Librarians’ Reactions to Non-Conventional Publishing Methods

Abstract

A survey, by structured interviewing, was made of 46 librarians in the academic, public, research and industrial sectors to ascertain both the degree of difficulty induced by current economic trends and their responses to the use of non-conventional publishing methods which appear probable due to economic, social and technical pressures

The responses showed that library bookfunds in general are not keeping pace with inflation, but they are not falling behind as badly as feared.

Alternative publishing methods are not as acceptable as conventional paper publications largely because of user problems and increased processing requirements in libraries.

Nevertheless if sufficient cost advantages can be introduced for non-conventional methods, these could become preferable for certain types of material. Experiences with interlibrary lending and microfiche repositories show how library resources can be extended and made more responsive to user needs by the selective adoption of new methods of information dissemination.