Does anyone else here use the downloaded list from JSTOR to update your
records with your JSTOR holdings?  In the past, the coverage dates have
accurately reflected the holdings that  JSTOR actually has, but now the
coverage dates are including years where JSTOR only has citation
access.  This is a serious problem for us, as it means having to check
each title on the JSTOR site and clicking around until we find the real
beginning coverage date.   Have any of you found a way around this?  We
catalog our JSTOR titles.

This is the email I just sent to the JSTOR Support team.

To JSTOR Support Team,

I downloaded the title list for our library records, and the coverage
dates are incorrect.   They are often listing dates of coverage when
JSTOR only offers citation access.  I use the downloaded JSTOR list as a
basis to know what we can discard in our paper and microfilm
collections, and also as a basis for how our cataloging department
updates our JSTOR holdings.  In the past, coverage dates only included
issues that JSTOR actually was hosting.  We have other ways to keep
track of and catalog our holdings outside of JSTOR, so we really need a
way to track and update our actual JSTOR holdings.

In our last JSTOR update, I added 220 entries for new JSTOR titles.
Before our transition to an internal database, we would have had to
enter each one of those 220 titles by hand, but the downloaded JSTOR
list makes the process much faster and more efficient.  If the
downloaded list is unreliable, our processing time increases
substantially.  For instance, /Publications of the Astronomical Society
of the Pacific/ has full text from v.110:no.743 (1998:Jan.), but
citations only from v.1:no.1 (1889:Nov.30) to v.109:no.742 (1997:Dec.).
The downloaded list, and also the page for this title, lists coverage as
1889-2011.  I am sure we are not the only library that relies on the
accuracy of the title information that is available for download on the
JSTOR site.

I understand that new features at JSTOR have included links to external
content and citation entries, but libraries really need a way to easily
update their records so that they can adjust their physical holdings and
catalog records.

Please let me know if there is a way that I can get a downloaded list
that includes actual coverage dates for our JSTOR holdings, as soon as
you can.  If there is not such a list available, please create one.

Thank you,
Melissa Farley

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Melissa Farley
Library Associate I
Irvine Sullivan Ingram Library
University of West Georgia
678-839-6460
mfarley@westga.edu