College and Research Libraries


STEPHEN L. PETERSON 

Patterns of Use of Periodical Literature 
Questionnaires were distributed to a scientifically selected sample of 
graduate students in the University of Michigan querying their use 
of periodical literature in libraries. Tabulated results indicate that this 
user group utilizes periodicals heavily, that citations are most often 
sought by subject, that only one or two articles are usually read per 
library use, and that most such library users are successful in their 
search for information. 

THE AUTOMATION OF serial literature 
records now taking place in many li-
braries provides a propitious opportunity 
to enhance the information output of 
these records for the library user as well 
as for the librarian. While librarians 
generally know what information they 
require of their records, there is no cer-
tainty about the information require-
ments placed upon these same records 
by library users. This report is the re-
sult of a study to determine the pat-
terns of student use of one segment of 
serial literature, periodicals, in a research 
library system. 1 Such a definition of use 
patterns is one of the essential steps in 
developing mechanized serial records of 
value to library staff and patron alike. 

The study was conducted at the U ni-
versity of Michigan in the early spring 
of 1968. A questionnaire was mailed to 
a sample of students enrolled in the 
Horace H. Rackham School of Grad-
uate Studies of the university. 2 It con-

1 Research funds for this project were provided by 
the Xerox Corporation Graduate Fellowship in In-
formation Science, and were granted through the In-
stitute of Science and Technology of the University of 
Michigan. 

2 The details of the sampling procedure, as well as 
the design of the questionnaire, were developed in 
consultation with staff members of the Institute for 
Social Research of the University of Michigan. 

Mr. Peterson w Head of the Order and 
Receiving Department in the ]oint Univer-
sity Libraries, Nashville. 

422 I 

tained seven basic questions, of which 
three had one or more subquestions. 
Most of the questions were constructed 
to elicit responses based upon the last 
time the student had actually used pe-
riodical literature in a library of the 
university. 3 Of the 399 questionnaires 
that were mailed, 338, or 85 per cent, 
were returned and capable of tabula-
tion. 

TABULATION AND ANALYSIS 
OF QUESTIONNAIRES 

Question 1. "How often do you use 
libraries of the University of Michigan?" 

TABLE 1 

Almost never . 
A few times a term 
About once a month 
Once in two or three weeks 
About once a week . 
Almost every day 
Other 

3% 
8% 
4% 
7% 

31% 
40% 
7% 

N = 338 

Every respondent who marked "Oth-
er" specified library use of at least once 
a week. Including this 7 per cent, it 
must be noted that 78 per cent of the 
students indicated library use about once 
a week. 

3 Periodical literature is defined in a note following 
Question 1 of the Questionnaire (see pages 428-9) . 
The definition is arbitrary and was used only to estab-
lish a common understanding of periodical literature 
for the purposes of this particular study. 



Patterns of Use of Periodical Literature I 423 

Question 2. "When did you last use 
periodical literature of a University li-
brary?" 

TABLE 2 

Two or three days ago . 
About a week ago . . 
Two to three weeks ago 
About a month ago . 
More than a month ago 
Have not used this term 

41 % 
20% 
11% 
6% 
6% 

. 16% 
N = 338 

The questionnaire was mailed at such 
a time as to reflect extensive library use 
in the given term. The 54 respondents 
( 16 per cent) who indicated that they 
had not used periodical literature in a 
University library in the term were not 
required to complete the questionnaire. 
Of all respondents ( 338), 61 per cent 
used periodical literature about once a 
week. Of those who reported use of 
periodical literature in the given term 
( 284), however, the percentage of 
weekly users climbed to 72 per cent. 

libraries of the University of Michigan 
listed on the questionnaire, or to write 
in a library that was not included on 
the list. For present purposes, all of the 
libraries designated in one way or 
another have been classified according 
to the administrative organization of 
the University of Michigan Libraries 
(Spring 1968). 

TABLE 3 

Medical Science Libraries 36 13% 
Science Libraries . . 64 22.5% 
Non-Science Libraries . 62 21.5% 
Undergraduate Library 18 6% 
General (Graduate) Library 104 37% 

N = 284 

Having determined what libraries were 
used by the respondents, it was then 
possible to return to Question 2 and 
consider the frequency of periodical lit-
erature use in each of the groups of li-
braries (Table 4). / 

Question 4. A. Location and Age of 
Periodical Literature Used. 

