COMMERCIAL DOCUMENT SUPPLIERS - HOW MANY OF THE ILL DD PERIODICAL ARTICLE REQUESTS CAN THEY FULFILL/

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.