Serials - Closing orders

All orders must be closed before serial holdings can be closed.

Serials orders should have one of three statuses, RECURRING RENEWAL (OPEN), MANUAL RENEWAL (OPEN), and  CLOSED. Serials orders are not closed unless they have been cancelled by the selector or are determined to be ceased. We do not drop orders that have not been cancelled, or have not been confirmed as ceased.

We generally do not use CANCELLED status in Alma. You may see CANCELLED status on CLOSED orders that migrated from Millennium, but we are not using it for any orders closed in Alma. 

Cancelling serial orders deletes unreceived, but predicted issues, and removes the POL from the holdings. This prevents receiving last issues of a periodical. It also makes it harder to see what came in the past on a POL that has been cancelled.

Closing Procedures:

CLOSED is used for both canceled and ceased titles. We close an order when the selector notifies the appropriate unit that he/she no longer wants The Library to receive a serial title. It is also used in cases where a title has ceased  (see below for detail). The Acquisitions Department Staff notifies the supplier to cancel a purchase or gift.

• Add a note in the CANCELLATION RESTRICTION field  in the POL with the date of cancellation and  the reason for canceling. Follow this format: Cancelled FYxx  [reason] 
• Other NOTEs may also be added for further clarification as needed.
• AFTER adding notes, click Close. And confirm.
• After closing, the shelving location is notified to close the holdings statement..

CEASED:  For titles confirmed ceased:

• It is not always easy to determine whether a title has ceased. Sometimes vendors will consider it ceased when it is not actually ceased. We do not code a title as ceased unless we can confirm it as ceased via OCLC or publisher.
• If the title has been reported ceased by the vendor, but can’t be confirmed as ceased, the title will remain open. Acquisitions staff will investigate as time permits. If evidence is found that other libraries have received further issues, Acquisitions will claim the issues from the vendor.
• If a title has not been received for several years, and Acquisitions staff are unable to determine it is ceased, staff will refer the title for a selector decision to keep open because we want any future issues that may appear, or to close, because we no longer want the title.
• When Library staff determines that a title has ceased, orders are closed out as described above.
• If ceased titles resume publication, the selector is notified so that they may choose whether or not to reopen the order.
• When a title has ceased, the Serials Cataloging Unit is notified to update the bibliographic record.
• Ceased in print: When a title has ceased print publication, but continues to be published online, the print order will be closed.

OTHER NOTES ON CLOSING:

EAL does their own closing of serial orders.

If the title is a gift only and it is being received directly in the subject specialty library, they may choose to close their own order records following the procedures above.  Staff without order record update permissions should notify serpay@library.berkeley.edu to close order record.

If orders are canceled or ceased, funding will be realigned during the next annual budget cycle.