-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: Serials List database -- Susan Schleicher
Date: Fri, 14 Dec 2001 12:06:34 -0700
From: Dan Lester <dan@riverofdata.com>
Reply-To: Dan Lester <dan@riverofdata.com>
Organization: RiverOfData.com

I'm not sure if I'm answering the right question, but here we go.

Friday, December 14, 2001, 10:30:23 AM, you wrote:
SC> I hope someone out in Serials Land can help me with this question.
Our
SC> library is considering the option of NOT printing our serials list
in
SC> paper any more. Please share with me any successes and/or failures
you have
SC> encountered using databases to publish your serials list to the web.

Boise State has produced a serials list in paper since before 1990
(when I arrived).  In recent years it has been produced by extracting
appropriate data from our Geac Advance integrated library system and
then importing that into MSAccess.  Since the most recent update to
the Advance system, it has become increasingly difficult to do that
extraction.  In addition, the printed list has become so thick that we
can't bind it with our in-house pinbinding any more.  We don't want to
have 100 copies each of two volumes.

We have done tests of a serials list from the Access database in two
ways:  First, using the native Access to Web tools that come with
Access and FrontPage.  Second, by producing it in ColdFusion.  Both
worked, with the latter preferable to the former.  However, that still
ieft us with the problem of getting the data extracted from the
library catalog.

We then investigated the companies that create web-based serials
lists, talked with all of them on the phone, and analyzed the costs
and benefits of each.  For our needs, TDNet was the answer.  We expect
to have the system our for the public by the beginning of next
semester.  I'm sure we'll let people know when that happens on both
this list and on the new TDNETUSERS list we just started.

All that being said, I fully expect some of the reference staff to
still lobby for a printed list.  That, of course, just isn't going to
happen.  Our public computers allow the user to open multiple browser
sessions (we just started permitting that, because of TDNet), so
you'll be able to search a database in one window and then check
ownership and holdings in another.  For ejournals the holdings
information is displayed by TDNet; for print and microform, a link to
the relevant catalog record is provided, so the latest receiving
information is available, as well as full holdings information.

I'm sure some will complain that the poor patron who uses a print
index won't be able to check holdings.  Well, he'll just have to take
the index volumes to a computer, or take notes and check later.  Since
no indexes are more than about 100 feet from a computer, and since
print indexes probably receive less than two percent of the total
index usage, I'm just not going to worry about that.  There are always
some who complain about any change, and there's nothing I can do about
that.  Since our last printed list is almost two years old, most will
be happy to have an up to date resource.

I'm always happy to answer questions, either on or off list.

Happy holidays,

dan

--
Dan Lester, Data Wrangler  dan@RiverOfData.com 208-283-7711
3577 East Pecan, Boise, Idaho  83716-7115 USA
www.riverofdata.com  www.gailndan.com  Stop Global Whining!