Shifting Gears: Planning and Processing of a Large Gift Serials Collection

Mitchell Memorial Library recently received a sizable donation of gift journals and serials from the libraries of several agencies: Mississippi Geological Economic and Topographical Survey, Bureau of Geology in Jackson, Mississippi, and the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ). The impetus for the donations was the imminent move of the MDEQ. The agency library was being moved to a smaller facility, and there was no space to take everything. The core of the library is the geological library started by the Mississippi Geological Survey a century ago. The state geologist/director of the library was responsible for making decisions about what to give away or discard. The core geological library would be kept intact, including key journals, other state geological survey publications, USGS series and reference books. Reducing the volume of material was mandatory. MDEQ desired that the more valuable of these publications go to an institutional library where they would be incorporated into the collections and made available for use. This article provides a case study of how an academic library coordinated efforts among several departments to process a large donated collection. Specifically, it describes how Mississippi State University Libraries carried out the project