This book advises librarians, paraprofessional library supervisors, and library school students on problems unique to the management of serials. Chapter 1 explains the character and publication patterns of serials. Chapter 2 discusses the scope and the organizational structure of serials management, and the role of the serials manager. Chapter 3 examines working relationships between those in library finance and collection development and those in serials acquisition. Chapters 4, 5, and 6 explain acquisition techniques in detail: serial vendors, acquisition methods, and processing. Serials preservation and bindery issues are explored in Chapter 7. Chapter 8 analyzes control of serials records, whether in acquisition, cataloging, or circulation. Ways in which the serials department can improve public service, either by arranging the collection a certain way, creating reading rooms, providing various kinds of reference assistance, or offering interlibrary loan and document delivery are suggested in chapter 9. Chapter 10 emphasizes general concepts in serials automation. Chapter 11 investigates future trends and challenges, including the impact of the Internet and electronic publishing on the serials manager, debate over pricing and copyright issues, and expectation of more standardization of bibliographic records for serials. An annotated suggested reading list of 36 items is appended. (Contains 11 figures and 135 references.) (BEW)