Periodicals Projects

[Patricia Gosda <PGOSDA@VMS1.NYSED.GOV>]

  I have several research projects in our middle school media
center which involve the use of our periodical collection.  We
house our periodicals in open shelving by title, accessible to our
students.
  We do not have access to any full-text, electronic journals so
when we need a periodical article, the students go the the shelves
and look around.
  My problem is that the periodicals quickly become disorganized and
when back-to-back classes work on periodical research, it becomes
almost impossible to find anything.  My aide and I try to keep the
shelves organized, but can't leave the circulation desk for long.
I try to focus on helping students rather than on housekeeping
the periodicals.
  Any ideas about how to keep these type of projects manageable?
What good organizational ideas are there for periodicals projects?

Patricia Gosda (pgosda@vms1.nysed.gov)
Van Antwerp Middle School
Niskayuna, NY 12309