Annals of Library Science and Documentation

"

1990,37(1),1-19

DUPLICATION OF PERIODICALS IN SELECTED LIBRARIES OF HYDERABAD - AN ANALYSIS ERAMA REDDY K NAGARAJA RAO Md BURHANUDDIN University of Hyderabad Hyderabad-500 134

Paper analyses the duplication of periodical titles subscribed in Hyderabad, with the help of the 'Union List of Current Serials in Hyderabad 1989'. The duplication is analysed for Hyderab ad by subject and geographical location. The duplication of periodicals costing more than Rs. 10, 000 is also analysed amongst selected libraries. Sets out the reasons to subscribe a periodical and suggests the creation of a nodal agency for effective cooperation amongst the libraries. INTRODUCTION The information explosion, the increase in the number of periodicals and specialisations, the rise in the costs of printing and distribu tion, the constant growth in the exchange rates and inflation, and the shrinking library hudgets are putting a lot of hinderance in providing the required information to the users. In the event of such crisis inter-library co-operation in a thoughtful and purposeful manner is the only solution. III this direction an attempt is made in the form of "Union List of Current Serials in Hyderabad 1989" (1) by the Indira Gandhi Memorial Library of University of Hyderabad. This compilation provides information on 5642 periodicals procured by 30 selected libraries of Hyderabad. The periodicals cover all disciplines of sciences, engineering, humanities, and social sciences. The data are available in machine readable form to facilitate easy addition, deletion

* University

of Hyderabad, Hyderabad 500 134

Vol 37 No 1 Mar 1990

and modification to the titles and library holdings. It is also possible to extend the scope of the Union list to cover more libraries interested in inter library co-operation. The study brings out the extent of duplication in the serial receipts of the libraries and explores the ways and means for reducing the duplication. DUPLICATION

OF PERIODICALS

Ou t ci the su bscribed 5642 periodical titles, 1682 periodicals are received in more than one library. In other words about 30% of the journals received in any library are also available in some or the other library of Hvdcrabad. Table 1 shows the number of periodicals heing s;mscribcd by more than one library and the percentage of duplication. The Union List covers 30 libraries pertaining to various disciplines. On an average, there are only 5 10 6 libraries belonging to a subject area. In addition to anum bcr of specialised institutional libraries like those of NGRI, NIMH, Police Academy etc., are included in the list, whereas some significant libraries in the same subject like those of GSI/SR, GSI/ AP, AMSE1 MEC, NRSA, Survey of India,Candhi Medical College, Osmania Medical College, History of Medicine, etc., which increase the rate of duplication of journals, arc not included. Though the analysis shows only 30% of duplication in the journal subscription it would be much higher in factual terms. If the scope of the Union List be increased on the 'above lines, the duplication of journals would easily cross 40%. In other words, every I

RAMA REDDY, NAGARAJA RAO & BURHANUDDIN

Table 1 Extent No. of Periodicals

Total

of Duplication

Percentage in Total

3960

70.18

1

929

16.46

2

385

6.82

3

159

2.81

4

96

1.72

5

34

0.60

6

26

0.46

7

17

0.30

8.

36

0.63

9 and above

5642

99.98

second title subscribed to by any library is duplicated some where or the other within the city. A list of the periodicals duplicated is available with the authors for ready reference. SUBJECT DISTRIBUTION It would be interesting to know the extent of duplication between a few selected libraries serving the same subject area. Location wise they may be at a considerable distant, but due to high subject similarities the users usually move from one place to another within the same city to get relevant information. Hence tapping the resources of similar libraries is not a difficult task. Table 2 shows the groups of libraries serving the same subject area and the extent of duplication amongst them. A similar grouping of libraries of the twin cities has been attempted by Subba Rao, S. and others (2). The present study, however, docs not cover libraries of geological and defence sciences groups due to non-availability of complete data. Further, the study clubs all thc academic libraries in sciences and humanities group of the most significant Osamania University and University of lIydcrabad. This combination of both libraries would seem to affect the results of 2

No. of libraries subcribing

duplication, but the removal of these libraries does not show any significant variations. Among five groups, the engineering group consisting of 7 libraries subscribes to a total of 1659 periodicals, but in actual terms, only 1176 distinct titles are subscribed to which results in 325 (i.e., 28%) duplicate periodicals. Most probably every fourth journal, subscribed in any of these 7 engineering libraries is also available in at least one other engineering library. The minimum range of duplication occurred in sciences is about 17%, in agriculture and humanities 18%. But as far as costs are concerned most probably science libraries would be wasting their resources to the maximum extent in duplication of periodicals. As already explained, the extent of duplication is only indicative of wasted resources and it would probably be higher than the duplication shown in the analysis, as some libraries with similar subject interests were left out. The total duplication of periodicals is about 30%, but the average duplication level in a given subject group is much less, except for engineering group libraries. This indicator also shows the diversity of the libraries and most probably the libraries covered cannot be distinguished as belonging to Ann Lib Sci Doc

