Our binder picks up monthly. Our reference staff identified times that
they don't want issues going to the bindery, so we only send shipments
to meet that request. We also have to skip times because of our funding
cut-off dates. So, we send shipments Aug, Sep, Oct, Jan, Feb & Mar. If I
have funds left I will send a small Apr shipment but only of things that
we also have access to electronically. Our binder (Houchen) is ok with
this schedule since summer is their busy time. They know that our Aug
and Jan shipments will be large. We use Voyager and I create the volume
records once a year (for most titles) and have them triggered by the
computer when the next issue arrives since we also like to keep at least
one issue on the shelves. Since I can manually change the bind-on date,
I can control when the volume will show up as needing binding. In the
past, we've held certain titles unbound for research purposes -- I've
just set the binding date after the needed time.

No matter what you decide, someone will always be looking for something
you've just sent to the bindery. I think there must be a Murphy's law
like that.

Luellen Breed
Serials Librarian
UW-Parkside

Kathy Nystrom wrote:

>Hi, all:
>
>Our binder (Heckman) prefers shipments in a steady stream, & pickups are
>every 3 weeks.  We tend to bind when our serials system (III) notifies us
>that enough issues have accumulated for a volume—altho we wait for another
>issue to arrive, so that there is always a current issue or two on the
>shelf.  However, we’ve received some comments about the lack of availability
>of certain key journals during particular parts of a semester.  We’ve
>considered batching binding during slow times—like summer and between
>semesters—altho the binder probably wouldn’t like it too much, and having
>loose issues around for an extended time increases the chances of missing
>issues.  Another alternative is to somehow identify specific titles and
>allow them to accumulate unbound until a slack period or until a particular
>class isn’t being offered.  The only way we can think of to identify these
>titles would be direct requests from faculty or subject liaisons.
>
>Does anyone else out there have a better plan?  Any and all suggestions
>welcome!
>
>Kathleen A. Nystrom, MLS
>Head of Technical Services
>Eden-Webster Library System
>470 East Lockwood Avenue
>St. Louis, MO  63119-3194
>(314)968-7151
>(314)963-6086 (fax)
>knystrom@webster.edu
>
>
>