RATIONALE FOR WYLD STAFF SERIALS RECOMMENDATION

Finding periodical issues in WYLDCAT presents a difficult challenge. Users are confused by the single issue periodical records. Some libraries still have years worth of issues attached to these single issue records. (Many of these single issue records still exist because of barcodes associated with small fines that are many years old). There are some libraries which have part of a year on a single issue record and part of that same year on the full bibliographic record. Also compounding users' confusion is the problem that not all of these single issue bibliographic records are coded correctly so they are not all necessarily findable as periodicals.

To see the patron's perspective, search in ALL LIBRARIES in WYLDCAT, as a keyword Title Search, the title: NEWSWEEK. On the third screen, notice the hitlist display for the full bibliographic record and for some of the single issue records which display in a somewhat random order after the full bibliographic record.

Another problem is the number of barcoded issues retained on full bibliographic serial records. Even though the system does not limit the number of barcodes any record can have, realistically a limit must be set. Those serials titles with thousands of barcodes attached take longer to load and often not all holdings can be displayed.

Adding to the frustration of working with these records is the fact that the VDX program cannot process requests for records with extremely large holdings lists. The retrieval process times out before these records can be retrieved.

Some figures to consider, bearing in mind that all connect times listed here are based on tests conducted at the State Library:

1. The title NEWSWEEK is held by 53 libraries. As of 01/21/04, there were 8,393 barcodes attached to this full bibliographic record. It took over 104 seconds to retrieve it in Workflows.
2. The title TIME is held by 50 libraries. As of 01/21/04, there were 7,836 barcodes attached to this title and it took approximately one full minute to retrieve it in Workflows.
3. The title CONSUMER REPORTS, held by 51 libraries and with its current number of 2,863 barcodes, took roughly 32 seconds to retrieve in Workflows.

Depending on local workstation settings, a library may not be able to see all barcodes associated with a title.

Also provided here are some figures on the circulation for some periodical issues that are older than one year. The first column is the title of the magazine. The second column is the total number of issues on that title that are older than January 2003. The third column is how many of those issues have circulated in the last year. The fourth column is the percentage of how many of those issues have circulated in the past year.

Keeping these problems in mind, the WYLD Office has a proposal for the management of serials. It will require that libraries actively participate in managing their periodical issues. Procedures for doing so will be outlined. The WYLD Office will also participate by:

1. performing the initial cleanup to remove old periodical issues on full bibliographic records that exceed the limit specified in the proposal.
2. removing old single issue periodical records.
3. continuing to monitor serial records.
4. assisting libraries in refining their serials control practices.

Attached is the recommendation from the WYLD Office which was endorsed by the Online Quality Committee at their meeting on February 12, 2004.

Sincerely,

WYLD Office

February 2004