Mathematics Periodicals in Selected Liberal Arts Colleges

More than any other area of academic library collection, periodicals demonstrate the immense gap between the infinite nature of human inquiry and the finite quality of the resources available for the acquisition, organization, and maintenance of this inquiry. The number of periodicals currently available is far beyond the capabilities of most academic libraries to acquire and maintain. For example, Katz and Katz wrote in their introduction to the most recent edition of Magazines for Libraries that they included some 6,500 periodicals from over 65,000 possibilities. Fewer than a half a dozen major research libraries subscribe to 65,000 or more periodicals, and only a similar number of liberal arts college libraries subscribe to even 3,000 titles.