Date: Fri, 30 Sep 1994 15:01:59 -0400
From: Vikki Medaglia <vmedagli@ABACUS.BATES.EDU>
Subject: Periodicals Use Study

Greetings, all.  After reviewing the discussion of periodicals use studies
on the list, I find some of our questions remain unanswered.  Would those
of you who have done studies be willing to let me know how you dealt with
these issues?

1.  How did you define "current periodical"?  We keep issues on display
shelves until they are bound, and some are bound more frequently than
others.  Bound volumes are stored in stacks and no longer referred to as
"current", even though they may be from the current year or volume.

2.  Did you consider the lag time between publication and indexing in your
use studies?  Some journals may not be heavily used until inexed a year or
more after publication.

3.  Did you consider availability and/or completeness of indexing?

4.  What kinds of analyses did you find most revealing or most useful?

I want to thank all contributors for sharing their methodologies and ideas
with the list.  You helped me design our study, which looked pretty solid
until we thought about it and raised the questions I'm asking you here.

Thank you again for the benefit of your experience.

Vikki Medaglia                  vmedagli@abacus.bates.edu
Serials Librarian               Phone: 207-786-6277
Bates College
Lewiston, ME  04240