More Inclusive Collection Development: Considering the Information Needs of Researchers from Outside the Subject Area of Communication

Abstract

When conducting collection development, it can be assumed that librarians consider the research needs of scholars within their respective disciplines. How systematically librarians consider the needs of scholars outside the discipline, however, has not been established. This study investigates whether resources scholars from outside a discipline use differ from the resources that scholars within a specific discipline use and offers a model for evaluating engagement with core journals outside of the discipline. Focusing on the subject area of communication, the data provided in this study demonstrate the importance of assessing the information needs of researchers from outside the discipline to build a more useful and inclusive journal collection and provide communication librarians with data to guide their collection decisions. Up to twenty years of journal citation data from the Web of Science database were collected and analyzed for thirty-nine communication journals. The author identifies the most and least cited communication journals by researchers outside the discipline to support collection development decisions that meet the needs of all researchers.