Problems in Ordering, Procurement and Receipt:
Ordering and procurement of periodicals are very much inconvenienced due to different locations of their publishers. If the library wants to place an order directly with the publishers the extent of correspondence and administrative work arising would be very great. An alternative to this would be ordering through local agents. But here also there are many problems. To find an efficient and reliable local vendor would not be easy. Another peculiarity with acquisition of periodicals is that, unlike books, periodicals have to be paid for in advance, normally for the whole year. While subscribing through agents the advance payment involves risk. If it is direct subscription and if it is of foreign origin, there are involved the procedures and for-malities of foreign exchange.
Receiving periodicals also has problems. Delay is inevitable in the case of foreign periodicals as they are often sent by surface mail. A more serious problem is loss in transit. Such losses may lead to incomplete volumes. Replacement of missing numbers will not be always possible since periodicals are usually printed in limited numbers. The library has to be constantly on the alert about the prompt receipt of periodicals and about timely actions to be initiated for getting replacements.