Valentine’s Day Massacre

. . . in the Periodicals Stacks.

Or, more precisely, mutilation of the still living bodies of several library journals.

Yes, mutilation . . . it’s a true, sad secret in many academic libraries & it happens here at USF.

On Valentine’s Day, 2 hoodlums skulked into our Periodicals stacks and proceeded to rip pages out and covers off of several journals that belong to the library and, by extension, to all USF students, faculty and staff.

A student worker saw them acting suspiciously and came to tell her supervisor. Before she could finish explaining, the culprits were leaving. The deed was done, the damaged materials left behind as evidence.

If these thugs had read the Student Handbook, they would have read the part under Student Academic Honesty Policy that says:

“Adherence to standards of honesty and integrity precludes
engaging in, causing, or knowingly benefiting from any aspect
of cheating on assignments or examinations including
but not limited to: . . .

(13) removal, mutilation, or deliberate concealment
of academic materials belonging to the University libraries,
computer laboratories, or other learning resource centers”

If a student is caught engaging in this type of behavior, a complaint may be reported to the Committee on Student Academic Honesty. Violators are subject to disciplinary action; sanctions for academic dishonesty range from reprimands and counseling to expulsion from the University.

This is pretty “big stuff” for students to consider — a whole academic “life” tainted or even ended because of the petty theft or vandalism of library materials.

As a librarian, I just wish we didn’t have to deal with this — it’s ugly and it certainly doesn’t fit with the image we have of the students we think we see every day. They have respect for their institution as well as the resources provided for their academic use and they respect the people who work and attend classes here.

So, who then, are these people who do this kind of thing . . . ?

 

 

Faculty Journal Subscription Requests

Faculty can now submit an online request for Gleeson Library to add a new journal subscription. Requests must be accompanied by a written statement justifying the need for the journal and should fit the criteria outlined in the policy Considerations for acquisition of new Periodicals.

Links to the policy and online form can be found on the library web pages under:

• Information – Periodicals
• Faculty Services – Library Liaisons
• Faculty Services – Requesting Materials

Periodicals Bindery or, what in the heck is “To Bind”?

Ever wonder where that journal went, especially since you drove all the way from home to the library to get it off the shelf and make a photocopy?

Here’s the scoop:

Periodicals are shelved alphabetically by title in the stacks; each title is shelved in chronological order, beginning with the oldest bound issues and continuing up to the latest received unbound issues. Every month we go out and gather bundles and prep (prepare) them for the bindery.

The library binds together individual issues of a journal title to better protect and preserve them. Depending upon the frequency of publication, along with the thickness of individual issues, titles are bound in volume sets ranging anywhere from monthly to yearly. The span of issues covered is printed on the spine of each volume.

As you look for a particular issue, you may notice there are a range of missing issues/years between the bound volumes and the most recent unbound issues. These missing items may be at the bindery or in bindery prep and that is why they are not on the shelf.

One way to check on this is to look at the library record for the journal in Ignacio (hint: search by Title of journal). This shows our holdings (Lib. Has: date range) plus some other information about the publisher and formats. If you click on the hyperlink “Latest Received,” this link will open a new window showing the check-in boxes for individual issues with the date and status – Expected, Arrived, etc. Here’s an example Seventeenth Century News

When a group of issues is gathered and sent to the bindery, all of the boxes for that group are set “To Bind” and the date they were shipped out is also displayed. Upon return of the bound volumes from the bindery, all the boxes are collapsed into one box for each volume & date range and the status shows as “Bound.” A set of issues sent to the bindery will return to the library shelves in 1-2 months.

So, if you are ever in the periodicals stacks and can’t find a group of issues you think should be on the shelf, they may be at the bindery. And, whether it’s a question of one or more issues missing from the shelf or a matter of needing some help finding articles in print or electronic formats, please don’t hesitate to come over to the Periodicals Service Desk and ask for assistance. We are there to help and would love to talk to you.

The Periodicals Unit

So, in case you are wondering, here is a link to the library web page about Periodicals, our policies and procedures and a couple of photos of what we look like up here on the 2nd floor: Periodicals Unit

Opening Day

A little about this blog . . . I decided I needed a better way to tell students, faculty and staff about things that are happening in the library and in the Periodicals Unit, in particular. I will be writing about electronic journals as well as print journals; giving some “behind the scenes” insight into how the periodicals collection is acquired, managed and made accessible to USF students, faculty and staff; and providing some helpful guides on using and troubleshooting the various electronic resources available to the USF community. I hope you find this informative and interesting and that you let me know if there is something you just have to know about serials.