Serials control Available to Purchase

Serials control is thought to be the most difficult of library housekeeping processes to automate. No automated serials control system has yet been demonstrated to be cost‐effective. Reference is made to systems developed for large mainframes, e.g. OCLC, DOBIS, RLIN and UTLAS. Mini‐computer based systems show promise of more efficient operation. Studies at Oxford have shown the feasibility of automated serials check‐in being achieved faster than is possible manually. Further studies have demonstrated the constraints imposed for a comprehensive system to be cost‐effective. Prediction of the arrival date for irregular serials is a major problem. The difficulties (and expense) of updating files in real‐time represents another problem for which a tentative solution is proposed. The need to improve the user interface is emphasised and this is one of the most important matters for further study.