4 messages, 141 lines: (1)--------------------- Date: Wed, 16 Apr 1997 14:07:11 EDT From: "Diane Lewis" <DILEWIS@IGSRGLIB01.ER.USGS.GOV> Organization: U.S. Geological Survey Subject: Re: journal claiming Isabel Brackbill <ibrackbill@LANL.GOV> wrote: > I would like to know how much manpower is generally devoted to claiming > journals. We are a library with about 1700 active journal subscriptions and > we are trying to cope with budget cutbacks and to streamline procedures. We have approximately 8,000 "live" serials. Our staff consists of myself (parttime Exchange & Gift Librarian), one fulltime staffer, and two other parttimers. Due to staff cuts, and our systems migration, claiming has fallen by the wayside. We claim when we come across gaps while checking in or when patrons need something that we are missing. The situation is strictly "ad hoc" and very unsatisfying. In an ideal setup, we would be scanning for claims on a daily basis for dailies, on a weekly basis for weeklies, etc. My plan is to scan the titles we have loaded into our new integrated system on a weekly basis, if I ever catch up with the backlog of 1,092 claims it just spit out today (the claims function has just been restored after an upgrade). As for the 5,000 other titles still in the visible file, who knows? Diane M. Lewis, Serial Records Librarian U.S. Geological Survey Library National Center--MS 950 Reston, Virginia 20192 (703)648-4399 dilewis@igsrglib01.usgs.gov "Without the library, there is no educational institution."--Dancing with Change, 4/4/97. Opinions expressed are strictly my own. (2)-------------------------- Date: Wed, 16 Apr 1997 14:20:58 -0400 From: Deborah Harrell <dharrell@WESTGA.EDU> Subject: Re: journal claiming Our library has 1700+ active journal subscriptions, which includes microform and newspaper plus regular paper. All our control records are set up with active vendors and there is a complete vendor record in our system. Each week, I have a claim report run which picks up all checkins that should have been received during the previous 45 days, that have not already been claimed. Our system (SIRSI) has three reports: the first lists the claims, the second marks the checkins, and the third prints the letters. I print off the first report (list of claims). My claims student assistant checks the titles/issues against the computer to determine if this was an erronous listing (#1 & 2 were published together and checked in, but the single checkins for those still exist, etc.). She then brings up the third report, the letters, into WordPerfect and edits as needed, then prints the letters. If we have a fax number, we fax this letter to the publisher; if not, she prepares an envelope and mails it. About 75% of our claims are through our agents; these claims are always faxed. Of the remaining 25%, about half get faxed. This is certainly faster and cheaper than mailing. Although we aren't using e-mail for claims just yet, I am hoping that will be possible by September. We have experimented with telnetting (is that a correct term?) with claims to our vendor, but are not quite satisfied with their response time just yet. All totalled, we average claiming about 25-35 titles per week, and it takes my assistant 2-3 hours from start to finish. Is it worth the expense? In my estimation, it certainly is. Incidentally, during the summer when I don't have a claims assistant, I personally do the claims, thus giving me an idea of methods that need changing. Debbie Harrell Ingram Library, State University of West Georgia phone: 770-836-6498 fax: 770-836-6626 (3)------------------------- Date: Wed, 16 Apr 1997 13:26:21 CST6CDT From: Paula Gerthe <Paula.J.Gerthe@WHEATON.EDU> Organization: Wheaton College Subject: Re: journal claiming Greetings, Isabel! The answers you receive about claiming time is probably going to vary according to the procedures of the responding library; accordingly, I'll preface my answer by our library's situation. All of our periodicals (about 1500 active subscriptions) are catalogued in Dynix (owned by Ameritech), with a publication pattern, copy record including vender information, and check-in module. As each issue is checked in, the next issue is predicted. If it is not received as expected, it is sent to the claims review file. I do claiming once a week. II spend about 1/2 hour a week reviewing this file to determine that the claims are valid--authorizing the valid ones and altering the expected date of others. Then, my student workers spend about 1/2 hour checking the shelves to make sure that the issues definitely are not there. The next morning, I give the computer the command to print the claims, and it spits out my claims letters--which I go through and highlight the title and issue no., and then send to our subscription service or the publisher, depending on whom we get them through. So, in our case, about an hour and a half a week is spent on claiming.. Paula Gerthe (Paula.J.Gerthe) Serials Assistant Wheaton College Library (IL) (4)-------------------------- Date: Wed, 16 Apr 1997 13:55:46 -0500 From: Andrew Leonhart <aleonhar@MANC.EDU> Subject: Re: journal claiming I'm at a small/medium sized academic library. I check as I check-in journals and if there is a gap I will first check the shelf and then file a claim for a missing issue. I use cards, we don't have a computerized check-in system. We use Ebsco (no advertisement) and I can make my claims on the web. Checking-in journals (including shelving) takes one hour a day tops. Claiming journals takes half an hour a week maybe. Hopefully this is helpful/applicable. I'm just a beginner at this, 4 1/2 years as a librarian, 1 1/2 years with serials. My problem is that I did not have a professional to teach me how to do this. I was pretty much on my own. I joined this group to pick up helpful tips and it has been worthwhile for me! Andrew E. Leonhart Mabee Library MidAmerica Nazarene College 2030 E. College Way Olathe, KS 66062 (913) 782-3750 x162 (913) 791-3285 (fax) aleonhar@manc.edu
