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Info Request: Subscription Decisions RRUTSKY@IUBACS.BITNET 13 Aug 1992 21:13 UTC

This request for information comes from someone who is NOT a serials
librarian, but an editor (and self-publisher) of an interdisciplinary
academic journal, _Strategies: A Journal of Theory, Culture and Politics_
(ISSN 1040-2136).

Although _Strategies_ has had an impressive list of contributors
over its six issues (a listing is available on request:
RRUTSKY@IUBACS.BITNET), lack of time and resources have prevented us
from making a concerted effort to build its institutional circulation.
These circumstances have recently changed, and we now would like to
work seriously at increasing awareness of _Strategies_ and improving
its availability among institutions.

We find, however, that we know very little about how libraries become
aware of and make decisions concerning journals like ours.  We assume,
of course, that faculty recommendations play a large role in this
process, but we're unclear as to what other avenues exist that bring
journals to the attention of serials librarians:  advertisements?
(if so, where?); indexing services? (which ones?); mailings,
brochures, etc.? (if so, what information is necessary and what is to
be avoided?  Needless to say, we don't wish to be pests).  Finally,
we'd like to get some idea of the criteria that librarians employ
in making decisions about subscriptions.

We would very much appreciate any information concerning these
questions.  Thanks for your help.

RRUTSKY@IUBACS.BITNET
for The Strategies Collective
4289 Bunche Hall/ UCLA
Los Angeles, CA. 90024