In reply to Beth Toren:

  Of course, the ultimate solution would be to NOT circulate unbound issues at
all!  Needless to say, the anticipated howls of protest from the public neces-
sitate another solution.

  I don't think you want to barcode every issue as it comes in; nor is it
desirable to link them to the bibliographic record.  The resulting confusion
on the SUMMary screen is horrible to contemplate.  The entire reason you are
barcoding at all is to circulate the piece.  Therefore, barcode the pieces as
you circulate them and leave them in the unlinked state.  This puts pressure
on the circulation staff, but for only those unbound issues which circulate.
This is preferable to barcoding ALL unbound issues and hopelessly bogging down
your serials check-in unit.

  When you are ready to bind unbound issues, your binding prep. unit will need
to DELETE all unlinked item records before they are sent to the bindery.  This
is easily accomplished by staff scanning the barcode, deleting the item record
and then blacking out the barcode.

  When you train the circulation staff on creating unlinked item records, make
sure they include all relevant enum/chron information; otherwise, if something
is overdue, they will never know what issue is missing.

  Once your staff are trained on this procedure, you may anticipate a high rate
of accuracy; however, much feedback is needed in the beginning, especially in
the recording of enum/chron and barcode deletion for bindable items.

  Hope this helps!

Christopher J. Gorsuch
Head, Serials/Music Cataloging
R.M. Strozier Library
Florida State University
Tallahassee, FL  32306-2047     gorsuc@fsuavm.bitnet