The use of IEEE conference proceedings: A comparison of monographs versus serials

In science and engineering libraries, conference publications of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) represent a valuable source of technical information. Libraries differ in their treatment of these publications, with some titles being cataloged as monographs and others as serials. A use study was conducted at the University of Akron to compare the relative accessability of IEEE monographs and serials. The results of this study found that IEEE publications cataloged as monographs received twice as much use as those cataloged as serials. This suggests that monographic records with individual thematic conference titles, geographic locations, conference-specific subject headings and partial or full table of contents notes produce more uses than serial records with limited generic titles and fewer subject headings.