Serials

Serials

The Publisher is my Tormentor. I shall not smile:

He maketh me to work all day at my desk.

He leadeth me astray with misnumbererd issues:

His Roman numerals confound me.

He changeth titles over and over for His own sake.

Yea when I walk through the shadow of missing or irregular issues, I can find no respote, for He has moved

He answereth not my letters, not useth the correct mailing lab,

He starteth not when I ask and quiteth before it is time,

My work never endeth.

Rising prices and duplicate issues shall follow me all the days of my life; and

I shall moan and groan in the library forever.

(Evans, Developing Library and Information Center Collections, 2000)

• Serial: a publication in any medium issued in successive parts bearing numeric or chronological designations and intended to be continued indefinitely. Serials include periodicals; newspapers; annuals (reports, yearbooks, etc.); the journals, memoirs, proceedings, transactions, etc. of societies; and numbered monographic series.

(AACR2, Glossary)

Key elements of definition

• Any medium
• Successive parts
• Numeric and/or chronological designation
• Indefinite continuation (no planned end)

Series/Serial

Series 1. A group of separate items related to one another by the fact that each item bears, in addition to its own title proper, a collective title applying to the group as a whole. The individual items may or may not be numbered.

(AACR2, Glossary)

For our purposes, a series is not a serial.

Types of serials

• Journal: periodical publication dealing with matters of current interest; often used for official or semi-official publications of special groups. Term often used for learned or peer-reviewed publications.
• Magazine: periodical that usually contains a miscellaneous collection of articles, stories, poems, and pictures and is directed at the general reading public.
• Newspaper: a serial issued at stated frequent intervals (usually daily, weekly, or semiweekly) containing news, opinions, advertisements, and other items of current, often local, interest.
• Newsletter: a serial consisting of one or a few printed sheets containing news or information of interest chiefly to a special group.
• House magazine (aka house organ, house journal): a periodical issued by a commercial, industrial or non-profit organization for distribution internally to its employees and/or externally to its customers.
• Zine: Derived from “fanzine” (a contraction of “fan magazine”), the term came into use during the 1980s to refer to a small, low-circulation magazine or newspaper, self-published out of passion for the subject rather than for personal gain, usually with the aid of desktop publishing software and a high-quality photocopy machine. (ODLIS)
• Trade journal: a periodical devoted to disseminating news and information of interest to a specific industry or trade, often published by a trade association. (ODLIS) It carries advertising and charges a subscription fee.
• Controlled circulation serial: available (usually without charge) only to those specified by the author or publisher. (ALA Glossary).
  o Are frequently available to libraries.

E-Serials

• Electronic journal: a website graphically modeled on an existing print journal (example: Library Journal), or which provides access to an online journal that has no print counterpart (Electronic Journal of Differential Equations). Synonymous with e-journal.
• Electronic magazine: A Website graphically modeled on an existing print magazine (example: The New Yorker), or which provides access to an online magazine that has no print counterpart (example: Slate). Synonymous with e-zine, e-magazine, and Webzine. (ODLIS)

Selection tools

• Ulrich’s International Periodical Directory
• Serials Directory (EBSCO)
• Standard Periodical Directory
• Gale Directory of Publications and Broadcast Media
• Willings’ Press Guide
• Magazines for Libraries (William Katz)
• Serials in Cyberspace

Selection issues

• Long-term commitment
• Continuing costs of purchasing, binding, processing, etc.
• Discouragement of “casual” initiation of new serial subscriptions
  o Due to budget pressure some libraries will only order a new serial if one of equal cost is dropped
  o On-going costs of serials may reduce budget available for purchase of monographs

Which titles?

• Analysis of Ill data and citation analysis information helps in deciding if a title needs to be added
• For new titles, the subject area, cost, and, when available reviews are elements to consider. Some libraries will only order titles that are indexed.

The problems with serials

• Title changes
• Title peculiarities
• Numerous titles within same issue, e.g. Sea, Sea Magazine, Sea Combined with Rudder
• Generic/overused titles e.g. Bulletin, Journal
• Numbering oddities e.g. Vol. 2, no. 1 called also consecutive issue no. 3
• Dating by season

Subscription agent

Advantages:

• One order, one invoice service
• Common renewal
• Vendor handles any complaints about missing or overdue issues
• Vendor tracks down addresses of publishers for your orders

Disadvantages:

• Service charges may make prices on surface more expensive than direct purchase from publisher
• Not all publishers will make their titles available through an agent

References: Collection Development Training for Arizona Public Libraries: Selection of Library Resources: Periodicals http://www.lib.az.us/cdt/slrper.aspx

Collection Development Resources on the Internet: Selection Serials http://web.archive.org/web/20070219093621/http://www.simmons.edu/resources/libraries/gslis/colldev/selser.html