-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Title changes and shelving
Date: Wed, 9 Feb 2000 13:31:34 -0500
From: Christina Liggins <cliggins@CHC.EDU>

Thank-you to everyone for your replies to my inquiry about title changes
and shelving.  I received 15 replies – all of which were very helpful
and
have certainly affected my approach to the situation.  My original
letter
to the listserve and the 15 replies to it follow.  Thanks again.

Christina Liggins
********************************************************

We are a medium-sized academic library and we shelve our journals in
alphabetical order.  I have a very basic question that has probably been
discussed on this list before, so forgive me for this, but:

When a journal undergoes a title change, do patrons seem to find it
easier
to retrieve a title when the title is shelved WITH the current title, or
shelved in its own alphabetically-correct spot?  For example, does
shelving
"Books Abroad" with its more current title "World Literature Today" make
retrieval more difficult for the patron?  Does it make life more
difficult
for shelvers?  Have there been any studies in this area?

Shelving old and new titles together, with directional (cross-reference)
signage might be the way to go, however, that is alot of signage!  The
journals holdings list would, of course, map out the title-change
history
of each journal.

Thanks in advance to everyone for any input on this matter.

Christina Liggins,
Serials Librarian
Chestnut Hill College
Philadelphia, PA

1)
Hello Christina,

We found that it was easier to have a block at the old title referring
people to the new title which is in it's place alphabetically.  We now
shelve our back periodicals by call number and have avoided the
placement
problem since the new title follows the previous title.  And our
professors
like being able to browse all titles in their subject area in one place
rather than moving from one end of the stack area to the others.

Carrie Ferm
Augustana College Library
Periodical Section
Rock Island, Il  61201

2)
Christina,

FWIW. In a former life I took care of the serials collection at Drexel's
Science and Technology Library. I/We would put a "dummy" on the shelf at
the end of the run of the former title. We used pieces of 2"x8" board
that
had been cut into lengths the height of an average book. On the "spine"
of
the "dummy" would be a label giving the new title. It's not a lot of
signage, just print it out and tape it on.

HTH,
Ted Schmidt

3)
Hello,

Our Health Sciences Library shelves their journals by title and when
there
is a title change shelves them according to the new title.  This has
been
done because as you mention you'd end up with a lot of signage and dummy
blocks redirecting people.
Most of the use of journals at Health Sciences Library comes from folks
with a citation so to shelve by a later (or earlier) title would lead to
even more frustration as they'd go to the citation's title and then be
redirected to where it is truely shelved.

Bill

4)
Christina:

We too are a medium sized academic library and shelve out journals
alphabetically.  Here is what we have found works best for us:

We put dummies to direct patrons to the new titles and back to the old
title.  This helps the patrons keep up with title changes.

Trying to shelve old and new titles together is a nightmare for shelvers
and
therefore our patrons.  We find that we end up with the new title
shelved
both in the correct alpha location as well as with the old title.

No, we haven't done any true study of this problem.  Our decision only
reflects our experiences.

Thanks,
Philenese Slaughter
Serials Librarian
Austin Peay State University
Felix G. Woodward Library
Clarksville, TN  37044

5)
We also shelve periodicals by title.  When titles change name, we shelve
each version of the title in its own alphabetically-correct spot.  We do
not shelve them together.

I have never done or seen any kind of study to determine what is best.
However, it seems to me that most of our patrons come with a citation
for a
specific volume.  Since the citation would have the actual title page
title, it seems to me that it would be easier for everything to be
shelved
by the actual title at the time of publication.

If you shelved titles together,  you would be making a lot of extra work
for your staff. You would also have to relabel the spines of the old
title
so they could be shelved in the new spot (if you didn't, your shelvers
would definitely have a problem).  You would also have to move all the
volumes with the old title to the new spot.  I don't know your space
situation, but we could not easily move several shelves of volumes to a
new
spot.

We used to have shelf "dummies" and the end or beginning of each title
change, linking the old title to the new and visa versa.  We have since
given that up due to staff reductions.  Our Serials Holdings List and
our
online catalog are now the only places that show patrons what the old or
new title is.

I hope this helps.  Diane Johnson

6)
Christina,

We are a medium sized academic library and also have our journals
shelved alphabetically by title.  Put the title change where it belongs
alphabetically.  You can put a dummy on the shelf indicating the new
title if you would like (for 6 months or so until people get used to
looking for the new title?).  If a client goes to the shelf and doesn't
find anything, hopefully a question will be asked of  Reference,
hopefully Reference will look at the online catalog, and hopefully the
client will be directed to the spot for the current title.  And yes, not
shelving things in the correct title area does make life more difficult
for shelvers.

Let me know if I can be of further assistance.

Cheryl
*************************************
Cheryl Riley, A.A., B.B.A., M.L.S., M.B.A., Ed. Spec.
Associate Professor & Serials Expert
Central Missouri State University
Warrensburg, MO  64093

7)
We decided to put each title in its own spot in the alphabet.  We found
people getting lost (especially ILL) if we shelved them differently. (We
do
put a shelf label on continued by or previously.)