TABLE 4 

Medical Non- Under-
Sciences Sciences Sciences graduate G en eral 

Two or three days ago 69% 61 % 42% 22% 41% 
About a week ago 8% 19% 28% 22% 30% 
Two to three weeks ago 14% 6% 15% 28% 14% 
About a month ago 3% 3% 9% 3% 9% 
More than a month ago 6% 11% 6% 11% 6% 

N = 36 N = 64 N = 62 N = 18 N = 104 

Of the 264 users who indicated they 
visited a University library about once 
a week, and of the 204 respondents who 
used periodical literature .about once a 
week, 190 indicated use of a library and 
use of periodical literature in that period 
of time. This represents 56 per cent of 
all library users, and fully 67 per cent 
of all users of periodical literature in the 
given term. 

Question 3. "Check the University li-
brary which you last visited to use peri-
odical literature." 

The respondents were asked either to 
check one of the twenty-three principal 

The students were asked whether they 
had read current (i.e., less than one. 
year old) or non-current (i.e. , more than 
one year old) literature, and whether 
this material had been in a reserve read-
ing collection. 

TABLE 5 

Reserve reading 
Current literature . 
Non-current literature . 
Both current and non-current 

literature 
No response 

14% 
29% 
35% 

16% 
6% 

N = 284 



424 I College & Research Libraries • September 1969 

The division of these results by type 
of library (Table 6) reveals about what 
might be expected. Current periodical 
literature is used more in the medical 
and science libraries, while non-current 
periodical literature shows substantial 
use in the general library. 

rent periodical literature, however, 60 
per cent stated that they were using this 
material specifically for research pur-
poses. 

Question 5. "How many articles did 
you read in the last periodical you used 
in a University library?"4 

TABLE 6 

Medical Non- Under-
Sciences Sciences Sciences graduate General 

Reserve reading 3% 8% 13% 22% 20% 
Current literature 42% 30% 31 % 17% 25% 
Non-current literature 33% 31% 24% 33% 45% 
Both current and non -current literature 14% 25% 19% 22% 10% 
No response 8% 6% 13% 6% 

N = 36 N = 64 N = 62 N = 18 N = 104 

Question 4. B. Purpose for Which Pe-
riodical Literature Was Used. 

TABLE 7 

General/professional r eading 
Research reading 
Both general/professional and research 
No respons e 

20% 
65% 

7% 
8% 

N = 284 

When these returns are considered by 
type of library, the p ercentages are as 
shown in Table 8. 

One 
Two 
Several 
Most 
All 
Other 
No res pon se 

TABLE 9 

53% 
17% 
24% 

4% 
0.3% 

1% 
0.7% 

N=284 

Three students marked "Other." Of 
these, two indicated that they had 
skimmed the periodical. One said that 

TABLE 8 

General/professional reading . 
Research reading 
Both general/professional and research 
No response 

Of the 57 respondents ( 20 per cent, 
Table 7) who indicated that they were 
doing general/ professional reading, 32 
also indicated that they were reading 
current periodical literature. It might 
have been expected that general read-
ing was being done in the most recent 
literature. Of all students reading cur-

Science and 
Medical Libraries 

15% 
71% 

7% 
7 % 

N = 100 

All other 
Libraries 

23% 
63% 
7% 
7% 

N = 184 

he had read none of the articles. There 
did not seem to be any significant vari-
ation in the responses to this question 
among the users of the various groups 
of libraries. 

4 "Article" was d efined in the questionnaire to in-
clude book reviews. See note following Question 3. 



Patterns of Use of Periodical Literature I 425 

TABLE 10 

NuMBER OF ARTICLES READ/PuRPOSE FOR WHicH PERIODICAL WAs UsED 

General / No 
professional Research Both response 

One 17% 70% 3% 10% N = 150 
Two 27% 61% 8% 4% N = 49 
Several 22% 63% 12% 3% N = 67 
Most 25% 42% 25% 8% N = 12 
All (insufficient responses) N = 1 
Other (insufficient responses ) N = 3 
No response . (insufficient responses) N = 2 

N=57 N = 186 N = 20 N = 21 

TABLE 11 

NuMBER OF ARTICLES READ/LocATION AND AcE OF PERIODICAL 

Reserve Current Non-current Both No response 

One 18% 25% 38% 14% 5% N = 150 
Two 10% 31% 37% 18% 4% N = 49 
Several 4% 36% 33% 20% 7% N = 67 
Most 25% 17% 17% 33% 8% N = 12 
All (insufficient responses) N = 1 
Other (insufficient responses) N = 3 
No response (insufficient responses ) N = 2 

N = 39 N = 82 

Question 6. Means Used to Determine 
What Article ( s) to Read. 

