The Saint Elizabeth Hospital Medical Center School of Nursing Library has a strong collection of nursing and nursing management journals. With the rising subscription costs of periodicals, it was necessary to evaluate the collection of periodicals. This study was done to evaluate the periodicals that the library has in paper form. The study…

This study uses the list of periodicals indexed by "Alternative Press Index" to examine the holdings rates of alternative press titles in the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) member libraries. Results by subject clusters show low holdings rates. The impact on scholars, students, and library collections is discussed. (Author/LRW)

Periodicals librarians in libraries supporting smaller public colleges and universities were surveyed on issues concerning their serials collections. Findings indicate cost increases are a problem, but most respondents believe their collections are meeting institutional demands. Questions remain, however, about the influence of rising periodical…

Describes the University of Iowa libraries' experiences in purchasing hard-to-find backfiles of Chinese periodicals directly from Chinese libraries. Reviews the libraries' collection development strategy of understanding libraries and book market conditions in a third-world country. Discusses financial benefits gained by the Chinese and University…

A citation study of journal articles published by University of Florida faculty members and indexed in PsycINFO and PsycLIT revealed a higher serials/monographs ratio (75 percent) than has been nationally reported for psychology (30-50 percent). These results suggest that, as the literature use in psychology changes, budgetary thinking and…

An auxiliary study of the direct observation method for counting periodical usage in Evans Library at Texas A&M University found that student observations contain substantial error and that aggregation problems and cost issues are fundamental constraints to this method. Concludes direct observation may be useful in calibrating the results of…

Faculty at Western Illinois University were asked to share in the library's journal deselection responsibility by ranking the library's journals by importance. These rankings were then compared to student use of the same journals. Results indicate that journals that were frequently cited or retrieved by students were highly ranked by the faculty.…

Reports on public and academic libraries' efforts to collect and preserve zines, which many librarians consider to be an important record of communication and culture. Discusses a donation to the New York State Library in Albany; collection development; use by scholars and students for research; problems with cataloging zines; and handling zines…

Describes a study of conservative and liberal journals that was conducted to determine whether academic libraries have been developing balanced collections in these areas. Issues of censorship and bias in collection development are discussed; and the influence of abstracting/indexing availability and journal age on selection are considered. (12…

The results of a project comparing the nursing monograph collections of academic health science center libraries in the Southwest are reported. Records for nursing monographs from the TALON (South Central Regional Medical Library Program) Union Catalog of Monographs from 1977-1983 were analyzed to reveal the distribution by year, publisher, and…

Faced with growing problems in the management and direction of its periodical collection, in 1973 the McLaughlin Library at the University of Guelph established a Periodical Use Committee responsible for collecting and analyzing statistics on the use of periodicals within the library. Specific responsibilities of the committee included deciding…

This study was performed to help answer questions surrounding the use of interlibrary loan data as a component in selecting periodicals to add to the subscription base of the Penrose Library at the University of Denver (Colorado). Few subscriptions were placed in this library in the 1980s that were not driven by interlibrary loan requests. If…

A survey was sent out in the fall of 1988 to all 4-year college and university libraries in Texas; the overall response rate was 77%. The purpose of the survey was to: (1) compare funding patterns in state and private institutions; (2) compare appropriation increases with rising costs for books and journals; and (3) determine whether academic…

Establishes theoretical framework for solution of problem confronting academic libraries--growth in number of journals and surge in prices--by showing how concentration of usage is function of sociobibliometric laws based on cumulative advantage principle. Use of citation indexes in academic evaluation and library collection development is…

Describes a recent survey of library resources for American Studies at libraries in Taiwan and compares the results with those of two earlier surveys. Faculty opinions, periodical holdings, book holdings, and recommendations for improving the quality, quantity, and utilization of library resources for American Studies are discussed. (LRW)