C. Prabha et Ec. Marsh, COMMERCIAL DOCUMENT SUPPLIERS - HOW MANY OF THE ILL DD PERIODICAL ARTICLE REQUESTS CAN THEY FULFILL/, LIB TRENDS, 45(3), 1997, pp. 551-568
COMMERCIAL DOCUMENT SUPPLIERS have been capturing an increasing share
of the document supply market. New data on the availability of periodi
cal articles at five frequently used commercial suppliers are presente
d. The findings are based on samples of periodical requests processed
through the OCLC PRISM ILL service over a recent twelve-month period.
Of the 373 sample articles, 92 percent are available from at least one
of these suppliers. Other related findings are: approximately 40 perc
ent of all requests pertain to articles; one-fifth of all the articles
are published in the preceding year; and 64 percent are published wit
hin a five-year-period. Date and format variables, taken together, can
serve as a starting point for programmatically selecting and directin
g requests to commercial suppliers.