College and Research Libraries


By L . H E R M A N S M I T H and M R S . E L E A N O R H . H I D D E N 

Selection and Organisation 
of Periodicals in the 
Junior College Library 

Mr. Smith is librarian and Mrs. Hidden 

reference librarian, Pasadena (Calif.), Pub-

lic Schools. 

WHICH periodicals are best suited to the needs of j u n i o r college s t u d e n t s ? 
Should these periodicals be bound or re-
tained u n b o u n d ? H o w extensive a file of 
back issues should be r e t a i n e d ? In an effort 
t o answer these and other related questions, 
an investigation was recently u n d e r t a k e n in 
the j u n i o r colleges of C a l i f o r n i a in the hope 
that the results w o u l d be w o r t h while and 
of some practical value to j u n i o r college 
librarians in helping to solve their problems 
w i t h regard to periodicals. T h i s study, com-
bined w i t h others t h a t have been or may be 
made t h r o u g h o u t the U n i t e d States, 1 may 
help in f o r m u l a t i n g a scale f o r evaluating 
periodicals f o r j u n i o r colleges and also help 
librarians to adopt certain policies, par-
ticularly affecting binding and storage of 
back issues. 

Colleges Investigated 

Fifty-six j u n i o r college libraries in the 
1 Dillman, Pauline I. "Magazines in the Junior Col-

lege Library." Junior College Journal, 4:227-31, Feb-
ruary 1934- Principles which should be used in select-
ing periodicals for the junior college and a list of an-
notated periodicals which may be helpful; 

Adams, H. M. "Periodicals in the Junior College 
Library." Junior College Journal, 10:144-46, Novem-
ber 1939. A survey of actual practices in the selection 
and handling of periodicals in 136 junior college li-
braries throughout the United States; 

Eells, W. C. "Periodicals Read by Junior College 
Students." Library Quarterly, 12:474-85, July 1942. 
Results of a questionnaire submitted to 13,498 students 
in 55 junior colleges located in 22 states as to the 
periodicals they read frequently and the ones they en-
joyed most. 

state of C a l i f o r n i a w e r e invited to parti-
cipate in this investigation. E v e n i n g col-
leges and libraries serving a state college as 
well as the j u n i o r college were omitted. 

O f the 4 0 responses received, one j u n i o r 
college has no library but uses the facilities 
of the high school and public libraries to 
accommodate its students. Of the remain-
ing 39> 35 are public j u n i o r colleges and 
f o u r are private. 

Procedure 

P a r t of this survey may be considered an 
inventory of the periodical resources in the 
j u n i o r college libraries p a r t i c i p a t i n g in the 
study. A c t u a l subscriptions and holdings, 
bound and u n b o u n d , w o u l d in themselves 
constitute some evaluation. 

Besides listing actual subscriptions, li-
brarians were asked to evaluate periodicals 
received, and also to state certain policies as 
to h a n d l i n g of subscriptions, housing of 
periodicals and duplication. 

T h e questionnaire consisted of a list of 
the m o r e common periodicals, w i t h space 
provided for additions. T h e librarians 
w e r e asked to indicate the n u m b e r of cop-
ies c u r r e n t l y received, holdings, titles bound 
and titles retained u n b o u n d . T h e librari-
ans w e r e also asked to indicate their opinions 
as to the value of the various periodicals in 
their libraries, w h e t h e r essential, occasion-
ally used, or u n i m p o r t a n t . T h e w o r d "es-
s e n t i a l " w a s used in a broad sense, including 
those magazines which are bought because 

OCTOBER, 1951 
32 7 



they a r e p o p u l a r w i t h t h e s t u d e n t s a n d those 
wrhich a r e considered essential by t h e li-
b r a r i a n and t e a c h e r s because of t h e i r e d u -
c a t i o n a l v a l u e or u s e f u l n e s s f o r a n y o t h e r 
purposes, such as l i b r a r y tools. A s w a s to 
be expected, this section b r o u g h t m o r e 
q u a l i f y i n g r e m a r k s a n d c o m m e n t s t h a n a n y 
o t h e r p a r t of t h e q u e s t i o n n a i r e . Some li-
b r a r i a n s l e f t this section o u t e n t i r e l y . 

Number of Periodicals Received 

T h e highest n u m b e r of periodicals sub-
scribed to by a n y college w a s 3 5 2 ; t h e l o w -
est 2 8 . T h e college receiving only 2 8 peri-
odicals is a s m a l l one, a c o m b i n a t i o n high 
school a n d j u n i o r college. T h e l i b r a r i a n 
s t a t e d t h a t t h e b u d g e t is t o be increased n e x t 
year a n d t h a t the m a g a z i n e s u b s c r i p t i o n list 
w i l l be t r i p l e d . 

