Serials overlap in the higher education institution libraries in Glasgow

• Published in: The new review of academic librarianship 1997-01, Vol.3 (1), p.115-138
• Main Authors: German, Richard N., Kidd, Tony, Pratt, Gordon
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Academic libraries; Collection management; Exact sciences and technology; Glasgow; Higher education; Information and communication sciences; Information science. Documentation; Information service management; Library and documentation centre management; Library materials; Overlap; Periodicals; Sciences and techniques of general use; Scotland; Serials
• ISSN: 1361-4533; 1740-7834
• DOI: 10.1080/13614539709516756

This paper describes the results of a serials overlap study among the higher education institution libraries in the greater Glasgow area, which includes four university libraries. Were overlap to be significant, it was anticipated that there would be considerable scope for rationalisation of holdings among the libraries. Serials holdings, obtained in electronic format from each library, were matched by ISSN or title, and amalgamated into a single database by the processing agency. Of the 12,903 individual serials titles identified, 78.4% represent unique holdings. Across the twelve libraries, overlap ranged from 0% to 64.8%, with an average of 12.8%. Among the four university libraries, overlap ranged from 7.8% to 50.4%, with an average of 26.1%. This degree of overlap was less than had been anticipated, but was consistent with findings from earlier, monograph studies.