DUPLICATION OF PERIODICALS

Table 2 Subject Groupings and Duplication Total No. of Periodicals

Distinct titles

Dup lie ation

4

1409

1141

206

18

"7

,

1659

1176

325

28

SSR, UHU, UOS, MNI

4

2661

2177

376

17

Humanities

UTU, UCE, UOS, UI-IlJ, SAS

5

2851

2290

416

18

Social Sciences

SAS, SCE, SFC, SIC, SNI, SSV, GBL, IRD, UOS, UHU

10

3289

2451

528

22

Subject

Codes of Libraries

Agriculture

AAU,ACR, AIC, ANA

Engineering

EBH, ECE, EDE, EHA, EHM, ERD, TID

Sciences

No. of Libraries

Percentage

---------------------------------------------------------a given subject group. The codes of libraries arc taken basically from the INSDOC Union Catalog of Periodicals leaving the first three digits, which indicate the place, Hy derabad. Appendix 3 lists all the codes and libraries. GEOGRAPHIC

DISTRIBUTION

Hyderabad being a large city, it is also necessary to see the cite distribution of the libraries covered and the extent of duplication amongst them. A schematic diagram of twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad with the location of libraries is provided in figure]. Reasonably the total geographic area of Hyderabad can be divided into six major sectors. Table 3 shows the distribution of the libraries covered and the extent of duplication among them. In 6th Sector, 10 libraries arc included making the total number of subscribeed periodicals 12 3610, whereas the distinct periodicals being Vol 37 No 1 Mar 1990

subscribed by this group are only 2934. The number of journals being duplicated is also high 503, i.e. 17%. This means almost every fifth journal subscribed by any of the Osmania University area libraries is also available e1esewhere within 3 kilometers range. The only library far away is Nuclear Fuel Complex, but the number of journals being subscribed by them is not very significant and good transportation services are available to reach these places. The Sector 3, with only 3 libraries, subscribes to 456 periodicals and out of them only 20 i.e., 5% are duplicated. The number is low because of noninclusion of many libraries around this area like Midhani, BDL, DRDL, DRDO etc. In Sector 2 and Sector 6, that is Agriculture University and Osmania University areas, respectively, there is a dupli.cation of about 16% to 17%. Initiation of efforts to minimise the duplication level would be advisable. It is not the intention that the libraries loose their budgets for periodical subscription but they can subscribe to more useful and

3

RAMA REDDY, NAGARAJA RAO & BURHANUDDIN

Table 3 Geographic Distribution Sector

Codes of Libraries

of Libraries and Duplication

No. of Libraries

Total No. Periodicals

Distinct titles

Duplication

Percentage

1

UHU, AIC, EBH,IRD

4

2263

2184

153

7

2

AAU, ANA, SNI, SSV

4

1343

1128

183

16

3

ACR, EDE, TDM

3

456

434

20

5

4

ERD, EHA, EHM, 5 TID, MMH

900

770

100

13

5

UOP, GBL, SCE, SFC

4

400

360

36

10

6

UOS, UTU, UCE, GNG, MNI, SRR, SAS, SIC, ECE, TNC

10

3610

2934

503

17

---------------------------------------------------------distinct titles if some fruitful co-operation sures are adopted. DUPLICATION LIBRARIES

mea-

BETWEEN SELECTED

An attempt is made to analyse the duplication level between University of Hyderabad and some selected libraries of Hyderabad. The duplication of subscriptions between University of Hyderabad and Osaminia University (both academis) is for 170 periodical titles i.e. 19%. The duplication level between ASRC and University of Hyderabad (both social sciences and humanities) is 120 periodical titles i.e. 8%. The common periodicals between IICT and University of Hyderabad (both sciences) are 144 i.e. 10%. Similar duplication study could be made for any two libraries covered in the Union List and lists of periodicals common to them could be generated.

4

COST OF DUPLICATioN Hitherto, the attempt has been to quantify the number of duplicate periodical titles being subscribed amongst the libraries covered. It is useful to quantify the costs of duplication as far as possible. An effort to bring out a union List of periodical holdings of costly journals, whose costs are more than Rs.5000)in Calcutta is being carried out by CALIBNET (3). However, the present study was limited to the analysis of costly periodicals, whose subscription was more than Rs. 10,000.00 (Rupees Ten Thousand). The latest prices available from University of Hyderabad, ICRISAT, nCT, CCME, NIN, NIRD etc., are posted into the duplicate periodical lists, wherever the costs are found to be more than Rs. 10,000. Additionally, information about the rates of subscription was also obtained from Ulrich's International Periodicals Directory Ann Lib Sci Doc

DUPLICATION OF PERIODICALS

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