3 messages, 138 lines:

(1)----------------------------
Date:         Wed, 22 Dec 1999 07:27:37 -0500
From:         Janet P Heath <HEATHJ@MAIL.BRODY.ECU.EDU>
Subject:      Re: Publishers' shipping

Stephen:
  That has always been the practice, (from what I understand).
Institutions have always been last on the totem pole.  Have a nice
holiday!!

Janet P. Heath
Serials Coordinator
Health Sciences Library
East Carolina University
Greenville, NC  27834-4354

Phone   252-816-2234
FAX       252-816-3369
<HEATHJ@MAIL.BRODY.ECU.EDU>

> ---------- Original message ----------
> From:         Stephen Perisho[SMTP:sperisho@IAS.EDU]
> Sent:         Tuesday, December 21, 1999 4:28 PM
> Subject:      Publishers' shipping
>
> To whom it may concern:
>
>         This has probably already been dealt with, but being new to the
> list, I'll ask my question anyway.  Is it true what I suspect and also
> hear, namely, that some publishers ship first to individuals, and only
> subsequently, in a second batch, to institutions (or perhaps, sometimes,
> vice versa)?  And that this accounts in part for the fact that a scholar
> can sometimes know of the availability of an issue for which my agent
> hasn't even been invoiced yet?
>
> Steve Perisho
> Serials Assistant
> Historical Studies-Social Science Library
> Institute for Advanced Study
> Olden Lane
> Princeton, New Jersey  08540
> United States of America
>
> Tel.:  609 734 8378; Fax:  609 951 4515
> E-mail:  sperisho@ias.edu

(2)---------------------------
Date:         Wed, 22 Dec 1999 08:28:32 EDT
From:         Diane Lewis <dilewis@IGSRGLIB01.ER.USGS.GOV>
Organization: U.S. Geological Survey
Subject:      Re: Publishers' shipping

Stephen Perisho wrote:

"Is it true what I suspect and also
hear, namely, that some publishers ship first to individuals, and only
subsequently, in a second batch, to institutions (or perhaps,
sometimes, vice versa)?"

I can confirm this from several varieties of personal experience--
invariably a researcher will come in and not find the journal to which
s/he has a citation. Later, when we call the person to let them
know that the issue has arrived,  s/he's  seen the article long
before in some colleague's personal copy.

At home, I know that my personal copy of one of the natural
science journals always arrives a long time before our library's copy
gets in here.

One more perplexing fact of life in the serials lane....

Diane M. Lewis
Serial Records Librarian
U.S. Geological Survey Library
National Center--MS 950
Reston, Virginia  20192
phone: (703)648-4399 fax:   (703)648-6376
"Intelligence, not perhaps at its highest level, but far
beyond the sheer emotionalism of TV, has found its
refuge in the newspapers."--Robertson Davies

(3)---------------------------
Date:         Wed, 22 Dec 1999 07:37:50 -0500
From:         Albert Henderson <NobleStation@COMPUSERVE.COM>
Subject:      Publishers' shipping

on Tue, 21 Dec 1999 Stephen Perisho <sperisho@IAS.EDU> wrote:

>         This has probably already been dealt with, but being new to the
> list, I'll ask my question anyway.  Is it true what I suspect and also
> hear, namely, that some publishers ship first to individuals, and only
> subsequently, in a second batch, to institutions (or perhaps, sometimes,
> vice versa)?  And that this accounts in part for the fact that a scholar
> can sometimes know of the availability of an issue for which my agent
> hasn't even been invoiced yet?

Wise faculty avoid using campus addresses to eliminate the
mailroom from the delivery chain. Nearly all 'home' addresses
are now standardized for automation and are speeded by barcoding.

Publishers obtain standard mail discounts from the post office
by 'mass mailing' using automation bar codes. Institution managers
create two problems that interfere with speedy delivery and add to
the information bottleneck created by underfunding their libraries:

        1. All mail goes first to the intitution mailroom
                rather than direct to the library. This must
                add a day or more.

        2. Many institutions lack addresses that are consistent
                with automation standards. You must have a PO
                box number or street address that can be matched
                with a 9-digit zip code.

The problem can be solved by bypassing the mailroom and having the
post office deliver direct to the library at an 'automation standard'
address. Even the old "rural routes" have acquired street names under
automation standards. There is no reason why every campus building cannot
have a 'street address.' I believe that Penn State managed to solve the
problem quite well by giving each building a 'street address' that was
the same as the building name.

So yes, non-automation mail may be released separately from automation mail.

Publishers pay the post office to deliver the mail. If they don't deliver
it directly to you, the problem is in your label.

I have urged, on this list, that every library obtain its own street address
and 9-digit zip, enabling publishers to deliver directly at automation speed
and discounted rates. This would not only speed delivery. The extra expense
(of the central mailroom distribution) saved could be used for library activity.

Albert Henderson
Editor, PUBLISHING RESEARCH QUARTERLY
<70244.1532@compuserve.com>