Procurement of Periodicals in the University Libraries of Kerala

The study was conducted in the University Libraries of five Universities spread over Kerala, providing higher education in Science, Social Science and Humanities. Cochin University, one among the five universities selected under the study, deals with Technology in addition to the conventional branches. The paper attempts to make a comparative study of the acquisition process of journals and databases among the five University Libraries. The author has collected data through a personal visit to all the five libraries with the help of a structured interview with all the University Librarians and the staff working in the periodicals section. Purchase of Newspapers and magazines is excluded from the study and importance is given to the subscription of Journals and Databases, as they are the significant information sources of higher education. Aspects such as the mode of selection of journals and databases, mode of purchase, current budget allocation, its apportion to different departments, how the fund is released as advance to the University Librarian's account, its utilization and settlement etc. are mainly dealt with in the paper.