Date Approved

5-14-2004

Embargo Period

4-20-2016

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

M.A. in School and Public Librarianship

Department

Special Educational Services/Instruction

College

College of Education

Advisor

Shontz, Marilyn

Subject(s)

Instructional materials centers--Collection development

Disciplines

Library and Information Science

Abstract

The main objective of this study was to determine if southern New Jersey public high school media centers had reduced, increased, or left the same the number of print and electronic subscriptions to periodicals. The selected periodicals that were available online through EBSCOhost were compared to those purchased in print format by high school media specialists. Questionnaires were sent to 70 South Jersey high school media specialists, asking about their print and electronic periodical usage, and their storage procedures, if any, for back issues of periodicals. The media specialists were asked to comment on their behaviors. The data were analyzed using Microsoft Excel. The study found that there was a gradual, but definite trend away from print periodicals and toward electronic periodical databases for research purposes. For entertainment and news, however, librarians reported that students preferred to read print periodicals in the media center rather than use electronic access. The fact that electronic versions of these periodicals were available free online did not seem to influence length of storage times.

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