Management of Serials in Libraries

Book excerpt: Focusing on the management of serials in libraries and the role of serials in scholarly communications, this book combines descriptive and prescriptive approaches to illuminate major serials management issues. Unlike other works on the subject, this text emphasizes collection management issues-serials evaluation/selection criteria, cancellation, weeding, document delivery, budgeting, decision models, use studies, journal ranking, and the application of citation analysis (including use of the Journal Citation Reports and Bradfordian distribution). The author also discusses the implications of the Internet and World Wide Web for serials management. Other topics include types of serials, serials history, serials automation, electronic journals, technical services processing, and copyright issues. Appendixes list and annotate relevant World Wide Web sites, pertinent bibliographies, and sources of statistical data about serials. Significant research is often cited. There are extensive footnotes, and bibl