A l m o s t 75 per cent of t h e r e p o r t i n g pub-
lic j u n i o r college l i b r a r i e s receive m o r e t h a n 
100 periodicals. A c t u a l l y t h e r e a r e m o r e in 
this g r o u p because some colleges still p e r m i t 
d e p a r t m e n t s t o o r d e r t h e i r o w n periodicals 
a n d r e c o r d s of these do n o t s h o w u p on the 
l i b r a r y files. O v e r 2 5 p e r cent of t h e j u n -
ior colleges receive m o r e t h a n 2 0 0 periodi-
cals. T w o - t h i r d s of t h e colleges receive 
b e t w e e n 5 0 a n d 2 0 0 periodicals. 

Titles of Periodicals Received 

A s w a s f o u n d by A d a m s 2 in his investiga-
tion of 136 j u n i o r college l i b r a r i e s t h r o u g h -
o u t t h e U n i t e d States, t h e n u m b e r of d i f f e r -
e n t titles of periodicals received by all of 
t h e r e p o r t i n g j u n i o r colleges w a s l a r g e — 
1167. A d a m s f o u n d , h o w e v e r , t h a t 4 7 . 3 
per c e n t of t h e t i t l e s w e r e received by b u t 
a single i n s t i t u t i o n . I n t h i s s u r v e y it w a s 
f o u n d t h a t 5 3 9 titles ( 4 6 . 2 p e r c e n t ) w e r e 
received by b u t a single school, a n d an a d d i -
t i o n a l 186 titles w e r e received by only t w o 
schools. T h e r e f o r e , a l t h o u g h t h e n u m b e r 
of d i f f e r e n t titles is l a r g e , o v e r half ( 6 2 . 1 

2 A d a m s , H . M . The Junior College Library Pro-
gram. Chicago, ALA, 1940. 

per c e n t ) w e r e t a k e n by only one or t w o 
schools. A n a d d i t i o n a l 9 6 titles w e r e t a k e n 
by only t h r e e of t h e r e p o r t i n g j u n i o r col-
leges. T h e s e m a g a z i n e s w o u l d m e e t t h e 
needs of t h e single s t u d e n t or g r o u p s of 
s t u d e n t s d e p e n d i n g on taste a n d c u r r i c u l u m 
needs. E e l l s 3 r e p o r t e d t h a t a l t h o u g h t w o -
t h i r d s of t h e m a g a z i n e r e a d i n g of j u n i o r 
college s t u d e n t s w a s i n c l u d e d in eight pe-
riodicals, t h e r e w e r e 4 5 3 d i f f e r e n t periodi-
cals r e p o r t e d as being r e a d f r e q u e n t l y or 
e n j o y e d a n d v a l u e d , even t h o u g h by b u t a 
single s t u d e n t in m a n y instances. T h e 
p u r c h a s e of these periodicals w o u l d seem 
j u s t i f i a b l e since it is t h e p u r p o s e of t h e 
l i b r a r y t o c a t e r t o t h e needs of l e a d e r s a n d 
special g r o u p s of s t u d e n t s as w e l l as to t h e 
mass of s t u d e n t s . H o w e v e r , a l i b r a r i a n 
s h o u l d e v a l u a t e c a r e f u l l y a m a g a z i n e of 
w h i c h he is t h e sole subscriber of t h e g r o u p , 
f o r the m o n e y m a y be used t o b e t t e r ad-
v a n t a g e some place else. 

T h e r e w e r e only t w o periodicals sub-
scribed t o by 1 0 0 per c e n t of t h e r e p o r t i n g 
j u n i o r colleges—National Geographic 
Magazine a n d t h e Reader's Digest. Time 

a n d t h e Readers' Guide to Periodical Lit-

erature ( o n e c o m b i n a t i o n high school a n d 
j u n i o r college t a k i n g t h e a b r i d g e d e d i t i o n ) 
w e r e received by 38 (97.5 p e r c e n t ) of t h e 
l i b r a r i e s . 

Holdings 

I n c o n t r a s t to t h e f i n d i n g s of A d a m s 4 a n d 
B i s h o p 5 d u r i n g t h e 1930's, t h e t e n d e n c y in 
j u n i o r colleges n o w is to store back issues 
of m a n y periodicals. 

