Date: Tue, 11 Nov 1997 12:37:10 -0500
From: Allen Williams <williama@GVSU.EDU>
Subject: ";" and issue specific holdings

        Hello, everyone --

        At our university we display issue specific holdings to the public, and
        currently use a semicolon to designate irregular volume/issue gaps.
        This has come under debate now since there is a feeling that it is hard
        for patrons to understand, as well as library staff members.

        Here is an example:  A title is published monthly - 12 issues to a
        volume.  During 1996 they have 'some sort of problem' and only publish 7
        issues, but the following year return to 12 issues per volume.  Since
        there technically isn't a gap in the holdings but instead in the
        numbering, we would use a semicolon to represent the oddity:

        v.45:no.1 (1995:Jan.)-v.46:no.7 (1996:July);v.47:no.1 (1997:Jan.)-

        Is this an accepted format and do other libraries use this as a
        standard?  Any suggestions about how to do this differently?

        There has been consideration of placing the information in a 5XX note to
        record the oddity so that in the future no one would waste time trying
        to locate the non-published issues - in this case we would not use the
        semicolon and show the holdings as complete to patrons.

        Please reply to the list -- and thank you in advance for your help!

        Allen Williams
        Periodicals Specialist
        Grand Valley State University
        Allendale, MI  49401
        email: williama@gvsu.edu