Dear Matthew,

Here we stamp all the incoming serials and other items cataloged as periodicals. We use Millennium and although the boxes for each card record the issue's check-in date, we do not keep open boxes that are too old. We use those boxes to display current serials that have been checked in. Therefore, anything checked in 10 years ago would not have an open box. Similarly, anything we receive recently that may fill a gap from 10 years ago would not have an open box either. The same procedure is applied to new serials and gift serials that come in. We stamp everything with the date.

Emma Antobam
Library Associate
New York Botanical Garden

-----Original Message-----
From: SERIALST: Serials in Libraries Discussion Forum [mailto:SERIALST@list.uvm.edu] On Behalf Of Matthew Michaels
Sent: Thursday, September 26, 2013 7:47 PM
To: SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU
Subject: [SERIALST] Date Stamping Check-ins

Hello All,

I am curious whether your libraries are still adding date stamps to incoming serials.  Now that Aleph (and other collection catalog software) seems to be more reliable, do you still date stamp your serials at check-in?  What are your thoughts about provenance and archiving the collections?  Is it important to have the date right on the item or is the computer record enough?

I am looking into the future, say 10-30 years from now (and more often into the next hour) when a patron or faculty member asks me "when did the library receive this issue?"  Or more recently, "Is this the most current issue?".  We have some titles that only produce an issue every 1 or 2 years like Bloom.  I like to show a patron or colleague when the "current" issue was last received by just using the issue at hand, and not having to run to the computer.   I may be old-fashioned (at 48 years old) but I believe in hands-on service.

What does is your check-in policy regarding date stamping new and gift serials?  Curious minds like know.

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