When you look up a journal in the catalog, you'll see that different issues of a single title may be located in different places. This explanation of a journal's travel through the library system is intended to help patrons understand why this is, and where issues of a journal are likely to be.

 

Note that not all journals make a stop in the Current Periodicals Room: many go straight to the Baker-Berry stacks upon receipt. Journals that shelve in the CPR have a note in the catalog record that says "Current issues in Current Periodicals Room".

Here's what happens to Current Periodicals Room titles when they are received by the library:

• The journal is received and checked-in by Acquisitions Services, then sent to the CPR to be shelved.
• When a certain number of issues of a journal (usually a year's worth) have accumulated in the Current Periodicals Room, the older issues are taken off the shelf to make room for the newer.
• The issues taken off the shelf are gathered and bound together. They are unavailable during this process.
• Once the issues are bound, they are shelved in the Baker-Berry stacks.

This is why a CPR journal's most recent issues can be found in the Current Periodicals Room, and older issues are bound and shelved in the stacks.