Date: Wed, 21 Feb 2001 20:08:20 -0700
From: "Walker, Lisa" <lisaw@MONTANA.EDU>
Subject: Survey on libraries and supermarket tabloids

***Please reply directly to Lisa Walker, not to SERIALST. Thanks -- ed.

This message contains a survey for serials and collection development
librarians as part of a program I will be presenting this April in
Philadelphia for the Popular Culture Association's Libraries and Popular
Culture Section.  The presentation is part of a panel on research and access
to "scorned literature," and the title of my talk is "Supermarket Tabloids
in Libraries and Research Collections: Can They Be Found?"

I'm attempting to find out more about libraries that collect American
supermarket tabloids - titles such as the National Enquirer, Weekly World
News, Globe, Examiner, Midnight, and Star. An OCLC search for these titles
shows surprisingly few holdings, and the situation seems not to have changed
much since Rebecca Sturm Kelm published several articles on this topic
approximately 10 years ago. I will also be sending out paper copies of my
survey to libraries that list tabloid holdings on OCLC, but I am aware that
there may be others lurking out there that do collect tabloids but don't
post the holdings.

The following survey is my unscientific attempt to try to get some feedback
on who collects tabloids, why they collect them, and how they are handled by
the libraries that purchase them. I am also interested in any responses from
librarians on why they would NOT consider tabloids for their collection, as
well as any anecdotes relating to efforts to get tabloids into libraries or
to keep them out.

If anyone would like to respond to the survey, please send your responses to
me off-list. If enough people are interested, I'd be happy to summarize the
findings for the list. And I will also understand if someone wishes that
their name NOT be used (if this is the case, please tell me).

So, without further ado, here is the survey:

1.      Does your library currently collect any of the major U.S.
supermarket tabloids (National Enquirer, Star, Globe, Examiner, Midnight,
Weekly World News)? If so, for how long have these items been collected?

2.      Has your library ever collected any of these publications in the
past?

                (If you answered "no" to both these questions, please skip
to question 13)

3.      Does your library keep back issues of these publications, and if so,
how are they handled (binding, etc.)?

4.      Does your library circulate these publications?

5.      Are these items cataloged?

6.      Are any efforts made to preserve these publications?

7.       Have you ever encountered opposition to the use of funds to buy
these publications?

8.      How do you feel that these publications serve your users?

9.   Have you had much user response (good, bad, or otherwise) to collecting
these
       tabloids?

10.      Why does your library collect this particular tabloid (or
tabloids)?

10.     Do your tabloids receive much use by researchers as opposed to
recreational readers?

10.     Do you have much trouble with loss and mutilation of these items?

10.     Would you support efforts to index or otherwise provide more
bibliographic access to the tabloids?

10.     Do you think tabloids can be justified as part of the collection for
your particular
                type of library (academic, public, etc.) or for any kind of
library?

10.     Do you know of any other libraries that collect tabloids (including
those that do not publicly announce them as part of their holdings)?

Thanks in advance for your participation.  Please feel free to send me your
comments on this issue, and I will try to summarize the findings as best I
can.  Thanks - Lisa Walker

Lisa Walker
Catalog Librarian/Serials Cataloger
Montana State University-Bozeman
P.O. Box 173320
Bozeman, MT 59717-3320
Email:  lisaw@montana.edu
Voice:  406-556-8227
FAX:   406-994-2851