We do not track individual titles that are part of aggregated database
bundles, but only our title by title subscriptions/memberships/packages in
our acquisitions module. In other words, the acquisitions module should be
used to track subscription payments in relation to the library's budget, not
as a de facto cataloging module.  This has been the case in every library,
large and small, in which I have worked.

Here at UMD we rely on the details from SFX to answer questions about
whether a title is, or was, part of an aggregated journal database.
Unfortunately, the titles in aggregators are simply too numerous, and in
many cases change far too frequently and without warning, to sustain keeping
individual order records on a title by title basis.
This is why the link resolver is so important, as it does that work for us.
When paired with a marc record service (which I sincerely hope we will also
have very soon!), the problem of the disconnect between the titles in the
link resolver profile and the representation of those titles in the public
catalog is also solved.

I'm a big believer in not creating more manual work for ourselves than is
necessary, and instead letting the tools we employ do the work for us, and
increasingly this means a suite of different tools other than the
traditional ILS!

Lila (Angie) Ohler
Head of Acquisitions
McKeldin Library
University of Maryland
College Park, MD 20742
301 405-9308 (phone)
301 314-1200 (fax)
lohler@umd.edu
 
 
 

-----Original Message-----
From: SERIALST: Serials in Libraries Discussion Forum
[mailto:SERIALST@list.uvm.edu] On Behalf Of Glasson, Patricia A
Sent: Monday, May 11, 2009 9:49 AM
To: SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU
Subject: [SERIALST] Order records for e-journals

Hello,

We're wondering how other libraries handle large e-journal packages such
as JSTOR in their acquisitions module.

It has been the policy here to create an order record for every title in
each package. This is done so that acquisitions staff can determine the
source of each e-journal and see a list of titles included in each
package.

We use SFX and are implementing MARCit!, Ex Libris' MARC record service
for e-journals. The new workflow makes it difficult to get an order
record on every e-journal title, and our systems administrator thinks
questions about order source and package content can be determined using
SFX. But our acquisitions staff want to be able to see that information
within the acquisitions module and are not comfortable with the idea of
abandoning order records for every e-journal title.

Any advice, suggestions, cautions, etc., on the pros and cons of order
records for e-journals would be much appreciated.

Thanks!

Patty Glasson
Serials Cataloging Specialist
Purdue University
765-494-2811