From: Nan Butkovich <njb_at_psulias.psu.edu>
I am the head of a branch library specializing in chemistry, physics, and
astronomy... all journal-intensive disciplines. Space for collections is a
major concern, yet with over half of the collection already in remote
storage, I'm not convinced that sending still more journal backfiles to
storage is a viable option.
I know that, with the advent of electronic versions of indexing and
abstracting services, many libraries began dropping print subscriptions to
those titles in favor of the electronic form. Has anyone begun to do
something similar with print journal subscriptions? Specifically, has
anyone either:
1. Chosen not to obtain print versions of journals, or if they must
obtain the print version, have chosen not to retain the print issues (that
is, the print issues are discarded as soon as they arrive)?
or:
2. Chosen to retain the print issues, but not put them out for the public
or bind them (perhaps shrink-wrapping them upon arrival and sending them to
remote storage)?
If you have done either of these (or some other alternative) I am very
interested in learning about your experiences: What procedure did you
use? What reactions did patrons have? How long have you been doing
this? Were there any significant cost savings, or did the costs get moved
somewhere else? If you did this across a range of disciplines, were there
differences in the results (acceptance, cost savings, etc.) between
subjects? Any other relevant information would also be appreciated.
Thank you for your time,
Nancy J. Butkovich
Head, Physical Sciences Library
230 Davey Laboratory
The Pennsylvania State University
University Park, PA 16802-6301
Tel.: 814/865-3716
Fax: 814/865-2565
E-mail: njb_at_psulias.psu.edu or njb2_at_psu.edu
Received on Sun Sep 26 1999 - 16:13:19 EDT