A 02:17 28/08/98 -0400, Jan Lahmeyer a ecrit :
>Mitch Turitz <turitz@SFSU.EDU> wrote:
>
>> Jan Lahmeyer" <J.Lahmeyer@library.uu.nl> wrote:
>> > In my view this publisher, Haworth Press (and not only that firm),
>> > makes a habit of publishing four issues per volume on a so-called
>> > "quarterly" basis, but the volumes are being stretched over more
>> > than one year. So the meaning of "quarterly" in the English language
>> > is not any more exclusively in use for something happening four times
>> > a year, but the meaning is also extended to four issues per volume,
>> > thanks to the world of publishers.
>>
>> It is my understanding that the motivation of some publishers to declare
>> their publications as quarterly is to get the postage discount from the
>> U.S. Postal Service.  If a publication is quarterly (or more frequent) it
>> is eligible for a lower postage rate.  Obviously, the post office does not
>> check to see if the publisher is really publishing 4 or more
>> physical issues a year of every publisher's titles.
>>
>> -- Mitch
>
>Thanks for the information above. Of course a cataloguer in European
>libraries doesn't know all the ins and outs of the U.S. Postal
>Service, but the reason of this policy is clear to me now.  ...
>
>Jan

Maybe is it the true reason but I am not entirely convinced.
I have been in the library business since 28 years and what I
noticed is that publishers do only what they want: irregular
publication schedules, chaotic numbering of issues, vanishing
contents of issues (I mean a vol.n, 1-4 with 50 pages in it,
do I exagerate ?), prices which are climbing well above the rate of
inflation... and so on. The situation is far from being better
as time goes on.

In a time when certification becomes so frequent (certification
of laboratories, of methods of analysis,...), why do not we, librarians,
ask for the creation of standards in publishing, stir independant
committees for the evaluation of each new title and the monitoring of the
evolution of existing ones? The certified journal might display a quality
label (a= sort of iso-9000) so that consumers, scientists and librarians,
might know what they are writing in and what they are buying.

Simone

Simone JEROME, Librarian
University of Liege
Institute of chemistry B6
4000 Sart Tilman (Liege 1)
BELGIUM

sjerome@ulg.ac.be
former address : udspring@vm1.ulg.ac.be