Edith Pfeifer List
Serials Manager/Horizon System Administrator
Marshall Brooks Library
Principia College
Elsah, IL 62028-9799

8)
Our journals are shelved as yours are, in alphabetical order. When we
have a
situation of either a title change or a subscription which has been
terminated, we apply a sticker/label to the spine of the last bound
volume
which indicates the situation ... thus, we have stickers which read
"title
change" so that folks will, hopefully, know to look in the spot where
the
new title is shelved, and we have stickers which read "last received
issues"
indicating that we no longer subscribe to that journal. Hope this helps!

P Picerno

9)
This insoluble dilemma has led some libraries to shelving by call
number; that
way, at least shelving is unambiguous. Of course, it means that none of
the
patrons can directly access any part of the title on the shelves. To me
that
amounts to solving the problem by making it worse for all the users. It
depends on whether you care more about the users or the shelvers.

David Goodman
Biology Librarian, and
Co-Chair, Electronic Journals Task Force
Princeton University Library

10)
As another medium sized library, I have found that shelving everything
under the correct title is the best way to go in an alphabetical
situation.
 Most of the time patrons are not aware of earlier titles and only have
the
current citation to go on.  Sometimes it makes things a little odd, such
as
the variations of Atlantic and Atlantic Monthly, and then I do keep them
in
sequence.  But most of the time we shelve by exact title.  If there
seems
any need to indicate a relation ship, we use dummy boxes to fill in a
space
and send patrons to another title.  (Such as TDR See: The Drama
Review.)  I
also keep a printout of current titles, and a note in that indicates
earlier or later title changes.

We have just under 1000 titles, and this seems to work quite well.
People
who are regular readers of a title usually are aware of changes, in any
case, and the current title seems to be best for all searchers.

Karen Chobot

11)
We are a Public Library; we shelve title changes under their correct
title
with a box at the end of the former title referring to the new title.

Hope this helps.
Carroll Skelton
Pueblo Library Distict

12)
Dear Ms. Liggins:
        In reference to your question about how to shelve journals that
change
title, I work at a library with about 3000 paper subscriptions, most of
which are housed in one area.  We also shelve our titles alphabetically.
 It is my opinion that most people would find it easier to look for the
title as it appears on the cover--so if a title changes I would shelve
the
new issue under the new title and leave the old issues where they were.
 You might want to consider using what we call "dummies"--pieces of wood
about the size of a book-- on which you could have a printed
notification,
"For later volumes see__________" or, "Title changed to
___________________."
        I might add that, at least in the case of my library, this
should become
less and less of a problem, because for a rapidly growing number of
titles,
we are canceling the paper subscriptions if we can get the journals
online.
 What has surprised me about this is that we have gotten virtually no
complaints from our patrons.
        All the best.
                                William L. Keogan
                                SerialsLibrarian
                                St. John's University Library
                                Jamaica, NY

13)
Hi Christina,

We too are a medium-sized university library for science (physics,
chemistry,
life sciences etc.).

Our working assumption is, that in the sciences, browsing occurs mainly
within the NEW, Current issues, whereas in the non-current issues,
patrons
look for articles per bibliographic citations. Therefore our current
materials (current year) are shelved per gross subjects (mentioned
above)
whereas the non-current material is shelved alphabetically.

When a title-change occurs, we definitely put the new name under its
NEW version, otherwise you loose control. You cannot have an
alphabetical
arrangement, unless you handle it strictly alphabetically. You CAN put
title-changes together if your journals stand by classification, which
is
NOT the case here, or - you cannot have your cake and eat it too. When a
patron comes with a reference (citation), he has the NEW name (in the
case
of a title change). He will find it easily ONLY if the material is
shelved
accordingly, e.g. in the new name.

Yours - Idith

* Idith Bar-Nachum
* Periodicals Department
* Harman Science Library
* Hebrew University
* Givat Ram, Jerusalem
* ISRAEL

14)
We have no problem with this, as we shelve by call number -- and have
for years.  I'm a little surprised by David Goodman's comment that
having things shelved by call number makes things worse: our patrons
(students & faculty) have to know a book's call number in order to find
it, so they see nothing out of the way or different in having to get the
journal's call number before looking for it.  In many ways, it makes it
easier for them when the policy is <always> "in order to find something
you need the call number".  It also means that other journals on the the
same subject are nearby, and if a patron is just browsing it makes their
task so much easier.

Kathleen Thorne

Kathleen Thorne, Serials Cataloger
San Jose State University, San Jose CA 95192-0028

15)
We shelve our current reciepts under title too.  When there is a title
change we shelve the new material under the new title.  We do not put
pointers to previous/new titles on the shelving because its a lot of
work.
We rely on the catalog to get patrons to the correct title.  Patron's
who
don't use the catalog are in a bind.  There is no easy answer for them.

Hope this helps

Elizabeth
Serials
University of Nevada, Reno