Abstract
THE selection of periodicals for medical and scientific libraries is discussed by C. C. Barnard, librarian of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, in a paper in the Library Association Record of November, 1938. Mr. Barnard gives a comparison of results obtained by Gross and Gross' method of arranging periodicals in order of importance as indicated by the frequency of bibliographical reference to them, taking the Journal of the American Chemical Society for 1927 instead of the 1926 volume as used by Gross and Gross. Although agreement is satisfactory at the top of the scale, there are considerable variations lower down, and Mr. Barnard points out that, besides the inherent limitations of the method, which does not take account of frequency of publication of the periodicals or of the length of their articles, comparison on the basis of one year's references is too narrow to be trustworthy. Results obtained at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine for a large number of medical periodicals by marking each volume or part on the table before return to the shelves are tabulated and discussed, particularly as a check upon the personal selection of experts. Mr. Barnard directs attention to the infrequent reference to the earlier volumes of even such periodicals as Annales de VInstitut Pasteur and Zeitschrift fur Hygiene, and suggests that the compilation of similar records by all libraries co-operating in the inter-library loans system might permit recommendations on the basis of a comprehensive survey which would effect appreciable savings in postage and also in time and labour by the redistribution of certain periodicals among the participants.
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Periodicals for Medical and Scientific Libraries. Nature 143, 297 (1939). https://doi.org/10.1038/143297b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/143297b0