5 messages, 122 lines:
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Date:         Thu, 5 Mar 1992 15:55:00 EST
From:         CCHRISTI@UMIAMI.BITNET
Subject:      Re: librarian who keeps professional journals

We have a similiar problem.  What we do is put that person's name last on
the list.  That way everyone else gets to be current and the individual
can horde things for as long as they like.  It really wasn't as difficult
as you might think telling the individual what we had decided, since there
were very old materials on her desk and the FACTS spoke for themselves.

Just tell the person that you have had many complaints and really they are
not being fair to their colleagues.

It is probably something that the individual is aware of & embarrassed about.

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Date:         Thu, 5 Mar 1992 16:30:00 EDT
From:         "Bill Miller, Libraries/Learning Resources,
              FAU" <MILLER@FAUVAX.BITNET>
Subject:      Re: librarian who keeps professional journals

    I have been through this before.  What you have to do is to have
    a big staff meeting, and discuss this as a general problem,
    without reference to any specific individual--everybody is
    guilty, it is a problem and we have to solve it because some
    people are being disenfranchised from their right to keep up with
    the professional literature.

    That was the easy part.  You then have to get everyone to agree,
    during the meeting (either actively or tacitly, by just not
    saying anything negative) that no one can hold a professional
    journal that is being routed to others for more than X number of
    days (you pick the number).  And THEN, here is the hard part,
    that supervisors who become aware that journals are being held
    on people's desks or are in their possession for more than this
    amount of time have the right to either (1) summarily remove
    these items from people's offices, or (2) to demand that these
    items be brought back to the library, if in fact this person was
    the last one to have them.  To keep track of that, if you want
    to, you can centralize the process.  Have the journals which are
    shared in this way all housed in one specific place, with
    someone responsible for checking them out to any librarian.
    Each check-out is only for X days, after which they become
    overdue.  The checker-outer notifies the next person on the list
    that the item is now in and available.  After X days or months,
    they would go to Tech Services for processing (another reason
    to keep tight rein on the inventory).

    All of this is a pain, of course, and extra work.  The up side,
    however, is that the professional journals are routed promptly,
    the problem person is dealt with institutionally and fairly, and
    everyone's needs are served.

    It's up to you whether you want to institute a process or not.
    If not, make up your mind that journal routing will end with this
    individual when he or she receives the material.

    Cheers,

        Bill Miller, Director of Libraries, Florida Atlantic
        University

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Date:         Thu, 5 Mar 1992 16:47:00 EST
From:         Susan Davis <UNLSDB@UBVM.BITNET>
Subject:      Re: librarian who keeps professional journals

We have had a problem with routed journals never making it back to the
current issues areas.  We have approached the Collection Development
heads, and even higher.  But those who are known for "losing" the issues
on their desks still do.  We just end up buying replacements at
binding time.  Its an expensive indulgence for people who should
know better, and care about the extra staff time and library money
being spent because they can't behave like responsible adults.

Susan Davis
Head, Periodicals
University at Buffalo

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Date:         Thu, 5 Mar 1992 17:01:37 EDT
From:         "Diana Zinnato" <IEAY954%tjuvm.bitnet@TJUVM.TJU.EDU>
Subject:      librarian who keeps professional journals

I think every library that routes journals to staff has had the same problem
with one or more staff members.  The way we have resolved this situation in
our library is that instead of routing the journals, we route the title pages.
The serials assistant that checks in the journals photocopies (one for each
of the three divisions) the title pages of all library-oriented journals and
gives them to the division heads who in turn route them to the rest of their
staff. Someone who is really interested in an article will have to come to the
serials dept. where the journals are shelved to see it.  You'd be amazed how
much better this works. If a staff member is looking for a journal issue
that is not there, they can poll the staff to find it.  It works for us!

Diana Zinnato
Associate Director for Collection Management
Scott Memorial Library
Thomas Jefferson University
IEAY954@tjuvm.bitnet

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Date:         Thu, 5 Mar 1992 17:35:59 LCL
From:         Anne E. McKee <ICAEM@ASUACAD>
Subject:      routing lib. sci journals

 Boy do I have experience with this one! The problem got so bad at my last
 position that I limited each librarian to receiving no more than three titles
 each.  I then would place the "worst offenders" on the bottom of the list.  My
 staff were resigned to the fact that when it came time to bind a journal, they
 would look on the shelf and, if issues were missing, they'd go to the last
 librarian on the routing list to see if s/he might have it (them!)

 At my present position, we do what Steve Murden mentioned: we do not route
 journals except for Library Journal and Chronicle of Higher Education. All
 librarians know that they need to go to the periodicals shelves to read a
 journal. This practice is not the most widely beloved but perhaps the fairest.

 Anne E. McKee   Bibliographic Services Librarian  ASU-West
 (602) 543-8541