In the federal documents area at USF, we still have a paper shelflist
arranged by call number housed in the public service area for documents.
(Since many of our bib records were tapeloaded, some for items we never
had, the paper shelflist, up until 2000, is a master file of what we
actually HAVE.)  For serials and periodicals, we had a main card, then
holdings cards behind it, detailing which issues, years, etc. we had
received.  Once we bound something, we combined the entry on the card to
indicate such.

I seem to remember using similar cards at William and Mary in the late
80's, which were in the reference area in their own little
card-catalog-like cabinet.  I don't remember if the cards in that
cabinet were arranged by call number or by title, and I think it was
mostly serials.  They may have had a Kardex also for the more
frequently-received periodical titles, but I can't remember where it was
kept.

Now that I'm old enough to answer an "old days" question, my memory is
getting fuzzy!

Carol Ann

Carol Ann Borchert
Serials Librarian
University of South Florida Tampa Library
4202 E. Fowler Ave. LIB 122
Tampa, FL 33620-5400
(813) 974-3901
fax: (813) 974-2296
email: borchert@lib.usf.edu
Web page: http://www.lib.usf.edu/ref/borchert

-----Original Message-----
From: SERIALST: Serials in Libraries Discussion Forum
[mailto:SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU] On Behalf Of STEVE
BLACK@FACULTY@ACADEMICAFFAIRS
Sent: Wednesday, June 02, 2004 11:19 AM
To: SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU
Subject: [SERIALST] How were holdings kept in the old days?

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