Itunu A. Bamidele, Saturday U. Omeluzor and Hannah U. Amadi
Introduction
Journal publications serve a very important purpose for learning, teaching and research in any university. According to Ogunniyi, Akerele, and Afolabi (2011), a well stocked and organized library is a pride of any educational institution. Academic journals according to the College at Brockport (2013) are periodicals in which researchers publish articles on their work. Research articles that discuss recent findings are published in journal. Also, journal publications contain theoretical discussions and articles that critically review already published work. Journals are typically peer-reviewed which means that articles published in them were read and critically examined by more than one reviewer to ensure that it is in accordance to acceptable standard for publication.
Journal is one among the serials subscribed by libraries all over the world with authenticated research results and findings in different areas of knowledge. According to Keenan and Johnson (2000), Feather and Sturges (2004), and Reitz (2004), serial is any publication that is published in any medium issued under the same title in a succession of discrete parts usually numbered (or dated) and appearing either in regular or irregular intervals with no predetermined conclusion. Serial publications are provided in successive parts to users and is intended to be available and continued indefinitely in the library. Serials publications include periodicals, newspapers, magazines, journals and annuals (reports, yearbooks), continuing directories, proceedings and transactions, and numbered monographic series. Most libraries subscribe to journal publications on continuous basis. Nonetheless, a specific journal title is identified by a unique international standard serial number (ISSN) and a key title assigned and maintained by the international serials data system (ISDS). Consequently, journal is among the diverse information materials that are available in any library. It is needed especially by faculty and research students to support in accumulating current literature review and findings. Madu and Adeniran (2005) outline some characteristics of journal which include, the editor might change; the content of each issue is different; the publication interval varies;
they are published annually, bi-annually, monthly, quarterly, forth-nightly and weekly; no planned end to the sequence; currency (up-to-date); more expensive than books, and are usually subscribed to.
Before the inception and advancement of ICT use in library services, journals were mainly printed and manually distributed. However with the development of ICT, and its subsequent usage in the library, dissemination of most journals is electronically managed via the Internet and catalogued, accessed and retrieved from databases. Journals that are subscribed by a library form an important and useful collection of the library stock. Also, articles in journals are published more rapidly than books and thus journal constitute vital up-to-date information. This is particularly important in rapidly developing areas of science and technology. In addition, articles in journals frequently discuss in-depth and highly specialized topics and it includes information that may never appear in book form. These attributes and others makes journal publications unique, distinct and special among other library collections.
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