[ILL-L] Dissertations...to catalog or not to catalog

[Julia Graham]

At 08:20 AM 2/6/2008, you wrote:
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>Do you buy dissertations for students?
>We try to borrow them first, but many times universities do not 
>allow so we will order for faculty members or graduate students.

We try to borrow first as well.  Then, if it seems like it might fit 
the criteria for our collection (or it's something that is critical 
to the person's research), we will attempt to buy from UMI.


>
>After you buy the dissertations, do you catalog them or simply give 
>them to the students?
>Since we are a small library with a decent ILL budget, my supervisor 
>likes us to give the dissertations to the students, not asking for them back.

We nearly *always* get them back from the patron, then forward to the 
appropriate bibliographer.  It's up to them whether to add to our 
collection or not.  I have yet to get one back from a bibliographer, 
but if we did, we would offer to give to the patron to keep.
For the few that aren't really in our collection scheme, we would 
give to the patron, but that's only happened a couple times in the 
last 8 years.
One Dissertation I purchased for a patron several years ago, which 
was then catalogued, circulates regularly on ILL to other 
libraries.  We are only one of 2 libraries that own it, so it's been 
well worth it to have it in our collection.

Julia


>We have really just implemented this in the past few months, though 
>the old coordintor (I am new) had been saving them for years.
>We lack the space for cataloging them, though we could keep them in 
>the ILL office.  If we did that, our office is generally closed by 
>3:30 and not on weekends, so it would be a hassle for reference 
>staff to get them when we are closed.  Also, it seems that we never 
>order the same dissertation twice, so the liklihood of them being 
>used again is low.
>However, some people feel differently.  I have mixed feelings.  We 
>are in the process of moving and I'm wondering if we should get rid 
>of our "secret stash" or hold onto them.
>Knowing what other libraries do would be so helpful!
>
>Thanks!
>
>Holly Klump
>ILL Coordinator
>
>Regina Library
>Rivier College
>603.897.8255
>
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>ILL-L at webjunction.org
>http://lists.webjunction.org/mailman/listinfo/ill-l


Advice is what we ask for when we already know the answer but wish we didn't.
                                                         - Erica Jong
*************************************************************************
Julia Graham
Humboldt State University
Interlibrary Loan Coordinator
jlg7001 at humboldt.edu
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