Below is a summary of the responses to the following question:
"I am trying to find a systematic way of dealing with duplicate
advertisements from the major legal publishers. These advertisements are
for materials which we have previously decided not to purchase, but the
advertisement keeps reappearing annually, semi-annually, or more frequently!
Some libraries maintain "no lists". These are lists by title, author,
publisher, for which there was a decision not to purchase. Do you find
these lists effective? Are you keeping them in Word, a database, a
spreadsheet? What information is necessary for such a list? How often do
you purge older information? Do you put selected advertisements on the "no
list" or all advertisements, including titles from a notification plan? Is
there a way to maintain a "no list" on a III system? Other ideas?"
Solutions fell into four categories:
1. One person sorts advertisements and throws out the duplicates. Comments
were as follows:
"We keep a box at our mail table and all the acquisitions mail goes in there
that anyone gets including the director. Since I open all the acquisitions
mail myself, I routinely discard most brochures unless the publication is
really new and not just another ad. At one point when I had more time I
would assemble all the duplicate mailing labels and send them back to the
marketing department of the major publishers to remove the
erroneous names. This works temporarily, but as soon as the new AALL
Directory comes out, all the names are back on, so I stopped doing that.
The student who sorts the mail has been instructed to toss anything not
addressed to someone currently at the Library and they have a list of names
to discard. She also has been told to discard duplicates if she can. I use
some of the same guidelines I use with my junk mail at home. Anyone is
welcome to send it, I am not obligated to open or keep it!"
2. Create a No-List on a word processing document or database. Comments
were as follows:
"We have kept a "No File" since 1997. It's an ASCII text file, in which we
record author's last name, title, edition number, and publisher, for each
title rejected by our director. We don't currently record publication year,
but we are doing to start doing so. The list is long enough now so that we
plan to turn it into a database, probably MS Access, later this semester.
It's greatly reduced the duplication of materials in the selection packets
that we distribute to our collection development committee. We plan to keep
5 years of titles in the database. In the sixth year, we'll generate a
report of the 6 year old titles, keep it as a text file for reference, and
delete the 6 year old records from the database."
"I keep a word file for such notes. Including a list of the areas of law
that we cover and who does it. If it is a brand new title then I know who to
go to ask if there is any interest (provided that it isn't a total
duplication of other stuff that we have)."
"Our base list is a Word document in table format. We update it (purchase
order and price) using pen and ink as we order and process items during the
year. When the new materials are complete and shelved, we mark that title
"ok" for the year."
"As far as duplicate publisher catalogs go, I keep a file cabinet of all
catalogs we want to keep. From that I had a student create a list on excel
of all the catalogs that I want to keep current. I keep a printed list by
my desk and refer to it to see if we already have the catalog and toss those
we already have. I make notations to the list as we receive a new seasonal
catalog and periodically update my excel file. It's not a perfect system,
but it does help somewhat.""
3. Use III or another system to enter the Nos on brief records and suppress
them. Comments were as follows:
"You could setup one or more bib records in III (divided by letter of the
alphabet?), put author/title added entries in the record, and suppress the
records from the public (unless
you want the public to see your decisions). As long as you search in staff
mode, the records will be retrieved. We have done something similar with
sample and unwanted/unsolicited journals/newsletters."
"As for the III thing. You might be able to make invisible bib records for
the most frequent offenders with notes about why you won't order it. But
that will take up space as the list grows so you should think real
hard before doing it."
"We do not maintain no lists but we do enter information records in our
automated library system's serials subsystem. If a decision has been made
on not purchasing an item the information record records that decision. We
also use these information records for items which are not on standing order
but the reference department purchases occasionally. The last date of
purchase is indicated and a set interval is specified. After the time has
past advertisements are then forwarded to the reference staff for purchase
consideration."
"I think one could keep a No File on III, by keying in brief records for all
rejected titles, suppressing them, and adding an identifier field that would
facilitate gathering them in a review file."
"Gail Borden Public Library uses Dynix for acquisitions. One of the features
in acquisitions is to have records you enter in the order file and code that
so they never appear in the public catalog. When we decide not to buy the
type of item you described, I enter it in acquisitions set not to display in
the public catalog. I enter Do not
purchase in a number of places in the order record."
"For journals and periodicals that we receive "free" samples of.. we put a
note in our system to discard upon receipt those we don't want. These
"discard" notes disappear after a year, but I do keep a file of periodicals
we decided we don't want so I can always refer back to them. This gets
purged every few years."
4. Create a reject folder/file. Comments were as follows:
"Regarding your message on ACQNET-L, I keep a folder called "Rejects" with
advertisements, photocopies of book reviews, etc. for those titles which we
have decided not to obtain. A little unwieldy, perhaps, but it gives me
space to highlight anything in the advert, etc. which helped me make my
decision. And that way, if anyone suggests/requests a "rejected" title, I
have some concrete formation against such a purchase to show them.
Obviously, any second adverts which arrive get thrown out. The folder is
getting a little bulky, however, and I would appreciate knowing how other
people are handling the same problem."
I appreciate the responses and apologize for my tardiness in summarizing for
the lists.
Kara Phillips
Collection Development Librarian
Seattle University Law Library
900 Broadway
Seattle, WA 98122
(phone) 206-398-4188
(fax) 206-398-4194
phillips_at_seattleu.edu
Received on Thu Oct 26 2000 - 20:57:20 EDT