TABLE 12 

Had precise reference to article already 49.3% 
Did not have precise reference already 50.0% 
No response . 0.7% 

N=284 

Twenty-nine (21 per cent) of the 140 
students who indicated, .as shown in Ta-
ble 12, that they already had the pre-
cise citation to the article they wished 
to read also noted that they were read-
ing material in a reserve reading col-
lection. 

Exactly 50 per cent ( 142) of the re-
spondents noted that, prior to using the 
library resources, they did not have the 
accurate reference to the material they 
wished to read. Table 13 shows the 
means by which these users located the 
article ( s) they needed. 

Of all the respondents surveyed, only 
50 ( 35 per cent, Table 13) neither had 
the precise reference to the article ( s ) 

N = 100 N = 47 N = 16 

TABLE 13 

Used an index 44% 
Used an abstract . . 13% 
Used both an index and an abstract 8% 
Did not use either an index or an 

abstract 35% 
N =·142 

they wished to read nor found that ci-
tation by using an indexing or abstract-
ing service of the library. These 50 stu-
dents represent 18 per cent of the total 
respondents ( 284). Table 14 gives a 
closer look at this 18 per cent. 

TABLE 145 

Consulted periodicals by 
publishing society . . 

Consulted p eriodicals by subject 
Consulted periodicals by 

country of publication . 
Consulted periodicals by 

language of publication 
Consulted periodicals by 

period of publication . 

18% 
86% 

4% 

8% 
N = 50 

5 It was possible to check more than one category in 
Question 6. 



426 I College & Research Libraries • September 1969 

The ninety-two students who did not 
have the precise reference to the ma-
terial they wished to read prior to using 

TABLE 15 

Consulted periodicals by 
publishing society . 

Consulted periodicals by subject 
Consulted periodicals by 

country of publication 
Consulted periodicals by 

language of publication 
Consulted periodicals by 

period of publication 
No response 

15% 
65% 

4% 

2% 

14% 
14% 

N=92 

the library, but who determined that 
reference by using bibliographical tools 
of the library, showed a similar pattern 
in their approach to periodicals, as dem-
onstrated in Table 15. 

Tables 16-18 further describe the pat-
terns of use of the fifty respondents 
who neither had the needed reference 
nor used an index or abstract, .and con-
trast these findings with the use pat-
terns of the other two groups, i.e ., those 
who already had the reference, and those 
who used an index and/ or abstract to 
determine the reference. 

TABLE 16 

LOCATION AND AGE OF PERIODICAL LITERATURE USED 

No Had Used index 
reference r eference or abstract 

R eserve reading 6 % 21 % 8% 
Current literature 52% 17% 34% 
Non-current literature 26% 41% 31% 
Both current and non-current lite rature 10% 17% 19% 
No response 6-% 4% 8% 

N = 50 N = 140 N = 92 

TABLE 17 

PURPOSE FOR WHICH PERIODICAL LITERATURE WAS USED 

No Had Used index 
reference r e fe rence or abstract 

G eneral/professional reading 38% 13% 21 % 
Research reading 44% 69% 71 % 
Both general/professional 

and research reading 8 % 9% 4% 
No response 10% 9% 4 % 

N = 50 N = 140 N = 92 

TABLE 18 

NuMBER OF ARTICLES READ 

No Had Used index 
reference reference or abstract 

One 32% 61 % 51 % 
Two 16% 19% 15% 
Several 38% 14% 31% 
Most 10% 4 % 2% 
All 1% 
Other 4 % 0.7% 
No response 1.3% 

N = 50 N = 140 N = 92 



Patterns of Use of Periodical Literature I 427 

Question 7. Success in Finding Peri-
odical Literature. 

