Date: Fri, 30 Sep 1994 16:44:22 -0400
From: Allen Bourque <BOURQUE@WIDENER1.MHS.HARVARD.EDU>
Subject: RE: Periodicals Use Study (Vikk

I will reply, in an indirect way, to one of your questions: the time lag
between publication and indexing and it's potential effect on use.  At
Cabot (the general science library at Harvard) we have done use surveys
based on reshelving for three months each of the past three years.  We
survey ONLY currently received titles, but do record separately and
maintain the separate statistics for current (unbound) issues AND already
bound volumes.  This has revealed that some titles are more heavily used
AFTER they are bound than while they are "current".  (One title where
this difference is dramatic is PNAS.)  In terms of evaluating the
collection this information has been important.

*********************************************
*    Allen Bourque                          *
*    Librarian for Bibliographic Control    *
*    Cabot Science Library                  *
*    Harvard University                     *
*    allen_bourque@harvard.edu              *
*    617-495-5354                           *
*********************************************