2 messages:

1)-------------------------------

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Bindery & Electronic Journals
Date: Thu, 28 Jun 2001 18:27:36 -0500
From: Martha Coleman <mcoleman@westark.edu>
-

>-------- Original Message --------
>Subject: Bindery & Electronic Journals
>Date: Thu, 28 Jun 2001 11:08:12 -0600
>From: Terry Schiissler <Terry.Schiissler@uregina.ca>
>
>
>Hello fellow SERIALSTers,
>
>Many libraries are able to access journals electronically, or  have
>journals within their collections included in many of the electronic
>databases,  now available (either through a consortial arrangement or
>through outright purchase).

My question is - how has this affected your bindery or pre-bindery
operations?

We have changed some of our retention periods from "bind and keep
forever" to retains current 2, 5, or 10 years only unbound.  Many of
these titles are also being purchased in fiche format so we are giving
students access to the current issues in case the title is an embargo
title from the vendor, saving shelf space, and saving binding funds.

Have you maintained your bindery budget at the same levels or at
reduced levels?

Our bindery budget has not been cut but we have shifted about a third
to book repair.  One of our team goals last year was to focus on 3
areas of the collection, weed, and pull for repair or bindery. We hope
to continue with 3 areas each year and slowly work our way through the
entire collection so I think we can justify keeping our current budget.

Do you still bind materials that are now being received in an
electronic format?

We cancelled about 15 titles that were being received from 3 aggregator
databases and almost immediately found that the vendors removed
(embargoed)the most recent issues from several.  So we are going slow
on cancelling paper.  But we don't feel that we have to keep titles
forever now if they are in electronic format.

Are you giving any thought to stop binding altogether?

No, we feel that some titles need to be preserved in paper format, such
as art journals, the National Geographic, Life (when it is alive), some
local publications, and so on.  We also decided to bind People because
it is used/browsed so much but did cut retention to the current 10
years bound.  We continue to bind the current news magazines.  Our Time
magazine goes back to 1925 and many students are amazed at articles
written before their parents were born (in some cases).

Are you using the bindery operation for monographic rebinds only now
that many journals are available electronically?
Have you had time and the labour/staff to be able to verify what should
or should not be bound because of journals being available
electronically?

We check Jake to see what coverage is available before making a
decision about canceling a title.  We did feel that some subscriptions
were covered pretty well electronically and even if that particular
title disappeared from the database there was adequate coverage in
other titles.  I do believe that our current paper/bound collection
represents a more serious core collection than in the past.

Are there any other bindery questions I should be thinking of because
of journals now being received in electronic form?

Many thanks in advance for all your thoughts

Terry Schiissler
Subscription Supervisor
Dr. John Archer Library
Library Serials Department
University of Regina
Regina, SK
Canada    S4S 0A2
Telephone - (306) 585-4409
FAX - (306) 585-4868
mailto:Terry.Schiissler@URegina.ca

----------------------------------
Martha Coleman
Reference/Serials Librarian
Westark College - Boreham Library
5210 Grand Avenue   PO Box 3649
Fort Smith,  AR  72913
501-788-7208     FAX 501-788-7209