----------(1)

Date:         Tue, 25 Feb 1997 11:23:47 -0800
From: Stacy Short <sshort@LINFIELD.EDU>
Subject:      Re: Journal Usage (3 messages)

Hi there,

Here is what we are currently doing regarding journal usage statistics in
our small, medical library:

We post signs asking patrons to not reshelve journals and keep plenty of
reshelving trucks handy to encourage this.  Keeping a tally sheet of all
our subscriptions on a clipboard, our student workers simply mark off
each journal as they reshelve.  This way, journals are not marred nor kept
long from the shelves, and we have a good idea of what journals are being
used.  Included in this tally are any journals used by staff for ILL,
etc. as anything being reshelved is tallied on the clipboard.  At the end
of the month, one of our techs compiles data and a new sheet is added to
the clipboard.  We find this method works well for us, although I am
uncertain how it would work in a larger institution.

----------(2)

Date:         Tue, 25 Feb 1997 18:29:23 EST
From: Albert Henderson <70244.1532@COMPUSERVE.COM>
Subject:      Journal Usage

I recommend the article by Johanna Ross, Observations of browsing behavior
in an academic library (COLLEGE & RESEARCH LIBRARIES July, 1983
44,4:269-274) for a good comparison of methods and reliability.

For a broader view, I also recommend Donald W. King's bibliographic
summary of research called COMMUNICATION BY ENGINEERS (Washington DC,
Council on Library Resources, 1994). He also co-authored SCIENTIFIC
JOURNALS IN THE UNITED STATES (Stroudsburg, Dowden, Hutchinson & Ross,
1981; distr. by VNR last I knew) which provides very interesting data on
how journals are used.

As for methodological flaws, there are boundless possibilities as long as
disciplines for data collection and evaluation well established in many of
the sciences are ignored. We still see the infamous "Pitt Study"
(COST-BENEFIT MODEL OF SOME CRITICAL LIBRARY OPERATIONS IN TERMS OF USE OF
MATERIALS, by Allen Kent et al. NTIS 1978) cited as a prototype even after
it was thoroughly rejected by library researchers and repudiated by the
Pitt faculty senate. I think the best you can do with limited resources is
to use several different sources of information, including estimates of
value from researchers and instructors, and try to reconcile them.

Albert Henderson, Editor, PUBLISHING RESEARCH QUARTERLY
70244.1532@compuserve.com

----------(3)

Date:         Tue, 25 Feb 1997 18:15:16 -0800
From: Carol Morse <MorsCa@WWC.EDU>
Subject:      JOURNAL USAGE (Linden Sweeney) -Reply

Concerning journal usage, we are a relatively small library (1300 current
subs).  We keep a statistics notebook, in which the student workers make
slashes for every use of a title, paper or microform.  It is counted up
every quarter.  We ignore old titles in storage.  It takes time, but the
info is invaluable for collection development.  Of course, it is not
completely accurate because patrons reshelve in spite of numerous signs to
the contrary, but it gives an idea.

Sincerely,
Carol Morse

********************************************************************************
Carol Morse                                   Phone: 509) 527-2684
Serials Librarian                            Fax: 509) 527-2001
204 S. College Ave.                       Email: morsca@wwc.edu
College Place, WA  99324
********************************************************************************

----------(4)

Date:         Wed, 26 Feb 1997 08:52:15 -0500
From: Sallie Alger <alger@ANDREWS.EDU>
Subject:      Re: JOURNAL USAGE (Linden Sweeney)

Jonathan,

In our library--periodicals collection about 3,000 current titles--we
barcoded most of our bound volumes and put a barcode on the shelf by each
of the currents.  We use the Innovative system and have a portable
barcode scanner that the shelvers use when picking up and shelving.  They
wand in each volume or current issue and it then shows in the inhouse
statistics on our OPAC.  We have been doing this for about 2 years now
and it works quite well.

Sallie Alger
alger@andrews.edu