Periodicals Check-In

Owned by Heather Baker
Last updated: Jan 04, 2024 by Bethany Blankemeyer
5 min read

Scope: Check-in process for periodicals received by DUL CS staff. Describes processes related to periodicals check-in and claiming. Periodicals check-in and claiming is primarily handled by the ERSA Serials Management Associate, with support from Monograph Acquisitions Non-Roman Language staff who receive periodicals in Korean, Japanese, and Chinese that are destined for the EAC.

Contact: Bethany Blankemeyer

Unit: Electronic Resources & Serials Acquisitions

Date last reviewed: 1/4/2024

Date of next review: //

Opening and Sorting Periodicals Mail


  1. Smith Warehouse Shipping & Receiving staff (currently Tabitha McCallop) will put periodicals mail in the Box Opening area of Smith.
    1. Magazine-type periodicals will be placed in white bins, and other periodicals are added to a designated shelving area.
    2. Serials and even monographic series volumes are sometimes mixed in with the periodicals mail and will need to be sorted out.
    3. Some periodicals issues will be in boxes or other packages that need to be opened.
    4. Japanese, Korean, and Chinese periodicals are placed in the monograph receipts areas for those receivers (or sometimes in their personal mailboxes. Japanese and Korean periodicals mainly arrive in boxes, though some Japanese newspapers still come in envelopes.
  2. To facilitate check-in, periodicals should be sorted according to library location:
    1. Perkins
    2. East Asian Collection (EAC)
    3. Lilly
    4. Music
    5. Rubenstein
    6. Exceptions:
      1. Divinity periodicals should be sorted out and sent directly to Divinity for check-in; they are not checked-in at Smith.
      2. Daily newspapers should be sorted out and sent directly to the appropriate location; they are not checked-in at Smith.
      3. Hardbound periodicals will be checked-in and shelf-listed by staff responsible for serials receipts.
      4. We sometimes receive additional volumes, issues, or titles that are not current subscriptions (paid or gift). These should be routed to the Serials Management Team Lead for a decision about returning, discarding, or adding to the collection.
      5. English-language titles not destined for the EAC (PKEPI) that arrive in CJK periodical shipments are pulled and handed off to the ERSA Periodicals Receipts Assistant for check-in.
      6. Notify the Serials Management Team Lead of any periodicals received at Smith that should go directly to another location so that the shipping address can be updated.

Checking-in & Claiming Periodicals in Aleph

  1. Locate the check-in record for the title in hand
    1. Search by title or ISSN in the Acquisitions module to find the correct bib record for the title.
      1. If you are unable to locate a record for the title, it is possible that the title has changed. If that's the case, place the issue on the serials catalogers' title change shelf for their review.
        1. Provide the serials cataloger with the bibsys #, the previous title, and your initials so that they can return the issue to you for arrival. A new order may need to be created on the bib record for the new title; consult with Serials Management Team members as appropriate.
        2. For Chinese language periodicals, also notify the serials catalogers of publisher changes.
    2. If starting from the results list, click on the "Serials" button, then select the Check In option from the left-hand menu.
    3. If starting from the Order record, select the Serial tab, then the Check In option in the left-hand menu.
  2. Match the issue in hand to the correct check-in record in Aleph.
    1. Verify that the volume, issue, date, and any other enumerative information on the issues matches what is in the check-in record.
      1. If no matching check-in record exists:
        1. Make sure the subscription is active and that we want to retain the issue in hand. If the vendor has supplied an issue for a title that has been cancelled, consult with the Serials Management Coordinator about what to do with the issue.
        2. If the issue in hand is the next issue expected after the last checked-in issue, create new check-in records based on the prediction pattern by clicking “Open All” from the active subscription record.
        3. If the issue in hand is a supplemental issue, duplicate another check-in record and use it to arrive the supplemental issue. Update the description field on Tab 3 of the check-in record.
        4. If the issue is a combination of two or more issues, arrive the issue on one of the appropriate check-in records and update the enumeration to represent the combined issue number (e.g., 3/4), then delete any check-in records for issues that are no longer expected (e.g., issue 4 in the previous example).
        5. If the issue incorrectly has numbering that duplicates another, different issue, add a note in the internal note field.
        6. If the issue is a second copy, consult with the Serials Management Coordinator about whether to add it or discard it.
          1. Non-Roman Languages staff consult with the subject librarian for a decision on retaining duplicates.
        7. If there is a permanent frequency change for the title, notify the serials catalogers so that they can update the bib record, holdings records, and prediction patterns.
      2. If the issue exists, but has a minor discrepancy from the item in hand, arrive the issue and then update check-in record with the correct information. For example, if a Dec/Jan issue is published as "Winter," change Dec/Jan to Winter in the enumeration on the Serial Levels tab.
        1. Japanese title exception: If the issue is a continuously-number annual or special issue, check in as a usual periodical but set status to SU (suppressed), and add note “sent for serial shelflisting” or the title & # of the special issue for binding purposes later. Some titles get additional records in Box documents that are used for tracking them (notable examples: Shukan Toyo Keizai, Aera). Contact the Japanese Studies Librarian or relevant NRL staff member in Monograph Acquisitions if you need access to the Box folder that contains these documents.
  3. Check-in the issue by clicking on “Arrive” with the appropriate check-in record selected.
  4. Claim any issues that are past their expected arrival date (see "4. Claiming Missing Issues," below for more information).
  5. Clean-up the other check-in records as appropriate .
    1. Suppress any expected issues that are too late to claim (use the publisher's claim period to determine if something is too late to claim; if the publisher doesn't have a set claim period, then use your best judgment).
    2. Suppress any issues that have been claimed but have still not arrived after a long period of time.
      1. Delete the claim.
      2. Add a note to the check-in record that the issue was claimed but never came.
  6. If the issue is the first in a new volume, add a yellow flag so that ADS knows to send the issues of the previous volumes back to Smith for binding.
    1. Non-Roman Languages staff do not add flags to the first issue in a new volume because binding frequency and pulling schedule decisions are made by EAC staff.
  7. Process the issue in hand according to its destined location.
    • Perkins
      • Stamp with current date.
      • If the title is popular magazine, tattle tape the issue.
    • Lilly
      • If the title is in an East Asian language, add a label and write the title's transliteration on it.
    • EAC or Music
      • Stamp with current date.
    • Rubenstein
      • Do not stamp or otherwise label.
  8. Process the issue in hand according to its Check-In Notes.
    1. Slavic
      1. Add a label and write the title’s transliteration on it.
      2. Write SL on the issue.
    2. Display/Desk
      1. Add a Display/Desk label to the issue.
        1. Current list of Desk titles:
          1. Consumer Reports
          2. National Geographic
          3. Economist
          4. Time
  9. Put the fully processed issue in the bin for the appropriate library location

Sending Periodicals to Library Locations

  1. After checking-in and physically processing the periodicals issues, take them to the Shipping & Receiving room.
  2. For periodicals being sent to Divinity, Perkins, EAC, Lilly, or Music, add the processed periodicals to the bins for the appropriate locations.
    1. For periodicals being sent to Lilly and Perkins, add a cover sheet in the bin on top of the periodicals.
    2. Non-Roman Languages staff:
      1. Keep periodicals separate from books headed to the EAC and add an EAC cover sheet to the bin.
  3. For periodicals being sent to Rubenstein, add them to the Rubenstein Collections Services mailbox.