---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 6 Mar 2002 15:42:13 -0500
From: "Konchel, Denise" <dkonchel@WALSHCOLLEGE.EDU>
Subject: Re: When do periodicals become outdated? (Michael Spencer)

We at Walsh College Library feel your pain, Michael.  We are a small
business college library and also are dealing with very tight space
issues, primarily because our accounting and tax periodicals are never
thrown out for different reasons.

We duplicate many titles we hold in print electronically but since
accounting research sometimes dictates that older material may still be
viable material, we can't depend on finding it as far back as needed on
our databases.  This means we have some titles dating back to the birth of
the solar system and taking up about as much space.

As far as our tax periodicals go, our tax dean dictates (literally) how
far back we retain tax material, and that means we keep every single tax
title as far back as we own. This is a problem and what one can do about
it, at least from our perspective, is not much. I recognize our situation
is rather unique, but you may be able to weed date ranges covered
electronically or on microform and free up some room.  Unfortunately, our
situation has led us to carve deeply into other print holdings covered by
databases and microfiche to alleviate our space problems.

Denise Konchel
Serials Librarian
Walsh College Library
E-mail: dkonchel@walshcollege.edu

---------- 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Subject: When do periodicals become outdated?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.