Academic

 A 1970 study of photocopying at the University of Toronto Library (Canada) (photocopies are made by library staff rather than by patrons) during a 2-week period and involving 1,768 items (21,483 pages) showed that, of the pages copied, 11% were from Canadian publications, 45% from U.S. publications, 17% from British publications, and 26% from “other” publications.    (Source)

         Ibid…. showed that372 (21.0%) of the items photocopied were monographs; 1,334 (75.5%) were serials; 53 (3%) were government publications; 8 (0.5%) were theses; and 1 was “other.”                   (Source)

         Ibid…. showed thatthe numbers of items photocopied per publisher were as follows:

                1 item per publisher               909 (51.32%) items

                2-5 items per publisher          450 (25.45%) items

                6+ items per publisher            409 (23.13%) items

 Further, in only 3 cases out of 1,768 was the same article photocopied more than once; in 2 cases the article was copied twice; and in 1 case the article was copied 7 times.                   (Source)

         Ibid…. showed that, of 1,612 items for which the date of publication was known, the distribution was as follows:

                published after 1900             96.5% of total

                published after 1950             77.0% of total

                published after 1960             56.0% of total

                published after 1965             37.0% of total

                published after 1969             14.3% of total                       (Source)

        Ibid…. showed thatphotocopies distributed by patron type were as follows:

                other libraries                           592 (33.48%) of total

                graduate students                     452 (25.57%) of total

                undergraduate students            390 (22.06%) of total

                faculty                                        154 (8.71%) of total

                general public                              79 (4.47%) of total

l               library-collection                          53 (2.99%) of total

                library-staff                                  48 (2.72%) of total                     (Source)

         Ibid…. showed that32% of the photocopied items were available at some time through a Canadian agency (i.e., a Canadian publisher or vendor); 12.7% of the photocopied items were Canadian titles; and 0.6% of the photocopied items were Canadian in-print books.              (Source)

A study reported in 1980 at the Health Sciences Library of the University of California, San Francisco, over a 21-week period in 1979 to determine the effects of limiting journal circulation showed that,when a 5-year backfile of all first-copy journals was made non-circulating, the average weekly circulation dropped 40.8% (from 2,971 items per week to 1,759 items per week), while the average in-house copying increased 135.7% (from 1,938 article equivalents, i.e., total copying divided by 8.5, to 4,567 article equivalents).                  (Source)

 Special

 A study reported in 1980 at the Health Sciences Library of the University of California, San Franscisco, over a 21-week period in 1979 to determine the effects of limiting journal circulation showed that, when a 5-year backfile of all first-copy journals was made noncirculating, the average weekly circulation dropped 40.8% (from 2,971 items per week to 1,759 items per week), while the average in-house copying increased 135.7% (from 1,938 article equivalents, i.e., total copying divided by 8.5, to 4,567 article equivalents).                  (Source)

Dr. David Kohl

 "Libraries in the digital age are experiencing the most profound transformation since ancient Mesopotamian scribes first began gathering and organizing cuneiform tablets."

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