Basic Serials Management Handbook (BSMH) – Revised ed.

Abstract

During long years of involvement in diverse serials-related activities with international bodies like UNESCO; International Organization for Standardization (ISO); International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), the basic concepts and operations appeared obvious. However, on taking up assignment to set up a national centre in one of the less developed countries, I realized that there was a widespread lack of understanding of serials, even of information science and librarianship in general.

At the same time, as the years passed, I learned to appreciate the tremendous willingness to learn on the part of the staff I was training. After five years they were perfectly capable of working at an international level.

When, following an account of my experiences, I was approached by the IFLA Section on Serial Publications to write a handbook on serials management for librarians in less developed countries, I had a clear idea about their needs, but also about the complexity of the challenge I was facing.

The target audience to whom the manual was to be addressed was assumed to have little or no library training and certainly none in serials librarianship. For this reason I felt myself compelled to start from the basic level offering step by step guidance through the various fields of serials management. Accordingly, the general approach adopted throughout the handbook consists in outlining briefly the theoretical/historical background followed by the presentation in italics of the...