Hi all,

Recently, I began work as a librarian in a non-profit
organization.  This organization has a unique and immense collection
of information, that spans well over a decade. The organization is
small, and the space allocated the library even smaller.  The
burgeoning collection has almost outgrown its small space, and resides
in various areas around the facilities. The staff are unable to use
the library effectively since finding what they need is like finding a
needle in a haystack.

And this includes the large serials collection as well.

Several boxes of incoming and unsorted periodicals (about six months'
backlog) reside in the Director's office, waiting to be vetted and put
on shelf.  The director himself expressed concern about the boxes of
incoming uncataloged periodicals that have deluged his office!

In the library itself are 11 bookcases with a total of 49 shelves'
worth of serials holdings in magazine boxes.  As of May 2004, we have
about 147 subscriptions to various publications (a mix of foreign,
esoteric, and popular titles).  Some publications on shelf are
received regularly while others have lapses in their circulation.  We
have some publications that go as far back as 15 years. Incidentally,
staff have procedures in place for handling periodicals to distribute,
vet, and archive periodicals. If details on the procedure will help,
I'll be glad to send a summary.

I'm wondering now what kind of a plan do I implement to tackle this
project?  I need a guide by which I can whip the periodicals
collection into shape and keep them that way.  What is the best way to
make the collection available to staff?  Any resources that you have
found helpful?  Also, could you recommend a good serials program
either standalone or as part of an automated system (the latter is
preferred!).

Do you think this project is manageable for one librarian or would you
enlist more help?

Thanks for all of your help--I appreciate it very much!

Maria