I feel research libraries should have their periodicals classified by
subject.  Currently we are working on a large project at my university to do
just that.  After years and years of "Shelved by Title," the collection has
become unwieldy.  Those who complain about classified periodicals should
realize (but, of course they do not) that they can miss out on important
information in a "Shelved by Title" arrangement.  For instance, a journal
called Journal of African Economic Issues could change its name to African
Economic Issues and be separated from its parent journal.  A browser in a
"Shelved by Title" scheme would not be likely to go into the A section to
look for the continuation of this run.  A classified system would keep title
changes together.  This is something that could be explained in tours of the
Periodicals Dept. or in information literacy classes.  The point of
information literacy is to show users how to acquire the information they
need; it is not the "dumbing down" of how to use the library.

Emmett Denny
Interim Assistant Director for Technical Services
Florida A&M University
Tallahassee, Florida   32307

-----Original Message-----
From: SERIALST: Serials in Libraries Discussion Forum
[mailto:SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU] On Behalf Of Naomi Young
Sent: Friday, August 25, 2006 2:58 PM
To: SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU
Subject: [SERIALST] What would YOU say to this disgruntled patron?

What would you say if you had been asked to answer this electronic reference
query?
---
Reference Question = I would like to peruse various periodicals related to
Africa, political science, economics, sociology, history, religion, etc. It
would certainly have been nice if UF would have arranged the periodicals
alphabetically (like most major universities, including the Ivy league).
Instead I have to find the call number for each periodical! This is crazy!
Is an alphabetical list available? If not, can one be posted electronically
and also a hard copy posted in the periodical room? I'm sure other students
are going to be driven mad when they cannot simply walk into the library and
read Time, Newsweek or Sports Illustrated, but instead have to find a
computer and figure out where the magazine is located.
------

The snide answers that are leaping to my fingers are neither kind nor
user-centered... I'm curious ... what would YOU say?

(Bonus points for Ivy League respondents who class their unbound issues)!

Friday regards,
Naomi Young

Naomi K. Young
Principal Serials Cataloger
Cataloging & Metadata Dept.
University of Florida
Gainesville, FL 32611-7007
(352) 392-0355 ext 234
naomi@uflib.ufl.edu