Use of the forestry collection held at Oxford University

Use of the forestry collection was investigated using a multi-faceted methodology. The majority of use was from within the UK with postgraduates borrowing the most material and forming the largest group of users. A high proportion of visitors from outside Oxford were from universities which hold other important forestry collections. Levels of periodical use were highest, followed by bulletins, and in-house use of both was greater than circulated use. 75% of the book stock had been used in the last 20 months. Requests from external services were few compared with use from personal visits to the library. Use by document delivery was for recent periodicals and a wider age range of bulletins, CABI's service requested more current periodicals than did CIFOR's. Book and periodical use was concentrated on items published during the last 20 years, whilst bulletin use was amongst items published during the last 30 years. All readers found the material they required and the majority of demands to the external services were satisfied. Users agreed that the collection was unique and supply of the same material from elsewhere would be difficult. It was recommended that the collection be preserved, acquisitions be maintained or increased and that it should remain open to visitors. A similar study should be continued to provide a more complete picture of use. If stock is to be put into storage it should be swiftly accessible. A scale of charges should be implemented by the Forestry Information Service.