I don't see why you can't change hats.  I started out in serials at a
small private college then moved to a public library and I am now at a
public research university.

Some things I would keep in mind:

1.  While the workload for the print is the same, the difference is one
of scale.  Public libraries tend to spend more on books while academic
libraries spend more on serials.  This could mean you would be
supervising more staff handling more titles than you might be use to.
You will probably also be involved with binding operations as academic
libraries tend to keep their holdings (either by binding or preserving
through microforms).

2.  Become familiar with issues surrounding electronic journals (if you
aren't already).  Become acquainted with the larger STM publishers
(Elsevier, Wiley, Springer, Sage, etc.), different pricing models,
licensing issues, preservation/archiving issues, access issues
(cataloging, portals such as Serials Solutions, etc.), and so on.
E-journals : a how-to-do-it manual for building, managing, and
supporting electronic journal collections, written by Donnelyn Curtis,
is a good starting point.

3.  Join NASIG (www.nasig.org).  The North American Serials Interest
Group is composed of roughly 1,000 folks who are involved in serials
work.  The bulk of the membership is made up of serials librarians at
academic libraries.  But the group also includes public and special
librarians as well as representatives from publishers, subscription
agents, etc.  This is THE professional organization for serials
librarians as far as I am concerned.

4.  Become familiar with scholarly publishing and emerging trends such
as open access, institutional repositories, etc.  There is a lot of
movement in scholarly publishing that impacts academic libraries.

Hope this helps!

Buddy Pennington
Serial Acquisitions Librarian
University of Missouri - Kansas City
University Libraries
800 East 51st Street
Kansas City, MO  64110
816-235-1548
816-333-5584 (fax)
penningtonb@umkc.edu

-----Original Message-----
From: SERIALST: Serials in Libraries Discussion Forum
[mailto:SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU] On Behalf Of Dieden, Cynthia
Sent: Friday, August 03, 2007 2:08 PM
To: SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU
Subject: [SERIALST] Serials Career question

Hello-
I am a periodicals supervisor and librarian at a medium-large public
library.  I supervise two periodicals clerks, am responsibile for
serials control, claims, deletions (we don't bind), new magazines, as
well as other collection duties such as selection and weeding.  In
addition, I participate on a number of committees and work on public
services desks (readers' advisory and reference).  I have very limited
cataloging experience.  To get to my question, I am interested in taking
another step (possibly into academic libraries) in serials.  Would I be
qualified, in general and does anyone have any advice on skills to hone
or responsibilities to seek out to take this next step.  Thank you for
your assistance.

-Cynthia Dieden