Resident Radio Star

Librarian Steve Black was among the first to create a regular show for The College of Saint Rose Radio Station after it was founded in the summer of 2006. His show, Periodical Radio, delves into the world of magazines and journals. Every new show is a must listen to around my house, so I thought I’d ask Steve a few questions about the show and its guests.

How did you become involved with periodicals as a librarian? What unique challenges come with your responsibilities?

I’d been a part-time reference librarian for a year or so when Sr. Katherine McPeak retired and her Serials Librarian position became open. Happy to have a shot at a full time tenure track position, I applied and thankfully got the job. I knew almost nothing about periodicals at the time, but Sr. Katherine helped me learn.

Unlike books, which you buy and catalog once, serials change prices, frequencies, and titles, so keeping records accurate requires constant maintenance. Since prices on average go up 9% a year, it’s also tough to stay within budget.

How did you come up with the idea for a Saint Rose Radio show titled Periodical Radio?

Librarians and publishers don’t communicate very well, and I wanted to do something to generate dialogue. I also thought that editors would have interesting things to say that people would like to hear. I considered several titles, but chose Periodical Radio because so far as I could find out, it was unique. So if you Google it, you’ll find my program and not something else.

I’d like to thank Dr. Fred Antico, who runs the Saint Rose radio production program, for all he does and everything he’s taught me. He’s been exceptionally supportive from the beginning; generous with constructive criticism and encouragement. Thanks, Fred!

Can you describe what your radio show is all about?

The mission is to record dialogs with the interesting, creative, dedicated people who edit and produce journals and magazines. The conversations address the content of the magazines as well as the experience of publishing them.

How do you identify publishers/editors to talk to?

It’s very haphazard. I draw from our collection here in the library, but get ideas from news stories, web sites, and promotional materials. Sometimes I just browse through listings. There’s no system, but I do try to get a nice mix of popular and scholarly titles, and a broad variety of topic areas.

In your opinion what has been the most interesting show to date? Why?

Honestly, they’ve all been interesting in one way or another. Editors are knowledgeable and passionate, which comes through in their conversations. If I had to choose, perhaps I’d pick my interview with Dr. John Lent of the International Journal of Comic Art. His critique of traditional peer review was frank, and he said things I think many academics would agree with but are afraid to speak out about. Also, I was fascinated by his ability to produce a high quality journal on a tiny budget. The subscription rate is amazingly low for a scholarly journal of its caliber.

As a librarian who works closely with periodicals, you have a good deal of knowledge about the industry. Have you learned new things about the periodicals industry as a result of doing this radio show?

Mostly more detail about the amazing variety of ways to run a magazine. Conservationist is run by a government agency, Voices by a non-profit that relies on memberships, Information Technologies and International Development is free to all, subsidized by a grant from Microsoft, True West relies almost wholly on advertising. The list goes on. How they pay the bills varies almost as much as the topics they cover. I don’t know how much people enjoy hearing about business models, but it’s one of my favorite aspects of the program.

If you could pass on any information about magazines and journals to students, what information would benefit them most?

Don’t limit yourself to only online publications. Many excellent periodicals are only published in print. Most of the editors I’ve interviewed plan to continue publishing in print for the foreseeable future.

What are your plans for Periodical Radio in 2007-08?

I’d like to do ten or so shows per semester, to continue building the archive of interviews. If I can keep a steady pace it will grow into a nice oral history of periodical publishing in our time.

–Listen to archived shows of Periodical Radio

Interlibrary Loan: An Interview With Sue Costantini

Sue Costantini has served as Coordinator of Interlibrary Loan (ILL) Services since 2000. Aside from providing great service to students and faculty, Sue is the person to invite to a party, as she always come with wonderful home-cooked food. To get an update on the state of ILL, I asked Sue the following questions.

How long does it take to receive items from other libraries? Do some sorts of items come quicker than others?
It all depends on the request. If the request is for an item that many libraries have then they come very quickly. For example, an article requested that has a lot of library holdings and is being sent electronically could come the same day it is requested.
A request for a book that is available locally usually gets here within 2-3 days since it is sent via Courier. A book not available locally will be mailed to us. That normally takes 7-10 days. There are times, however, that the request is a difficult one that has few holdings. They do take longer to get but we do our best and don’t give up easily.

Can you explain how the new interlibrary loan system (Illiad) has changed and, hopefully, improved service?
The new ILLiad system has definitely improved service. Patrons are able to request the items at home or anywhere there is a computer. They are able to track the status of their requests, renew their books, cancel requests, download their electronic documents, etc. Using ILLiad we are able to quickly and efficiently process and track requests. All of the request tracking used to be done manually. We had to print out the hard copies of the requests and file them in the appropriate stages of process. We had to call or send individual emails to inform patrons when there request came in. There was much more chance of human error than there is now.

Is it true some items you receive come as electronic documents? How does this work for the person who requests the item?
Yes it is true. We try to receive as many articles electronically as we can. It is very easy for the patron. An email is sent to the patron with a link. When you click on the link your log in to ILLiad will come up. You simply log in and scroll down to View/download electronically received article. You click on that and your article will come up.

Are some times of the semester busier than others?
Yes, it is the busiest right before all of the papers are due. That is usually right before mid-terms and right before finals.

Can a person request a film through interlibrary loan?
Yes they can. We have worked hard to find libraries that will loan us film and other audio-visual materials. They sometimes do take a bit longer to get depending on the request. They all come from non local libraries because local libraries don’t loan AV materials through Interlibrary loan.

How many people work in your department?
Besides myself I have 3 part time employees and try to get 3 work study students.

What part of your job do you like the best? The worst?
I like the challenge of the difficult requests. It is an accomplishment for me to be able to get a patron that hard to get request that they need. I also enjoy working with the college students at Saint Rose. I like to think they keep me young.
The worst part of the job is dealing with the issue of a book that isn’t returned or gets lost. It doesn’t happen very often but when it does it is such a pain to try to track it down or have our library eventually have to pay for it.

Do you have any advice for someone filling out an Illiad request form?
Yes I do as a matter of fact. Give us as much information as you can find especially the ISBN number of the book or the ISSN of the journal. It makes the requesting go so much quicker for the ILL staff.

Besides filling out an Illiad request form, how do people get in touch with staff in interlibrary loan?
Please feel free to call me or stop by to see me if there are any questions, comments, or issues involving interlibrary loan. We work hard to be very “user friendly” and welcome the feedback. My telephone number is 454-2155 and email address is costants@strose.edu