TABLE 19 

Respondents who found the article 
for which they were looking . 80.3% 

Respondents who did not find the article 
for which they were looking . 16.9% 

No response 2.8% 
N = 284 

Respondents who indicated that they 
were unable to find the article or the 
periodical for which they were looking 
were asked what information r egarding 
the material they were able to find. Ta-
ble 20 shows the results. 

TABLE 20 

Periodical was in the library being used, 
but was unavailable 

P eriodical was in another library 
Periodical was not in any library 

of the University 
Other information 
No information 
No response 

44% 
17% 

19% 
10% 
8% 
2% 

N=48 

Seventy-three per cent of those stu-
dents who did -not find the periodical 
for which they were looking were 
searching for a non-current publication. 
Forty-four per cent of these respondents 
had the precise reference to the article 
they wished to consult, and fully 67 per 
cent of these students indicated that they 
used periodical literature in a University 
library at least once a week. 

SuMMARY 

The purpose of this project was to de-
fine the patterns of use of periodicallit-
terature as demonstrated by graduate 
students working in a research library 
system. Patterns, even when based upon 
measured responses to actual incidents 
of use, primarily serve as guides and, as 
such, only indicate general trends. The 
following patterns are those which are 
clearly evident from the results of this 
study. 

I 
Periodical literature receives substan-

tial use. Eighty-four per cent of the stu-
dents surveyed indicated use of period-
ical literature in the given school term. 
Sixty per cent indicated use of periodi-
cal literature at least once a week. More-
over, periodical literature is heavily used 
by the students who are the most fre-
quent and steady patrons of University 
libraries. Thus, the significance of peri-
odical literature for graduate students is 
demonstrated on both an absolute and a 
proportional scale of use. 

Periodical literature seems no less im-
portant for nonscience libraries than it 
is for the libraries related to the several 
sciences. The respondents who indicated 
that they used periodical literature at 
least once a week encompass 79 per cent 
of all users of science libraries, and 68 
per cent of all users of nonscience li-
braries. 

II 
The subject approach to periodical 

literature is the dominant approach used 
by graduate students. This is true for the 
students who did not have the precise 
reference to the article they wished to 
read, as well as for the students who 
located the reference to their needed 
article through an index or abstracting 
service. The preference for the subject 
approach was so strong it would indi-
cate that other indexing schemes, e.g., 
indexing by publishing society, language, 
period, country, etc., ought to be em-
ployed only in the most rare and spe-
cialized instances. 6 

6 Of course, student prefere nce for the s ubject ap-
proach may be due to the fact that little service is 
presently offered through other bibliographical avenues. 
Further conclusions abou t these other approaches 
should be made only after our library p a trons have 
had considerable experience using th ese other means. 
See G. A. Miller, "Measuring User Needs and Prefer-
ences," Intrex R eport of a Planning Conference on 
Information Transfer Experim ents (Cambridge: MIT 
Press, 1965) , p. 56. 



428 I College & R esearch Libraries • September 1969 

QUESTIONNAIRE 

1. How often do you use libraries of the University of Niichigan? 

( ) Almost never 
( ) A few times a term 
( ) About once a month 
( ) Once in 2 to 3 weeks 

) About once a week 
) Almost every day 
) Other ( specify) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 

N.B. PERIODICAL LITERATURE in the following questions refers to publica-
tions issued at more or less regular intervals. These publications usually contain 
articles by several contributors. PERIODICAL LITERATURE includes magazines, 
journals, annual reports, and society proceedings and transactions. EXCLUDED 
~re n ewspapers and government documents. 

2. When did you LAST use periodical literature of a University library? 

( ) Two or three days ago 
( ) About a week ago 
( ) About two or three weeks ago 
( ) About a month ago 
( ) More than a month ago 
( ) Have not used periodical literature of a University library this term 

If you have not used periodical literature of a University library this term, you 
need not answer the remaining questions. Please return this questionnaire in the en-
closed envelope. 

3. Check the University library which you LAST visited to use periodical literature. 

( 
( 
( 
( 

Architecture 
Asia (in General Lib.) 
Business Administration 
Bureau of Government (in 
basement of Rackham Bldg.) 
Chemistry-Pharmacy 
Dentistry 
Education (in Undergraduate) 
Engineering-Transportation 
(in Undergraduate) 
Fine Arts 
Institute of Science and 
Technology 

( ) General 
( ) Law 
( ) Library Science 
( ) Mathematics 
( ) Medical Center 
( ) Mental Health Research 
( ) Music 
( ) Natural Sciences-Natural Resources 
( ) Phoenix 
( ) Physics-Astronomy 
( ) Public Health 
( ) Social W ark 
( ) Undergraduate 
( ) Other ( specify) . . . . . . . . . . . . ..... 

