A local study of journal use

A study of local journal use conducted in the UK in the late 1970s is presented to show the practical value of local-use studies and to shed light on why general citation analyses are less useful in a local context. Items chosen for inclusion in Social Work Information Bulletin (SWIB) were compared with indicators of importance derived from citation studies of scholarly literature. The results showed that the SWIB selected articles based on the needs of its specialized audience within local government, and not on the results of citation analyses of scholarly literature of a discipline or profession.