Bibliometrics and information transfer

Statistical analyses of transfer of information by means of books, periodicals, patents, dissertations, reports, etc. should be of value to librarians and information scientists. Librarians in developing countries may need assistance in determining the most cost-effective policies for obtaining informationfor problems of users in these countries. Any librarian with a limited budget may need assistance in determining acquisition policies. Bibliometric analyses of the produtivity of various journals with regard to a particular subject have been conducted for many years. The use of the method developed by Dr. Bradford at the Science Library in London may assist in decision making on collection policies. It may be more cost-effective for a library to subscribe to only the few key journals in a given subject rather than to attempt to subscribe to a large number of journals. Papers scattered through other journals of lower productivity must then be obtained by inter-library borrowing schemes or bypurchasing photocopies