Serial Control View and Alternate Serial Control View offer you two views of Serials. Both views enable you to create subscriptions, add distributions, define captions, predict future issues, and receive items. Serial Control View was designed for users who work with a smaller number of issues and was designed to accommodate workflows in academic and special libraries. Alternate Serial Control View was designed for users who receive a larger number of issues and was designed for use in public libraries.

The views are interoperable, but because the views were designed for different purposes, some differences emerge. For example, Serial Control View enables you to create and edit serials in a single tabbed interface while Alternate Serial Control View leads you through a series of steps on multiple screens. In addition, receiving functions vary between views. Both receiving interfaces enable you to batch receive issues. However, the Serials Batch Receive interface, which is associated with Alternate Serial Control View, allows for more customization of each receiving unit while the Items tab in Serial Control View allows for greater flexibility in creating multi-issue units, such as in binding serials.