While questioning traditional practices, which we must to do to keep up with the demands from the ever changing technological and economic environment, I agree that it's important for us to keep in mind that each institution must consider its own local context and that "What may be justified for one library may not be justified for the other."

Just a little bit of an update from UNR --

In 2001, UNR stopped routine journal check-in, claiming, and binding for most print journals, not all print journals. The plan was to continue checking in selective journal titles as identified by subject librarians. We also continued checking in serials on standing orders.

This policy had not been revisited since its implementation (due to various reasons such as staff shortage/turnover, moving to a new library building) until last fall, when I and our new Head of E-Resources & Serials Dept. started to take a closer look at it.  Our plan is to do an environmental scan of the current management practices of our print journal collection.  We did a library-wide survey late last fall, and are currently conducting follow-up discussions with selected survey respondents.  The findings will help us review the current policy, which may be updated/revised as a result. We are also planning to write an article about this study to share our experiences.

What's also worth mentioning is that we did an extensive review of serial/journal subscriptions in 2009 and have cancelled many that are deemed not valuable enough to justify the subscription costs.  This effort is continuing into 2010.

What we have learned so far is that stopping journal check-in, claiming, or binding is not as simple as switching a button and calling it done.  New policies, workflows, and procedures would need to be developed and staff would need to be trained.  All of these have interdepartmental implications.  Overtime, as changes occur in the library, the policies/procedures should be reviewed and modified as needed.

Good luck everyone!  :)

Paoshan Yue
Director of Technical Services
Mathewson-IGT Knowledge Center / University of Nevada, Reno, www.knowledgecenter.unr.edu
775-682-5599

-----Original Message-----
From: SERIALST: Serials in Libraries Discussion Forum [mailto:SERIALST@list.uvm.edu] On Behalf Of Cynthia Hsieh
Sent: Tuesday, January 19, 2010 9:43 AM
To: SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU
Subject: Re: [SERIALST] Cease claiming, checking in, binding

While Rick brought up a valid point, I wanted to add that cost
justification often depends on your local situation, service model, and
user pattern.  What may be justified for one library may not be
justified for the other.

Cynthia Hsieh
Head of Technical Services
University Libraries
University of the Pacific
Stockton, CA 95211