Steve,

Back in the good-old, bad-old days, libraries kept shelf list cards on
which they meticulously recorded their holdings.  Kardex cards were used to
check-in current periodicals and serials.  They sometimes were also used to
record vendor & payment information, binding patterns and an open holdings
statement for when the library's subscription began.  Shelflist and kardex
cards were useful for recording lots of information.  Some integrated
systems today are very rigid and fall short of the functionality of the old
fashioned manual systems.  But don't get me wrong -- I definitely don't
want to return to those days.  The automated systems provide lots of
functionality which was lacking in the manual system, such as generating
reports for potential claims to name just one.

Hope this helps.

Virginia Taffurelli
Head of Technical Processing
Science, Industry and Business Library
The New York Public Library
188 Madison Avenue
New York NY  10016-4314
Phone: (212) 592-7234
FAX: (212) 592-7233
email: vtaffurelli@nypl.org

                      "STEVE
                      BLACK@FACULTY            To:       SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU
                      Sent by:                 cc:
                      "SERIALST:               Subject:  [SERIALST] How were holdings kept in the old days?
                      Serials in
                      Libraries
                      Discussion Forum"
                      <SERIALST@LIST.UV
                      M.EDU>

                      06/02/2004 11:19
                      AM
                      Please respond to
                      "SERIALST:
                      Serials in
                      Libraries
                      Discussion Forum"

Back when libraries still had card catalogs, and even before word
processing, how were periodicals holdings lists kept? Were there
annotations on the cards in the catalog? Was the Kardex kept near
reference? Some other method?

Curious,

Steve Black
Reference, Serials, and Instruction Librarian
The College of Saint Rose
392 Western Avenue
Albany, NY 12203-1419
blacks@strose.edu
(518)458-5494