Library and Information Science

The main purpose of this investigation was to determine if approximately 60% of the need for journals could be served through the segregation in a separate reading room of the back issues for the last 5 years of 454 heavily used journals. The library received over 1,300 titles of foreign and domestic journals. Findings are based upon an analysis of canceled charge slips, photoduplication request slips, and interlibrary loan request slips for the period of four months, from October 1st, 1963 to January 31st, 1964. The study revealed that the library could meet about 55% of the use of foreign journals and 70% of the use domestic with back files for five years. Foreign journals were used three and a half times as much as domestic journals. To satisfy 90% of journal use the library would need to provide 15 years of the back files. Lists of the heavily used journals are provided along with results of similar studies.