2 messages:
(1)-------------------
Date: Tue, 24 May 2005 15:29:48 -0400
From: Linda Grooms <lgrooms@stetson.edu>
Subject: RE: [SERIALST] Inventory

We have an Access table that shows all of our physical holdings. One of
the many ways we use it is to create shelf-reading reports for our
student assistants. Our assistants are each responsible for a section of
our collection and are issued  reports that tell them exactly what they
should see on the shelf. One of their responsibilities is to make a
dated note on their shelf-reading report of any discrepancy. Many times
something missing today returns tomorrow, so the note can be removed. At
the end of each semester, I collect all of the reports and check any
notes still active to see if our holdings need to be updated. This
serves as a continuing inventory. It also give me a way to check of the
assistant's work :}

Linda Grooms
Periodicals Supervisor
duPont-Ball Library
Stetson University

-----Original Message-----
From: Jean Shankle [mailto:jshankle@PCCI.EDU]
Sent: Tuesday, May 24, 2005 1:30 PM
To: SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU
Subject: [SERIALST] Inventory

Do many of you do inventory of your periodical collection?  How do you
do it?  I am specifically interested in knowing how those of you whose
issues are not bar coded, do it.  Do you have a special program that
helps you with it?  Or have an of you set up something yourselves on
Access?  We have done inventory in the past, but it is comparable to
climbing Mount Everest.

Thank you for any advice you can offer.
Jean

############################
Miss Jean Shankle
Periodical Librarian
jshankle@pcci.edu
Pensacola Christian College Library
Box 18000
Pensacola, FL 32523

(2)------------------
Date: Tue, 24 May 2005 15:10:20 -0500
From: "Lafferty, Cindy" <CLafferty@sf.edu>
Subject: RE: [SERIALST] Inventory

Our periodicals are not barcoded and we do inventory every few years.
Mount Everest is a good comparison!  It is not my idea of a fun time.

Information gathered from the inventory was previously entered into a
spreadsheet but next time I will try to set up something with Access.

I have only done one inventory since I began working with the serials.
The previous person had warned me about using work study students to
actually do the physical inventory (go to the stacks, write down what is
there) but it was such a daunting task that I didn't see how I could do
it without lots of students helping. She was right though.  There were
too many mistakes, things were not recorded in a consistent format
(despite explaining several times), half the time I could barely read
their handwriting and then the work study who entered the information
made numerous mistakes and typos.

It was a mess, to say the least.

I would be interested in what others have to say, so if someone emails
you directly would you please summarize for the list?  If someone out
there has a magic method for dealing with this I would love to know what
it is!

Cindy Lafferty
Librarian Assistant
University of Saint Francis