I wish to thank everyone who responded to my survey of 15 November
regarding dealing with unsolicited periodicals. I would also like
to apologize to all those who responded for not e-mailing them
directly with a thank you note. We are in the beginnings of
implementing the acquisitions and serials modules of our new
Innopac system so I can only offer as an excuse the madness that is
reigning over this place. What follows is my summary for the list.

Date:. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Wed, 15 Nov 1995 17:28:34 EST
Sender:. . . . ."SERIALST: Serials in Libraries Discussion Forum"
From:. . . . . . . . . . .W Ted Rogers <WTR100F@oduvm.cc.odu.edu>
Subject: . . . . . . . . . . Dealing with unsolicited periodicals
To:. . . . . . . . . . . . . Multiple recipients of list SERIALST

I am seeking information on how effective it is to contact
publishers when they continually send you issues of a periodical
that you did not order. Please respond to the following questions
directly to me; I will summarize for the list.

The following analysis of the results is my interpretation of the
responses I received. I will use the following scale:

5. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .strongly negative
4. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . negative
3. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .neutral or no opinion expressed
2. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . positive
1. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .strongly positive

SCALE RANKING. . . . . . . . . . . .NUMBER OF RESPONSES SO RANKED

1.   Did contacting publishers with requests for information on why
     they are continually sending issues of an unsolicited title
     yield any results or did your requests go unanswered?

     Negative = little to no results.
     Positive = good to excellent results.

     5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3
     4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2
     3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .0
     2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2
     1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1

2.   Did contacting publishers with requests to stop sending issues
     of the unsolicited title yield any tangible results?

     Negative = little to no tangible results.
     Positive = good to excellent tangible results.

     5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2
     4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3
     3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .0
     2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2
     1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1

3.   Did the results (if any) justify the staff time expended in
     such efforts?

     Negative = mostly to completely a waste of time.
     Positive = mostly to completely worthwhile.

     5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2
     4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3
     3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .0
     2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2
     1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1

Thank you for your time and trouble.

W Ted Rogers, Serials Librarian    <wtr100f@shakespeare.lib.odu.edu
Old Dominion University Library    <wtr100f@oduvm.cc.odu.edu
Norfolk VA 23529-0256              Ph.: 804 683-4144 or -4152
                                   Fax: 804 683-5035