12/31/99 Decoded

In case you need a refresher on what one of our cryptic Aleph messages mean, here's how to understand the 12/31/99 due date:

• it indicates an item charged to a pseudopatron (though which department or function -- end processing, bindery/repair , etc. isn't identified)
• when a 12/31/99 item is "in transit" it simply means (as with other items) that it's been discharged at one location and is on its way to its home library.
  

Unusual HOLLIS message for Lamont holdings

A patron today came to the desk with a question about a book that HOLLIS says we own. When she checked availability, she was presented with the message that begins "no circulation information is available . . ."

While the message isn't unfamiliar to us, its appearance on a general collection record is. Items in the general collection, according to longstanding Lamont policy, always circulate.

So I conferred with JKR, who explained the two reasons we might see this message. One we know about already: an item in an analyzed series. Those records typically redirect you to another HOLLIS number to determine availability.

The second reason is this: when items are withdrawn from the circulating collection, Access Services staff suppress availability. Physical deaccessioning is completed at 625, and our colleagues there delete Lamont locs at the end of the process.

We've had a massive weed of the general collection this spring, so while the work of deaccessioning continues at 625, you may see other Lamont items carrying this "odd" message. Access Services staff can double check on record suppression -- but students should be directed to other holding libraries.

Strange HOLLIS messages about Morse DVDs

A student phoned today trying to determine whether (and where) she could get a film (presumably for viewing for a class). When I searched HOLLIS for the title -- El Crimen del Padre Amaro -- and checked availability, I got this odd message: "This item may be available, but it has no online circulation information. Check the shelves or contact the owning library."

A call to the Circ desk revealed that the record was (supposed to be?) suppressed but that the film was available for viewing at the Language Resource Center.

Linda explained the meaning of the message thus: "There are a half a dozen DVDs that are being streamed from the LRC server for the semester. Due to copyright restrictions, they have to be taken out of circulation when they are made available in this way. I'm guessing this is one of them. If the patron is still there, send him/her to the LRC. The majority of these films are foreign language; that's the first clue."

If you encounter this message in your travels through HOLLIS with Harvard students, you might want to confirm with a call to Circ (or to the LRC).

GRRR . . . Ger

A patron -- Ph.D. candidate in history, familiar with the collection, came in tonight trying to uncover the call numbers for certain statistical publications produced by the Third Reich. He remembered that the call number began "Ger Doc 9."

I tried Vida's famous rolodex, HOLLIS "other call numbers" and even -- in desperation -- "Government number," all to no avail. Ger Doc(s) never surfaced. Finally, I went to the basement with him, got him in the general area and set him loose.

Puzzled, I asked JC what I'd done wrong. Here's a tip: use Widener call number searches for paper documents with a geographic or country name prefix, followed by the abbreviation "doc." This system owes its origins in many cases to the old Widener class system, which identified countries thus. Ger= Germany; Ind=Indian subcontinent (including Pakistan); Afr=African continent, Br=British Isles (including Ireland), and so forth.

This system makes perfect sense as soon as you remember that Widener is the parent of Gov Docs -- the classifications that are neither LC or SuDocs are part of that legacy.

HOLLIS Microforms Glitch

Sometimes a record for a microfilm with an accompanying index will only list one or the other in the loc field. (Example: search call number, other Film A 575.19) But if you click on the general availability link--the one above all the locs--you will get the full holdings.