As one of the previous responders said, yes, wouldn't consistent
definitions for these terms be wonderful?  As an agent for a regional union
list of serials, my office tries to maintain consistent usage in our
consortial union list, but it's always interesting to see the range of
carefully thought out understandings for common holdings terms.

We have used "Current year" to mean the current calendar year. "Current 12
months" crosses the calendar year break to go -- at this point -- back to
June or July '04.
There's also the question of a distinction between "Current" &
"Latest."  YEARS ago, I learned that Current was used in holdings of
publications that were issued annually or more frequently.  Latest was used
to refer to publications that came out less frequently than once a
year.  Is anyone familiar with that distinction?

Cecelia Boone, Asst. to the Dir. for MULS & Communication
MINITEX Library Information Network
c-boon@umn.edu
612-624-6353, 800-462-5348

At 10:48 AM 7/12/2005, you wrote:
>  I've already emailed Kim offlist (short answer: Current to date we
>pull, eg. "Current 1 year" on a January pull left all of 2004 on the
>shelf.  However, go there today and you will find a year and a half.
>The Chicago Tribune, which is "Current 3 weeks" for us, if pulled today
>would leave June 20 fwd on the shelf; go to that stack next Monday and
>you will find the same thing, in effect, 4 weeks Current.  An inexact
>science, perhaps, but it never leaves one with less on the shelf than
>the holdings record will show.
>
>Susan's letter brings a question, though - if "Current year plus one"
>means 2004 to date, what does "Current 1 year" mean?
>
>Jeanette L. Skwor
>Cofrin Library
>University of WI-Green Bay
>(920) 465-2670
>
>"Libraries will get you through times of no money better than money will
>get you through times of no libraries."
>                               Anne Herbert, The Whole Earth Catalog
>
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: SERIALST: Serials in Libraries Discussion Forum
>[mailto:SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU] On Behalf Of Susan Davis
>Sent: Tuesday, July 12, 2005 10:28 AM
>To: SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU
>Subject: Re: [SERIALST] Question about holdings statements (Kim Garrett)
>
>Good question!  I don't know if there is a standard for this, and if
>there is one, I'd like to know about it.
>
>In practice, we have used "current issues" as a rather vague, catch all
>phrase.  The exact nature of the "current" depends on how many issues
>are required to overflow the shelves or how frequently we can pull the
>older issues.
>We don't have the staff to enforce this very precisely.
>
>We have used current year to mean issues in the current calendar year,
>not a year's worth, but current 3 months does mean the latest 3 months
>worth.
>We have also used the phrase "current year plus one" to mean 2004 to
>date.
>
>Good luck!  And if there is no standard, my advice is to be as
>consistent as possible and document what you've decided.
>
>Susan
>
>Susan Davis
>Head, Electronic Periodicals Management Department University at Buffalo
>(SUNY)
>134 Lockwood Library
>Buffalo, NY  14260-2210
>(716) 645-2784
>(716) 645-5955 fax
>unlsdb@buffalo.edu
>
>--On Tuesday, July 12, 2005 11:12 AM -0400 Bob Persing
><persing@POBOX.UPENN.EDU> wrote:
>
> > [Moderator note: please send replies to Kim directly, or copy her if
> > you reply to the list]
> >
> > Hello,
> >
> > I contacted BCR about this and they suggested posting the question to
> > SERIALST... which I don't subscribe to.
> >
> > I am wondering if there is a written definition or set guidelines
> > anywhere for "current issues", "current year", "current two years",
> > etc.  It is my understanding that current issues equals January
> > 2005 thru present day, current year equals January 2004 through
> > present day, etc.  I just need to know if this is correct or not.
> >
> > As I said, I don't subscribe to the list, so if anyone would have an
> > answer to this question, I would greatly appreciate a direct response.
> >
> > Thank you!
> > Kim Garrett
> > Library Assistant III, Acquisitions
> > Des Moines University Library
> > kim.garrett@dmu.edu <mailto:kim.garrett@dmu.edu>
> >
> >