---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Thu, 26 Oct 1995 15:32:22 -0500
From: Mary Lippold <mlippold@GATEWAY.STCL.EDU>
Subject: Re: Neighborhood Periodicals (2 messages)

Maybe I am missing the point here or I am violating some rule of serial
librarianship that I never knew about, but I never thought to try and
find out why we were receiving some of these recreational type magazines.
It's all we can do to make sure we receive everything we pay for, I don't
really care why we get things that we don't order or pay for. You could go
crazy tracking down every piece of unsolicited mail. We have also been
receiving 2 or 3 of these titles and although I thought it was a bit
curious, I felt no obligation to investigate.  We didn't order them and
we are under no obligation to pay for them or return them. (If it wasn't
so late in the afternoon, I would get the cite of the US code section that
covers unsolicited "gifts".) We put them out on a leisure reading rack or
drop them in the student lounge. We don't process them, check them in or
anyting else. The students seem to enjoy them,
althought I think we may consider stamping them "donation" so people
don't think we are spending library money on these subscriptions. As long as
the publishers are not billing you for them, I say enjoy the free gift and
don't waste anymore time on them.  Put them in your staff lounge, throw
them away, drop them off at your local hospital, etc.

Mary

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mary Lippold
Serials / Reference Librarian            Phone: 713-646-1723
South Texas College of Law Library       Fax:   713-659-2217
Houston, TX  77002-7000                  Email: mlippold@stcl.edu

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~