Recognizing and Handling Serial Cessations

Cessations may be recognized in one of several ways: we may get a letter from a vendor in response to a claim, or a report, or we may get a message directly from the publisher. If our claims are not answered and we haven’t received a title in some time, cessation information may be available from one of our vendor databases such as Dataswetsconnect (see Figure 1) or from Ulrichs Online (see Figure 2).

Figure 1                                                            Figure 2

If you receive a cessation notice, please follow the following steps:

1. Use Modify Control to update the serial control record. Under the Basic tab the Status should be changed to CEASED.
2. Under the ExtInfo tab in the serial control record add a NAME field with a note indicating that the title has ceased, and with which volume. (See Figure 3) Note: putting this information in a NAME field means it will be visible in all parts of the serial control.

Figure 3

3. If all expected issues have been received, remove any remaining predictions. If some issues have not been received, it may be necessary to order these from a backfile vendor. If the cessation date is unknown, it’s best to assume we have gotten everything.
4. Use Modify Order to update the order. Under the Order tab add a COMMENT in the extended info. Include information about when the title ceased, your initials, and the date. (See Figure 4).

Figure 4

5. Under the Order line tab the quantity should be changed to 0, and the parts in set should be changed to CEASED. (See Figure 5) Note: in a standing order the unit price and extended price should already be $0.00. If for some reason it is not, change the amount to $0.00. The person who oversees the funds for the library should be notified when such a change is necessary, particularly when the order has a fund that allows encumbrances. (See Appendix)

Figure 5

6. Under Segments tab the funded quantity and distributed quantity should be changed to 0. The amount should be blank. (See Figure 6) Note: there is no need to change the date rcvd, packing, or loaded fields. (You can’t edit these fields in Line 1 of a standing order anyway.)

Figure 6

7. Mouse-click the loaded field so it’s highlighted and then select the down (AFTER) arrow  in the upper right-hand corner of the wizard. In the Select Segment Type window, select CANCEL. This will enter a cancel segment in the order.
8. Enter the cancel reason LIBRARY and make the date TODAY. The # of copies should be 1. If we have received notification from the vendor that our order is closed/cancelled, make the date mailed TODAY. If we have not received notification, leaved the date mailed as NEVER. Also, it’s always a good idea when canceling an order to let the vendor know by e-mail, if an e-mail address is available. If we receive a notice directly from the publisher that the title has ceased, the vendor may not have gotten the same information and may continue billing us as though the title is still active.
9. Finally, notification of the cessation should be sent to the appropriate serial cataloger, the bibliographer for the subject area, and, if the title is a periodical, the person responsible for overseeing the periodical collection. Any notification letter or other information may be sent to the cataloger.

Note: If the title is a book set or continuation (MARC record) the cessation notice should be sent to the appropriate MONOGRAPHS cataloger.

Appendix: Serial funds that allow encumbrances

In most cases when a cessation notice is received the order will already be active, and payments will have been made. Therefore the fund will be either –04-, -06, or –08- (for instance, 90042200, 68066802, or 46084600). The amount in either the unit price or extended price should be $0.00.

If for some reason we receive a cessation notice before we have made a payment, the fund may be a new periodical (-07-) or new serial (-09-) fund (for instance, 46074600, or 96099610). In such a case as this the bibliographer should also be notified that an encumbered amount has been released back into the fund.

Such situations are extremely rare, and will probably result from one of two situations: 1) The bibliographer has requested that a standing order begin with a particular year, but we receive notice that the title has ceased. 2) The bibliographer has placed an order for a title that is never published. (Strictly speaking that really isn’t a cessation, but it will still be necessary to cancel the order record and include that information in case there are questions in the future. When a publication is cancelled and there are no holdings, it’s also necessary to shadow the record.)