610 Quincy St. Ÿ Rapid City, SD 57701

605-394-4171 Ÿ www.rapidcitylibrary.org

To: RCPL Trustees

From: Bobbie Christensen, Policy Committee Chair

Date: January 31, 2005

Name of Policy: Information Resource Development Maintenance: Magazines

Recommendation: Clarification of language / expansion of information on magazines in the adult collection

Reason for Policy: The purpose of the magazine section of the Information Resource Development Maintenance policy is:

o To guide selectors in choosing which magazines the library should subscribe to

Magazine collection policy draft

Background: There are two reasons for seeking to review policy language:

1. In pursuing the development of a popular magazine collection, balance of viewpoints is based upon:

1. Differences in viewpoint appear most often in magazines marketed to adults.

2. Popular children’s and young adult magazines typically are entertainment-related, and do not take stands on issues.

2. Public libraries have mistakenly followed the lead of academic libraries in assuming that both online and paper magazine titles are used in the same way by patrons. In academic libraries, both are used for research. In public libraries, statistics suggest that online titles are used almost exclusively for research while paper copies are used recreationally.

1. The attached Ebscohost usage graph illustrates that only a few online titles appear to be searched by name of the magazine. The online version of Library Journal is searched by one RCPL librarian doing research by title of the magazine. The title with more hits, Consumer Reports, is undoubtedly searched by title of the magazine. Some of the titles with fewer hits than Library Journal may be searched by title, but Christian Science Monitor, a newspaper covering general topics with a high hit rate, are probably not searched by title of the magazine. The remaining 900+ titles in that database are most probably seldom searched by name of the magazine. Instead, they get hits from patrons doing research on a subject.

2. We know that patrons use paper copies of magazines recreationally, but we have little evidence that paper copies are used for research. Patron use of paper copies for research is a topic we are investigating.