Transcript Poster - American Library Association

Journals are more important
for research, especially in
psychology which has
science-oriented division,
e.g., brain & cognition.
Overview
While is largely assumed librarians are closely monitoring the needs of their constituencies as a
part of the collection management decision-making process, the literature reflects only a small
number of studies that focus on direct solicitation of user opinions.
For this study, a 22-question survey sent to all faculty and graduate students in a cross-section of
social science disciplines (anthropology, psychology, social work, and sociology) in 2005.
Responses from 122 individuals (32.1 % of the faculty and 13.6% of the graduate students)
provided data about book and journal use that have informed collection development priorities
and reveal shifting patterns of use in an increasingly hybrid (print and electronic) information
environment.
The survey and its results targeting assessment of user needs can serve as a model for best
practices in collection development for academic librarians interested in focusing on the needs
of particular communities of scholars.
Books are important for
teaching in all disciplines
In anthropology, it varies by subfield:
cultural anthropologists  books
biological anthropologists  journals
archaeologists  both
Research Questions:
•
•
•
•
What are the differences in book & journal use among disciplines?
How do faculty and graduate students differ in their use of the collection?
What are the prevailing collection access issues?
Can this help us manage the continued shift from print to electronic format?
Use of Books & Journals for Teaching & By Discipline
Book and Journal Use in Four Social Science Disciplines
Allison Sutton & JoAnn Jacoby, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Personal subscriptions & reprints are
less important than they were in
Stenstrom and McBride’s (1979)
study of social scientists at the same
institution.
Those who think the library is
not important report
infrequent use of its journal
collection (A).
Primary mode of
access is
electronic
(M=4.3) for most
respondents
Note the outliers, a few
psychologists use far more
books than the average.
Wide dispersion
suggests use of books
varies by subfield in
anthropology.
They are no more likely than others
to rely on personal subscriptions
(B).
But they often access journals
online (C), likely using content
licensed by the library.
Boxplot of Number of Books Checked Out by Discipline
How Respondents Get Journal Articles in Relation to
Perceived Importance of Library Collection
EBSS Research Forum, American Library Association Annual Conference, June 23, 2007
Collection Strengths in Respondent’s Research Area
Conclusions
• Faculty and graduate students in all disciplines depend heavily on library collections and, in
“Online journal collection is fantastic; this resource is almost invaluable to me.”
“Women's studies; African Studies--but generally better for anglophone than francophone Africa.”
“I generally can find everything that I need--if something isn't there, I just order it from another
library…I've always been able to get references one way or another without too much trouble”
Collection Weaknesses in Respondent’s Research Area
most cases, prefer to access materials online.
•
•
•
“Our e-journal access for psychology at UIUC journals is substantially less than UIC.”
Books are heavily used for teaching in all four disciplines surveyed, while journals are generally
more important for research, especially among the more science-oriented specializations within
anthropology and psychology. Even within these two disciplines, however, there are a large
number of scholars who rely heavily on books and monographs.
While the local collection generally has the journals needed, respondents were less likely to find
the books needed in the Library.
 In many cases, the respondents indicated that access to these materials via interlibrary loan
fulfills is sufficient. For high demand materials or those needed to support teaching, this was
not acceptable.
“We have an extremely weak collection of foreign language and non-North American resources. “
“Journals published overseas.”
The relative importance of books and journals varies among (and within) disciplines and in
accordance with the task at hand.
These findings have helped shape ongoing efforts to provide convenient access to the materials
which are most useful to local researchers and resulted in a number of specific decisions:
•
•
“health services research journals.”
“Although there are books that address parenting and pregnant teens, they were often checked
out for extended periods of time or not on the shelf. Additional copies may allow for more
productive use.”
•
•
Accelerated shift from print to online for both journals and monographs
Purchased SocINDEX Fulltext; Wiley psychology and neuroscience backfiles; Mental
Measurements Yearbook online and are curretly negotiating for PsychiatryOnline
More aggressive review of international titles that arrive via European approval plan;
relocated select foreign language serials for more convenient access
Became more actively involved in library initiatives to support health science research
Book and Journal Use in Four Social Science Disciplines
Allison Sutton & JoAnn Jacoby , University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Further Study
Literature Cited
In another paper based on results from this survey not considered here, we will explore some
additional questions of particular interest to subject specialists in the social sciences:
Stenstrom, P. & R. McBride. (1979). Serial use by social science faculty: A survey. College and
Research Libraries, 40(5):426-431
.
What are the locally-defined core journals in each discipline?
 Is there any overlap among the disciplines?
 How dispersed is the core within each discipline?
Acknowledgements
The authors wish to acknowledge the Research and Publication Committee of the University of
Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library, which provided support for the completion of this
research.
 Are there differences between faculty and graduate student core lists?
For Further Information
 Do the survey-identified titles make and adequate core journal list for the Library? Why or
why not?
Please contact Allison Sutton ([email protected]) or JoAnn Jacoby ([email protected]).
What importance do social science researchers attach to having materials by and about
classic or contemporary theorists?
 Is there any overlap among the disciplines?
 Are there differences between faculty and graduate students?
The survey instrument is available online at:
https://netfiles.uiuc.edu/jacoby/Book%26JournalUseSurvey/BookAndJournalPrintVersion.doc