What journals, if any, should still be printed.

Abstract

Although the widely appreciated advantages of electronic journals in the sciences would indicate that they should be the preferred form of publication, they still persist in print as well. This study examines the relative use of bound and unbound journals in an academic biol¬ogy library to elucidate whether the use patterns of journals can give criteria for what journals should still continue in both formats. The data suggest that only a very small number of the journals studied are appropriate for continued publication in both print and electronic formats; almost all would be more appropriate as electronic only. The current collection policy of the Princeton Biology Library is therefore to obtain all appropriate titles that do not have significant browsing use in electronic format only.