Price Index for 1989: U.S. Periodicals.

This article presents information on the 29th annual price index survey and analysis of U.S. periodical prices for 1989, sponsored by the Library Materials Price Index Committee of the Resources and Technical Services Division of the American Library Association, based on information supplied and compiled by The Faxon Co. The purpose of this survey is to provide current information about the pricing practices of periodical publishers as reflected in a survey measuring the relative change in the average price to U.S. libraries of subscriptions to U.S. periodical titles over previous years. The 1989 rate of increase was four percent above last year for U.S. periodicals rising to 9.5 percent compared to a 1988 rate increase of 9.1 percent, and the average 1989 U.S. periodical subscription price if the Soviet Translations was excluded, increased 8.2 percent over 1988. Medicine, zoology, psychology, chemistry, physics and engineering are the subject categories that rank among those that experienced the greatest percent increase in 1989 subscription prices. The average price of titles in the general science sample rose to $97.75, the highest rate of increase recorded within the mathematics category.