Government Publications in Academic Science and Technology Libraries |
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| Abstract: | There is a significant volume of scientific and technical documents, as opposed to report literature, available from federal and state government agencies. There is also a considerable number of government journals in the sciences containing research related information. Yet, there are not many studies available in library literature about the value of such materials to and their use by academic science and technology faculty in their teaching or research. The few surveys which have been conducted in the past point towards a lower minimal use of these documents. This, however, is not enough evidence to justify a generalization that scientific and technical documents fall under the low use category in academic libraries. Assuming that this is so, one needs to find out whether any programs like SDI by subject bibliographers can be instituted to augment user awareness. The article raises some pertinent questions relating to this topic, such as, how academic scientists become aware of the existence of these documents, what is their utility in academic teaching and research, how has the online and ondisc technology affected their use and finally, whether the publishing habits of academic scientists and technologists have any bearing on the library use patterns of these documents. |
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