Automatic claiming doesn't automatically address claiming Hannah King 20 Mar 1995 14:30 UTC
Since I received several responses on my past question asking how you all handled claiming problems like irregulars, extended subs, etc. suggesting that automation was a solution if not a cure, I decided to post additional observations and comments. A number of years before I accepted a position here, the library started using MicroLynx (Faxon) to process claims. When the system was first implemented, most felt that the automatic nature of claims generation (wasn't checked in, then generate a claim) made direct supervision of our serials assistant unnecessary. Well, then came title number changes, title changes, software bugs, shortened claim periods, no claim period ranges for irregulars, human error in check-ins. Hmmm -- you see the problem. In the meantime, the ordering, payment, and cancellation of titles was separated from the check-in, claiming, and binding of journals. The former is up to me in Collection Development; the latter is up to my collegue in Technical Services Then came the awareness that some titles had never been claimed until the end of the year, that gift titles had ceased and no one knew until someone asked for the title, that some title changes had been handled as if they were sample issues, and the realization that extending a subscription never really replaced a missing issue. Unless a title is cancelled you still need to pay up front for a whole year so extensions seem pretty meaningless to me. Then came the problem of out-of-print current year subs even when properly claimed. In sum, claiming can be done automatically only if the data in your serials module is accurate, the claims ranges set make sense and are within publisher deadlines, there is a way to process claims that are for titles not supplied by the vendor of the system you are using, and your serial assistant is checking-in titles correctly. I am concerned that much of what we automatically claim may be incorrectly claimed, claimed too soon or too late, or missed because there is no way for our assistant to ascertain whether it has actually published. For example, at least 10 titles I paid for last year did not publish their expected number of issues and are not formally describing themselves as irrregularly purlished. Automating serials control, I maintain, is impossible because there are too many management decisions and too many anomalous situations involved. That's why I was wondering how the rest of you were addresing these issues. Hannah King SUNY HSC Library at Syracuse kingh@vax.cs.hscsyr.edu 766 Irving avenue Syracuse, NY 13210 315-464-7109 315-464-7199 (fax) PS We subscribe to about 1550 titles. About 1400 of these are with Readmore and the rest are through Ballen, Majors (standing order types), direct, NTIS or GPO, and by direct gifts from patrons. All are on our REMO database but only Readmore titles are regularly claimed because of the above problems that need to be addressed.