I must admit I had a good chuckle at the idea of an "executive summary" on
serials.  There is so much that could be covered: acquisitions, cataloging,
electronic journal management, scholarly publishing, ILS serials modules,
holdings, and so forth that it's pretty overwhelming.

In addition to Lauren's article noted below, I would also suggest scanning
the NASIG conference proceedings from the past 20 years (although the 20th
isn't out yet) to see what topics were covered; the workshops in particular
provide a good perspective for the practical, day to day, side of serials
work.  Haworth Press publishes the proceedings as issues of the Serials
Librarian, or they can be purchased as a stand alone monograph. If you are
a NASIG member, you have access via the members only site (www.nasig.org) (
I can also put in a shameless plus for a NASIG preconference that Beverley
Geer and myself did called Serials Boot Camp, published in the proceedings
of the 19th conference.)  NASIG also has developed a series of guides that
may be helpful.
<http://www.nasig.org/publications/guides/>

There are several seminal publications by Marcia Tuttle that would provide
a good fundamental understanding of the principles of serials control, and
even if you think they are dated, I would still recommend them.

Managing Serials (1996) published by JAI Press

And my personal favorite is her article in LRTS "The Serials Manager's
Obligation" v.31, April 1987, p.135-47.

She also edited Advances in Serials Management for its first 5 volumes,
before other experts took over the editorial role.  I also recommend
reviewing the topics covered in that series that ceased in 2000.

Journals to scan include: LRTS, Serials Review, the Serials Librarian, and
Library Collections and Technical Services.

Good luck!

Susan

Susan Davis
Head, Electronic Periodicals Management Department
University at Buffalo (SUNY)
134 Lockwood Library
Buffalo, NY  14260-2210
(716) 645-2784
(716) 645-5955 fax
unlsdb@buffalo.edu
--On Wednesday, February 22, 2006 9:04 AM -0500 "Bogdanski, Elizabeth"
<Elizabeth.Bogdanski@IL.PROQUEST.COM> wrote:

> There was a good over view of the state of serials in the January 2006
> issue of Library Resources & Technical Services by Lauren E. Corbett.
> This would be a good place to start.
>
>
> Beth Bogdanski, MLIS
> Current Newspapers Product Manager
> ProQuest Information and Learning
> (734) 761-4700 x3256
> elizabeth.bogdanski@il.proquest.com
> 300 N. Zeeb Rd.
> Ann Arbor, MI 48160
> www.il.proquest.com
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: SERIALST: Serials in Libraries Discussion Forum
> [mailto:SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU] On Behalf Of Carrie Eastman
> Sent: Wednesday, February 22, 2006 8:46 AM
> To: SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU
> Subject: [SERIALST] The state of serials today
>
> Due to restructuring I have a new supervisor and she has made a very
> interesting request which I thought I would pose here, as many of us
> would be interested and it may spark an interesting discussion.  In the
> past she has not done in-depth work with serials and expressed a desire
> to be brought up to speed on the state of serials today.  She isn't
> looking for anything too detailed, rather she would like the "executive
> summary."  Clearly a tricky request to fill since serials is so
> multi-faceted.  So, my question is, where would one go to obtain such
> information?  I'm going to assume that there is not one place.  Could
> anyone recommend journals, articles, websites, or books that may help me
> bring her up to speed in a broad way?
>
> Carrie S. Eastman
> Serials Specialist
> Wheelock College Library
> 132 The Riverway
> Boston, MA 02215
> 617.879.2223
> ceastman@wheelock.edu
>
>
>