N.B. ARTICLES in the following questions include book reviews. 



Patterns of Use of Periodical Literature I 429 

4. When you LAST visited a University library to use periodical literature, were 
you looking for 

A. ( ) Periodical literature in a reserve r eading collection? 
( ) Current periodical literature (one year old or less)? 
( ) Non-current periodical literature (more than one year old)? 

B. ( ) Articles of a general professional or informative nature? 
( ) Articles for some definite research or scholarly use? 

5. How many articles did you read in the LAST PERIODICAL you used in a Uni-
versity library? 

) One, ( ) Two, ( ) Several, ( ) Most, ( ) All, ( ) Other ...... . 

6. When you LAST visited a University library to use periodical literature, which 
of the following approaches did you use to determine what article ( s) you wished 
to read? 

) Consulted periodicals published by a society in which I am a member or 
interested. 
Consulted periodicals in my subject field. 
Consulted periodicals published in the country of my interest. 
Consulted periodicals published in the language of my interest. 
Consulted periodicals published in the chronological period of my interest. 

If you checked ANY of the above, did you at any time use the table of contents or 
the index of the periodical? ( ) Yes, ( ) No. 

) Consulted one or more general index (indexing several periodicals). 
) Consulted one or more abstracting periodicals. 
) Already had the reference from some other source. 
) Other ( specify) ........ . .................... . 

7. When you LAST visited a University library to use periodical literature, were 
you able to find the periodical for which you were looking in the library you were 
using? ( ) Yes, ( ) No. 

If NO, what information about the periodical you wished to use were you able to 
find out? (check all that apply). 

It was in the library I was using, but was not available. 
It was not in the library I was using, but was in some other library of the 
University. 
It was not available in any University library. 
No information. 
Other information (specify) ........................... . 

In the space below, please add any additional comments about library service of 
the University as you have found it in relation to p eriodical literature. 

Thank you . 



430 I College & Research Libraries • September 1969 

III 
The majority of users of periodical lit-

erature read only one article, and 70 per 
cent of the respondents read not more 
than two articles. What is more, 70 per 
cent of those who read one article and 
61 per cent of those who read two ar-
ticles were using periodical literature for 
research purposes. These results would 
indicate that indexing or otherwise con-
trolling periodicals by broad categories 
will not be of substantial help to most 
users. Periodical literature is generally 
consulted for rather specific purposes, 
and specific articles .are usually read. 

The students who read only one or 
two articles in a given periodical showed 
some preference for non-current num-
bers. Among graduate students reading 
one article, thirteen percentage points 
separate the users of current literature 
from the users of non-current periodi-
cal literature. Only six percentage points 
separate the same users among those 
students reading two articles . If noth-
ing else, this evidence should encourage 
librarians to reduce the time lag from 
the appearance of periodical literature 
to the appearance of the several index-
es. 

IV 
The overwhelming number of library 

users among graduate students approach 
the use of periodical literature well pre-
pared to find the article which they 

need. Nearly half of the respondents al-
ready had the precise reference to the 
article they needed before they began 
to use library materials and aids. 

Sixty-five per cent of the respondents 
who did not have the reference prior to 
using the library indicated that they 
found the needed reference in the .avail-
able indexes and abstracting services. 
This is an encouraging report. It dem-
onstrates that if collections of periodical 
literature were evenly and adequately 
indexed and if these indexes were up 
to date, many library users would be 
quite self-sufficient in their approach to 
this literature. 

Of course, this does not consider the 
question of whether or not the informa-
tion needs of these students would 
have been better met by that bulk of 
periodical literature, found in every li-
brary, which is neither indexed nor ab-
stracted. Yet the evidence shows that 
efforts to increase and .accelerate index-
ing services are proper and rewarding 
endeavors. 

Only eleven respondents indicated 
that, at the end of their search for a 
periodical article, they had found neither 
the article nor any .appreciable informa-
tion regarding it. This is equal to less 
than 1 per cent of the total respondents , 
and indicates a very large number of 
satisfied users of periodical literature. 

••