---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 6 Mar 2002 12:10:30 -0500
From: Michael SPENCER <mspencer@SBU.EDU>
Subject: When do periodicals become outdated?

Our periodicals department has run out of room, and I have been facing the
question of when older years of specific periodicals become so dated that
they can or perhaps should be put into storage, or perhaps may just as
well be discarded altogether. Specifically, when do periodicals definitely
or probably become of little enough use so that such a move may be made in
these fields?:

          The various sciences (including biology, physics, and chemistry)
           law
           medicine
           accounting
           taxation

      For example, we have printed issues of "The Journal of Accountancy"
back to 1910 and a journal of taxation from the 1930s.
     The fields listed above are simply those where this question has come
up here so far; however, perhaps people have opinions in other fields
besides these.