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Re: Readability of serials displays Mykie Howard 06 Feb 2009 15:22 UTC

Those look fine.  What would help would be to start a new line when you have a comma.

Library has:
v.30:no.2 (1994:Jan.),
v.30:no.4 (1994:Mar.)-v.30:no.7 (1994:June),
v.30:no.9 (1994:Sept.)-v.33:no.2 (1997:Feb.),
v.33:no.4 (1997:Apr.)-v.38 (2002),
v.39:no.8 (2003:Sept.)-v.41:no.1 (2005:Jan.),
v.41:no.3 (2005:Mar.)-v.44 (2007) [Bound volumes]

Mykie

-----Original Message-----
From: SERIALST: Serials in Libraries Discussion Forum [mailto:SERIALST@list.uvm.edu] On Behalf Of Smith2, Kelly
Sent: Friday, February 06, 2009 9:54 AM
To: SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU
Subject: [SERIALST] Readability of serials displays

O.K.  So I have a problem with the way bound serial holdings runs are often displayed.  Here is an example:

Library has: v.30:no.2 (1994:Jan.),v.30:no.4 (1994:Mar.)-v.30:no.7 (1994:June),v.30:no.9 (1994:Sept.)-v.33:no.2 (1997:Feb.),v.33:no.4 (1997:Apr.)-v.38 (2002),v.39:no.8 (2003:Sept.)-v.41:no.1 (2005:Jan.),v.41:no.3 (2005:Mar.)-v.44 (2007) [Bound volumes]

What normal patron is going to be able to read through all that to figure out what we have?  Even my eyes glaze over trying to figure it out.

I'm thinking about moving toward a simplified display by leaving out the months to help it scan better and separating out the missing issues in a separate line:

Library has: v. 30, no. 2 (1994) – v. 44 (2007) [Bound volumes]
Missing issues: 30:3(1994), 30:8(1994), 33:3(1997), 39:1-7(2003), 41:2(2005)

Any thoughts?  How does your library approach this issue?

~Kelly

Kelly A. Smith
Electronic Resources Collection Librarian
kelly.smith2@eku.edu