Re: establishing core collection list of periodicals by subject Ian Woodward 27 Jan 2005 00:07 UTC
Why not make use of Web of Science to examine what your faculty have been citing, have your inter-library loan staff generate lists of which titles have been requested, examine your file of pending subscription requests to be considered, and have a look at your domestic use statistics and your vendors' COUNTER-compliant ones? Many academic disciplines (e.g. psychology, geography, anthropology, political science, sociology) are quite heterogeneous and there are bound to be subdisciplines not taught and not an object of research at your institution. The faculty are busy with other things. The salient data about prices and use are not in their possession unless you send them. Their intradisciplinary expertise does not provide them with tools any better than those you might come up with for the task of allocating funds BETWEEN disciplines. They have other fish to fry and many (or perhaps most) are likely to give you rather off-hand answers. For my own part, I cannot see the point of buying material just for atmosphere, or in service of an abstract notion of "essential legitimacy". It takes resources away from the task of serving your real flesh-and-blood constituency (in their intellectual development). IW Ian Woodward Serials Office Colgate University Libraries Hamilton, NY 13346 Tel: 315-228-7306 Fax: 315-228-7934 -----Original Message----- From: SERIALST: Serials in Libraries Discussion Forum [mailto:SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU] On Behalf Of Lash, Metta Sent: Wednesday, January 26, 2005 10:24 AM To: SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU Subject: Re: [SERIALST] establishing core collection list of periodicals by subject Mark, I have just begun the same process and found the article, "Defining an Undergraduate Core Journal Collection" by Janice Steed Lewis and John D. McDonald from Serials Librarian v.43, iss.1 (2002), to be very helpful. (their core list can be found at http://library.caltech.edu/john/ug.htm and downloaded as an Access database). If you get responses about this from others I was hoping you could either share them with the list if others are interested or perhaps forward them to me. Thanks a lot, Metta Lash Periodicals Librarian Montgomery College, Rockville Campus (301)251-7126 metta.lash@montgomerycollege.edu -----Original Message----- From: SERIALST: Serials in Libraries Discussion Forum [mailto:SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU] On Behalf Of Mark L. Ferguson Sent: Wednesday, January 26, 2005 9:45 AM To: SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU Subject: [SERIALST] establishing core collection list of periodicals by subject Dear Serials listers: Our library is embarking on an effort to establish a core collection list of periodicals for each academic department. These would be titles that each academic department determines are essential to its standing as a legitimate academic program. I was wondering if there are other libraries out there who have already done this and if so what resources you drew upon to compile such lists. Katz, Magazine for libraries would be an obvious source, but are there others? Is there anyone out there who has done this and would be willing to share those core collection lists with others? This kind of information could be very useful, I would imagine, to a number of libraries, and I could use all the help I can get in undertaking this task. You may want to direct your response to the listserv rather than just to me for any other interested parties out there listening. Mark Ferguson, Periodicals Librarian, College of Saint Elizabeth