Greetings,
   The University of Rochester Rush Rhees Library is still dealing with its print serials as described in Ian's message. Not every title cataloged as a serial is going to the current periodicals room; the decision is made by a subject librarian. If it does, a note is added to the record in our catalog (Voyager): Current issues in Periodicals Reading Room.
  Another library on campus is shelving both the current and the older bound issues alphabetically. This requires a separate location, endless notes in Voyager  like "Shelved under such-and-such title", does not eliminate the monotonously-looking runs so eloquently described by Ian, makes it easier to miss title changes, etc., etc. I think this approach is based on a misconception that users forever remember the original title of a journal. Perhaps some faculty members do remember a few basic ones; students have no clue what a journal was called earlier when their quotation refers to the current title. Then again, students largely use online journals if they possibly can.
   Granted, not every library has the space and other resources to follow our example. What I would suggest then is taking a look at our DVDs and Videos page or the brand new Newspapers page under More resources http://www.lib.rochester.edu/  Both of them are essentially subsets of records extracted from our catalog based on particular criteria (i.e., MARC codes). They are not without glitches, but the scripts can be tweaked to adjust the criteria. There is no reason why this cannot be done for the records of print serials as well. That way, a library can have an online alphabetical list of print periodicals similar to an A to Z list of e-journals. I suppose it could even be possible to combine the two into one master list of serials regardless of their format.
   One caveat, though. A patron will have to use a computer to take advantage of such a list. There's no way around it.

Konstantin Gurevich
Head, Serials Cataloging
Rush Rhees Library
University of Rochester
Rochester, NY 14627-0055
Phone (585) 275-9452
E-mail: kgurevich@library.rochester.edu

>>> Ian Woodward <iwoodward@MAIL.COLGATE.EDU> 8/28/2006 9:09 AM >>>
I think I would say, "You are right, but correcting the problem will
take a load of man-hours that we would have to snatch from other
(perhaps more consequential) activities."

Subject classifications for periodical runs can grow stale.  Also, I can
say that as a customer in libraries public and academic (before and
after automation), I cannot see how collocation of periodicals is all
that helpful to patrons unless bound periodicals are interfiled with
books and the trip to retrieve an article found in a reference book or
database leads the customer to a run of monographs nearby.  Neither the
shelf arrangement nor the cover-and-spine text of classified periodicals
are information-rich in the manner of those of books and shelf upon
shelf of periodical volumes bound in burnt sienna and bilious green are
not inviting for browsing (or at least not inviting for me).

The University of Rochester at one time classified their bound
periodical volumes and interfiled them with books in the general stacks,
while their current periodicals were arranged alphabetically in a
dedicated study room.  Given the peculiar geography of the book stacks
at the Rush Rhees Library, this was (I would wager) the optimal
solution.  My own institution had a floor of its main library dedicated
to periodicals stacks and current periodicals display, so alphabetical
arrangements were used.  Our branch library (largely on one floor) has
had an ongoing experiment with a segregated and classified print
periodical collection.  I was not present when the shift from
alphabetical to classified arrangement took place, so I cannot tell you
if there was complaint from patrons.

One problem in assessing customer complaints is that 98% of your patrons
just eat the bangers-and-mash you serve them, whether they enjoy it or
not.  It is hard to tell if the other two percent reflect the opinions
of the remainder or are just among the world's histrionic folk.  Another
problem is that the interests of faculty and students may diverge.  The
interests of students should be paramount.  I would not hazard a guess
as to how often that is actually the case.

We have now put the bulk of our bound periodical collection in an
automated on-site warehouse, to which facility our patrons make requests
via our WebOPAC.  It might be of use to our customers to re-insert call
numbers in these MARC records to allow for 'virtual browsing' with the
OPAC.  Of course, it would take forever.  Our current periodicals
display is still in alphabetical order, so it might sow confusion as
well.   IW

I.  Woodward
Serials Office
Colgate University Libraries
201L McGregory Hall
13 Oak Drive
Hamilton, N.Y. 13346
Ph.:   315-228-7306
Fax:   315-228-7029
-----Original Message-----
From: SERIALST: Serials in Libraries Discussion Forum
[mailto:SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU] On Behalf Of Carol Morse
Sent: Friday, August 25, 2006 10:53 PM
To: SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU
Subject: Re: [SERIALST] What would YOU say to this disgruntled patron?

I would say, Listen to the patron. What they say makes sense!
Carol Morse

>>> Naomi Young <naomi@UFLIB.UFL.EDU> 8/25/2006 12:57:36 PM >>>
What would you say if you had been asked to answer this electronic
reference query?
---
Reference Question = I would like to peruse various periodicals
related
to Africa, political science, economics, sociology, history, religion,
etc. It would certainly have been nice if UF would have arranged the
periodicals alphabetically (like most major universities, including
the
Ivy league). Instead I have to find the call number for each
periodical!
This is crazy! Is an alphabetical list available? If not, can one be
posted electronically and also a hard copy posted in the periodical
room? I'm sure other students are going to be driven mad when they
cannot simply walk into the library and read Time, Newsweek or Sports
Illustrated, but instead have to find a computer and figure out where
the magazine is located.
------

The snide answers that are leaping to my fingers are neither kind nor
user-centered... I'm curious ... what would YOU say?

(Bonus points for Ivy League respondents who class their unbound
issues)!

Friday regards,
Naomi Young

Naomi K. Young
Principal Serials Cataloger
Cataloging & Metadata Dept.
University of Florida
Gainesville, FL 32611-7007
(352) 392-0355 ext 234
naomi@uflib.ufl.edu