---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Thu, 25 Feb 1999 13:55:48 +1300
From: David Foreman <d.foreman@WAIKATO.AC.NZ>
Subject: Re: Display of periodicals (Vani Murthy)

We have around 4000 paid subscriptions and another 1500 received by
exchange or gratis. We follow the rather unusual course of displaying
absolutely everything for one week only, in classification order, and then
shelving them.  This means that the size of the display varies considerably
from week to week - depending on post and shipping services. No title or
subject has an allocated area on the display shelves and the place of each
one depends on the volume of material received that week. This contrasts
with systems I have seen elsewhere, where successive volumes of journals
are piled up in a set place on display shelves until they are bound.

When I came to this library 10 years ago, I thought this system was
unusual, never having encountered it before. The tendency in other
libraries where I had worked was to display the "worthy" scholarly journals
received but not to display much of the slighter, "newsy" current awareness
material which arrived. Yet it is this latter category of material that
needs displaying most because it loses currency so fast. With more serious
journals users tend to find references anyway.

I think there is a lot to be said for displaying absolutely everything,
however briefly, and have become a convert to the system I found at this
library.

                            David Foreman, Head of Serials
                            University of Waikato
                            Hamilton, New Zealand

At 06:54 PM 2/24/99 -0500, you wrote:
>
>---------- Forwarded message ----------
>Date: Wed, 24 Feb 1999 17:05:00 -0500
>From: "Murthy, Vani" <vmurthy@MC.CC.MD.US>
>Reply-To: "SEREDIT:  SERIALST Editors" <SEREDIT@LIST.UVM.EDU>
>To: SEREDIT@LIST.UVM.EDU
>Subject: Re: Display of periodicals
>
>I am a new serials librarian--and I would like some advice on display of
>periodicals.  Is there a certain proportion of total number of periodicals
>subscribed that should be on display in an academic library?  Is anyone
>aware of any books that are available about this subject?  Are there any
>guidelines to follow in displaying periodicals? Please send any  replies to
>me individually and not to the listserv. I will be happy to post a summary
>of all answers on the listserv for those who are interested.
>
>