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.
