> My library administration doesn't really think claiming or
> inventorying
> periodical collection is really necessary.  As the administration puts
> it "a little inaccuracy, disorder and instability are not always bad."
> Personally, I found it is very difficult to persuade library
> administration why it is important to be accurate.

At the risk of starting another argument, I think it's worth pointing
out that the question isn't whether we should be accurate or not, but
rather how much a unit of accuracy is worth.  If you employed one person
and said "Handle serials any way you want," you'd probably end up with a
completely unacceptable level of inaccuracy.  On the other hand, if you
wanted perfect accuracy, you'd probably have to hire 100 professional
librarians and create endless manuals for them.  We can probably all
agree that that's too high a price to pay.  So where's the balance
between those two extremes?  Cynthia, you're not wrong to say that
accuracy is important.  But your administration is also not wrong to say
that "a little inaccuracy... is not always bad."  The question is, how
little?

----
Rick Anderson
Dir. of Resource Acquisition
University of Nevada, Reno Libraries
(775) 784-6500 x273
rickand@unr.edu