[Publib] circulating current issues of magazines

[Judith Turner]

Hi, Nancy -- back in September there was a discussion about the pro's and con's of circulating older magazines.  I don't recall if the current issues came up but you can check publib's archives.  The discussion began with a question about using bags to protect the magazines.

As a special library we circulated magazines immediately as part of  our current awareness program.  The only exceptions were selected general interest titles -- National Geographics. Natural History, etc. and museology titles -  Curator, the American Association of Museums' Museum News, etc. which went on the display racks until the next issue arrive.

The biggest problem we had was trying to replace magazines that our patrons lost or damaged.  Magazines are like children's books, only worse -- easy to overlook or to accidentally slip inside another item (a problem when using after hours book returns.)  Unlike most books, though, missing issues can be very hard to replace.  Some magazine publishers refused to replace issues never received (lost in the mail, damaged in shipping, not sent at all) if we waited longer than the next issue received to claim it.

The other problem would be if you have patrons who regularly drop in to read the latest issues in the library -- they might not like the idea of the latest magazines circulating.

On the positive side, it is a great way to make certain those magazines (which can get very expensive in the aggregate) are being used.  Our route statistics were our most effective argument for increased periodicals budgets for many years.

Judy Turner
Whitefish Bay, WI

       
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