Format Citation Patterns and Their Implications for Collection Development in Research Libraries

Abstract

In this time of rapidly increasing journal subscription costs and shrinking (or stable) acquisition budgets, it is imperative to acquire materials as effectively as possible. One method of doing this is to use citation analysis of the scholarly literature as a guideline. Citation analysis is the analysis of the references from a set of documents (such as an analysis of all of the citations from five years of College & Research Libraries or of all citations from geology dissertations at a university). Information received from the analysis includes: languages of items cited, age of items cited (to calculate a half‐life for the field), and rate of self‐citations. Broadus reviewed citation analysis, its use, validity, and reliability. In the past, citation analysis has been used in collection development to decide on the suitability of specific items (both journals and monographs), such as mentioned in Buzzard and Whaley. The method introduced here is to use the percentage of publication formats cited in the research literature to serve as a guideline for acquisitions budget breakdowns, i.e., percentages allocated to monographs versus that allocated to other formats, for each discipline. The reasoning behind this is that an effective method of acquiring materials is to purchase the materials that the library's clients will use in the formats in which they will use them. The key assumption is that the citations in a scholar's paper reflect the literature the scholar used.

A citation analysis of the quantitative/qualitative methods debate's reflection in sociology research: Implications for library collection development

“…While collection development choices should be primarily guided by localized knowledge of the particular institution's research needs, citation analyses of the broader discipline can inform library collection development, as noted in previous literature [13][14][15][16][17][18]. This study suggests several consequences for library collection development for sociological research, including selection, storage, and weeding of materials as well as serials/monograph budget allocation.…”

“…Several studies have found that monographs receive a greater proportion of citations than journal articles in the sociological literature [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27].…”

“…Likewise, due to the oft-suggested profound ontological and epistemological differences between these methodological camps [2,3,11,12], one might expect the overall citation structure of qualitative and quantitative researchers to differ considerably. Therefore, via a citation analysis of sociology journal literature, this study examines the following questions: Likewise, the study's implications for library collection development are discussed, drawing on previous literature regarding citation analyses as a collection development tool [13][14][15][16][17][18].…”

A Citation Study of the Characteristics of the Linguistics Literature

“…For example, Michael Bowman's review of citation studies in all three areas includes only one on linguistics. 10 Within the humanities, the subject category in which linguistics has most o en been placed, a large number of citation analyses have focused on the field of literary scholarship. [11][12][13][14][15][16] In addition to literary studies, John M. Cullars has examined the citation characteristics of monographs in the fine arts and philosophy.…”

A Citation Analysis of the Classical Philology Literature: Implications for Collection Development

“…According to Broadus (1977), librarians have long used citation analysis for collection building and management. Similarly, Bowman (1991) argued that citation patterns could be used as one method for deciding the suitability of specific items for inclusion in a library's collection. Of special interest to Bowman were the formats cited (for example, books and journals), languages of items cited, and the age of items cited.…”