We are trying to revamp our serials charge-back system.  I work in a
     small corporate library, and we route most of our journals around the
     company.  Currently, we divide the cost when we renew subscriptions by
     looking at the list of people seeing a copy of a publication and
     charging a proportionate fraction of the cost to each department that
     makes up at least a third of the list.  Sound complicated?  It is.  It
     also is not entirely fair, since some departments get charged and
     others don't.  Some people even try to get around the system by
     putting only one person from their department on the list but sending
     it around to more.  I'm looking for ideas about better ways to handle
     this.  If your library has to charge serial costs to other
     departments, please let me know how you decide who pays for what.  And
     if you just have any good ideas, that would be great, too.  Covering
     the costs with our library budget is not a good option because our
     budget money comes from other departments as it is.  We draw money
     proportionately from the departments that use us the most.

     [From:    Elizabeth Cronk <Elizabeth.Cronk@RELIASTAR.COM>]