals, quarterlies, and
  occasional reports of organizations
• Example financial reports of corporations

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Types of Serials

• Yearbooks and Proceedings
• Covers annual, biennial, and occasional
  publications of societies and associations
• Includes yearbooks, almanacs, transactions,
  memoirs, directories, and reports
• Tend to be substantial in length and size

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Types of Serials

• Superseding Serials
• Publication in which each new issue or part of a
  volume supersedes the previous issue and the
  library discards the older issue
• Example telephone directories or school catalogs

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Types of Serials

• Newspapers
• Difficult to keep in order
• Storage is usually on microfilm
• Indexing was a problem in the past but now
  newspapers can be accessed through databases like
  Lexis and Academic Search Premier

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Types of Serials

• Newsletters
• Small size, short length format
• Long term retention is not necessary
• Example press releases

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Types of Serials

• Nonsuperseding Serials
• Example Facts on File
• Historical value to the older issues

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Types of Serials

• Magazines
• Weekly or monthly newsmagazines (Time)
• Popular (Sports Illustrated, Glamour)
• Popularize science, cultural affairs, etc
  (Smithsonian)
• Focus on opinion and criticism (Foreign Affairs)

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Types of Serials

• Journals
• Nonspecialized journals
• Learned journals for specialists
• Practical professional journals
• Parochial journals

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Digital vs. Paper

• Students tend to prefer the electronic formats
  because indexing is better
• Electronic formats available from anywhere that
  you have access to a computer
• Paper journals are owned by the library
• Electronic formats are leased you will lose the
  information if you dont pay the annual fee

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Digital vs. Paper

• Just in case Long-term preservation library
  is prepared in case someone needs the information
• Just in time Locate the desired material at
  the time the user needs it (ILL)
• Printing vs. Photocopying

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Digital vs. Paper

• There is a time delay on some journals this is
  to keep libraries from dropping their paper
  subscriptions
• Also called a moving wall represents the time
  period between the last issue available in a
  database and the most recently published issue of
  a journal
• Example JSTOR

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Organization

• Three ways to organize serials
• Alphabetically by title most common
• Alphabetically by title within broad topical
  groupings
• Classified order same system as books
• Classified approach can present problems because
  few publications have a single focus

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Storage

• Space is an issue
• Can be difficult to keep all the issues together,
  also difficult to keep in order
• Some libraries have closed periodical stacks
  allows for better control and maintenance of the
  collection

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Security

• Current issues do not check out
• As a result, they are at risk for theft or having
  pages ripped out
• Some libraries circulate older periodicals

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Staffing

• Serials Departments fall in Technical Services
  and Public Services categories
• Staff are generally knowledgeable in both areas
• Staff should keep records of losses and damaged
  items
• Lost items need to be replaced from the publisher