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The term "miscellaneous mail" applies to all types of mail-monographs and serials-that are sent to us unsolicited. Monographs can simply be sent to the appropriate bibliographer (see notes below on bibliographer selection) with a note that the enclosed material is a monographic gift. Serials are a little trickier. While we assume monographic gifts are one-time events, serial miscellaneous mail falls into multiple categories.
Items that are received with a membership or package plan are among the most difficult to spot. However, there are sometimes clues. For instance, if a title has the name of an organization on it, check to see whether we have a membership with that organization. The easiest way to search for a membership is to use the ADVANCED KEYWORD SEARCH (binoculars icon). Type the name of the organization in the "author" field and "MEMBERSHIP" in the "title" field.If we have a membership with that organization and the item is a serial, look at the membership order record and, based on the fund, route the piece to the bibliographer with a miscellaneous mail slip. After "ACORN NO:" write "Received on membership [Acorn no.]".
If we have a membership with that organization and the item is a monograph, look at the membership order record. It may be that we've received other monographs with this membership. In these cases, fill out an SSO slip. In the "Note to Vendor" section, write "Membership" and the Acorn number.
Example 1: Titles that are part of a package plan.
Journal of Manufacturing Science And Engineering (AHF8847) is a DEPENDENT title that comes with the American Society of Mechanical Engineers Plan (AEA9767). This journal has "Transactions of the ASME" printed across the top and "Published bimonthly by the American Society Of Mechanical Engineers" printed across the bottom. If you get a journal that is published by the ASME that is not in the catalog, it may be a journal that's been added to the package plan.
Note: New journals will, of course, start with v.1 no.1, or simply no.1, or may even have "First issue" printed on the cover. Even though a journal is not new, it may be a new addition to the package plan. For example, if you received v.123 no.1 of Journal of Manufacturing Science and Engineering and did not find it in the catalog but found other ASME journals, it may be that the publisher decided to add this title to its package plan for the first time with this issue.Example 2: Titles that are part of a membership.
Solar Bulletin (a1755205) is published by the American Association of of Variable Star Observers (membership record on ADW5214). Other titles may be received as part of this membership.Some of the membership records are harder to find than others. Two of the most difficult are the FAO Monographs Record (titled "Depository Library Account") on AHC1383 and the United Nations membership on AGE4835. It's easiest to keep a list of membership records that are difficult to find.
Sometimes we get free subscriptions to serials because we subscribe to another title. The two titles may be linked in some way (for example, one may be Part A and the other may be Part B) or both titles may simply be the product of the same publisher and one automatically comes with the other. These can be extremely difficult to spot, but there are clues and tools for helping you determine whether a title is really a dependent of another title.Example: Journal of Combinatorial Designs (a1822486) comes free with our subscription to Journal of Graph Theory (AAP0392). In some cases the bibliographers receive advance notice of these free subscriptions. In other cases, they may simply arrive without notice. Sometimes we get frequent duplicates of a periodical or serial because we pay for a subscription to it and it comes free with another title for which we also have a paid subscription.
How can you tell when a subscription is dependent? Sometimes the publisher makes it easy and prints "Free with your subscription to…" Other times it's not so easy. If you've ruled out the possibility that a title is part of a package plan or membership, one of our vendor databases may be able to give you this information. The two easiest and most effective vendor databases are the Dataswetsconnect (Swets-Blackwell) and Ebsconet (Ebsco) databases. They can be accessed via the web at:
www.dataswetsconnect.com (Dataswetsconnect)
(See Christopher Waldrop for password and username)http://www.ebsco.com/ebsconet/app/login.asp (Ebsco)
(See Christopher Waldrop for password and username)In Dataswetsconnect, a dependent subscription may have a note that says, "Title cannot be ordered separately". Only sometimes will they have a note explaining what title the subscription comes with. When they don't, you're on your own in determining why we've received a particular title. Rather than spend a lot of time trying to find that other subscription, fill out a miscellaneous mail slip. Under "ACORN NO:" write "gift subscription".
In Ebsconet, a dependent subscription may have a note explaining why we receive a particular title, although sometimes it will be more vague. In the case of Journal of Combinatorial Designs, the "status" of the title is "cross reference". Presumably this is an incredibly vague way of indicating that this title comes with another subscription.
If there's nothing to indicate that a journal issue is part of a package plan or a dependent of another subscription, it may be that we got it purely as a sample issue. Sometimes sample issues will even say "sample issue" in a note or on the cover. Or sometimes we may get the first issue of a new journal as an incentive to purchase a subscription. The way to handle those is:
Determine the bibliographer (see notes below)
Fill out a miscellaneous mail slip (ACORN NO: none)
Route to the bibliographer
If/when the issue is returned with a decision, route it to Chris WaldropThe trickiest part of miscellaneous miscellaneous mail (apart from determining that it REALLY isn't part of something else) is determining the appropriate bibliographer. Here are some guidelines:
Central: Anything that seems to be a very general publication can be routed to Brian Kurowski/Collections Development. Leave the "To:" field on the miscellaneous mail slip blank in these cases. Titles that seem to fall under more specific categories (for example, Linguistics, Economics, English, etc.) can be routed to the appropriate bibliographer.
Science: Rick Stringer-Hye has asked that we sort miscellaneous mail for Science very carefully. Look for key words on science journals like "Engineering", "Physics" or "Physical Sciences", "Chemistry" or "Chemical", or "Mathemtics" or "Mathematical". Sometimes the line may be a bit blurry. For instance, if you have a journal that seems to cover both general and chemical engineering, either John Whelan or Kitty Porter might be the appropriate bibliographer. In such a case, simply choose one or the other.
NOTE: Any journals on biomedical subjects should not be routed to Science bibliographers. See below for more on Biomedical journals.
Education: Anything related to education, child development, or even psychology may be appropriate for Education. Education journals can be routed to Lee Ann Lannom.
Management: Journals about business studies, business management, or staff training and development may be appropriate for Management. Economics journals should go to Central. Management journals can be routed to Sylvia Graham.
Divinity: Anything related to theology, divinity studies, religions, or religious organizations can be routed to Divinity. Divinity journals may be routed to Anne Womack.
Music: Anything related to music, but also to performing arts, particularly musical theater, can be routed to Music. Music journals can be routed to Dennis Clark.Journals pertaining to biomedical research, drug development and research, surgery, or even human anatomy should go to the Eskind Biomedical Library. Do not fill out a miscellaneous mail slip for these journals.
Journals pertaining to legal studies, the judicial system, or anything else related to law should be sent to the Law Library. Do not fill out a miscellaneous mail slip for these journals.Finally, if you're unsure about a journal's subject area, both Dataswetsconnect and Ebsconet list subject areas covered by journals. Try looking a miscellaneous journal up there, or you can use the Ulrichsweb at
www.ulrichsweb.com
You can also find subject information via the World Cat search available from the All Databases page of the Acorn catalogue.
Access to this database is open to all library employees. It also gives helpful publisher information.
revised 8/26/2005;mew