T h e r e w e r e six schools w h i c h did n o t 
list h o l d i n g s . F o u r of t h e m s t a t e d n o rea-
son f o r t h e omission, so it is n o t k n o w n 
w h e t h e r they had n o h o l d i n g s of back issues, 
or simply h a d n o r e c o r d of h o l d i n g s . A n -
o t h e r school s t a t e d t h a t t h e l i s t i n g of h o l d -

3 Eells, op. cit. 
4 Adams, op.cit. 
5 Bishop, W. W. "Library Service in the Junior 

C o l l e g e . " Junior College Journal, 5 : 4 5 6 - 6 1 , M a y 1 9 3 5 . 

344 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES 



ings w a s omitted because its list w a s not 

accurate and a check w a s being made. T h e 

other college is newly-established, and al-

t h o u g h it has most of the m a g a z i n e s to 

w h i c h it has subscribed, the librarian has not 

yet established a policy c o n c e r n i n g storage 

and b i n d i n g of periodicals. 

A f e w colleges h a v e no record of the 

holdings of periodicals w h i c h are sent di-

rectly to the departments a f t e r being 

checked in by the librarian. In those in-

stances, w h e r e the d e p a r t m e n t a l subscrip-

tions are handled directly t h r o u g h the busi-

ness office, the l i b r a r y usually has no record 

of the holdings. A l t h o u g h the j u n i o r col-

lege is r e c e i v i n g and perhaps keeping back 

issues, these periodicals are lost so f a r as 

this investigation is concerned. 

T h e r e seems to be enough data to s h o w 

that the trend is definitely t o w a r d storage 

of back issues, so m u c h so t h a t some li-

brarians and educators may feel that some 

j u d i c i o u s w e e d i n g should be done. 

T h e holdings of back issues of the various 

periodicals received by more than 20 ( 5 1 . 3 

per c e n t ) of the r e p o r t i n g libraries are 

s h o w n in a c o m p a r a t i v e table w h i c h may be 

obtained f r o m the authors of this article. 

Binding of Periodicals 

M a n y librarians expressed a desire f o r 

help in f o r m u l a t i n g policies in regard to 

binding. T h e r e is the problem of w h e t h e r 

to use available money f o r the purchase of 

more titles or to use it f o r binding. S t u d y 

of the use of v a r i o u s periodicals, c u r r e n t and 

back issues, w o u l d be needed to determine 

w h a t periodicals to bind. T h e s e figures, 

h o w e v e r , are not usually available. 

T h e greatest number of titles reported 

bound by at least one school w a s 2 6 5 . T h e 

greatest number of periodicals reported to 

be bound by any one school w a s 192. T h i s 

w a s also the largest per cent of periodicals 

bound by any one c o l l e g e — 5 5 per cent. 

T h e r e w a s a great v a r i a t i o n in the 

a m o u n t of binding, the range being f r o m o 

to 55 per cent of c u r r e n t subscriptions. 

O n l y three schools bind over 50 per cent 

or more of periodicals. A b o u t 71 per cent 

of the colleges bind f r o m 1 0 to 40 per cent 

of periodicals received. 

Handling of Subscriptions 

T h e r e is a definite trend t o w a r d assump-

tion of complete l i b r a r y c o n t r o l over peri-

odical subscriptions f o r the entire j u n i o r col-

lege. T w e n t y - e i g h t of the colleges indi-

cated complete charge of m a g a z i n e sub-

scriptions f o r all departments of the school. 

T h i s amounted to 7 1 . 8 per cent of the col-

leges polled. T w o of the libraries reported 

almost complete control, l a c k i n g supervision 

of periodical subscriptions in o n l y one or 

t w o departments. O n e college reported 

maintenance of a complete record of all 

issues received by the school, a l t h o u g h the 

h a n d l i n g of the subscriptions w a s under the 

c o n t r o l of the business office. A n o t h e r li-

brary reported t h a t it is to assume f u l l con-

t r o l in the near f u t u r e , w i t h each department 

n o w h a n d l i n g its o w n subscriptions. 

Evaluation 

A s aforementioned, some librarians 

omitted the section on e v a l u a t i o n ; others 

stated t h a t they w o u l d not subscribe to a 

m a g a z i n e if they did not think it w o r t h 

w h i l e ; w h i l e still others f e l t that they had 

not subscribed to certain periodicals l o n g 

enough to j u d g e them. 

In order to have some concrete figures on 

w h i c h to make comparisons, the v a l u e s of 

3, 2 and 1 w e r e g i v e n to " e s s e n t i a l , " "occa-

sionally u s e d , " and " u n i m p o r t a n t " respec-

tively. I n the c o m p a r a t i v e table are listed 

the n u m b e r of librarians e v a l u a t i n g the 

various periodicals received by more than 

20 colleges. R a t e d as essential by at least 

20 colleges w e r e 21 titles. 

OCTOBER, 1951 
32 7