Another 1 Bites the Dust

Oprah Winfrey's O at Home has been shuttered. This won't have nearly the impact on library periodical collections as U.S. News & World Report. In LINK (South Central Library System automation consortium), only the Waunakee Public Library subscribes to O at Home. 35 LINK libraries will be able to free up a little shelf space due to U.S. News' print demise.

OK, let's do a little prognostication here.

Let's say -- to keep the math easy -- that you have 100 magazines in your library collection at this time -- and you don't plan/can't afford to add any new ones. How many titles will you still be receiving next year at this time? Take a guess. Before you do, though, you might want to read a recent article from Advertising Age, "Will Print Survive the Next Five Years?"

Excerpt:
The print business was horrified enough last week when The Christian Science Monitor revealed plans to fold its 100-year-old daily print edition in favor of the web and a weekly print product. But by the end of one of the worst weeks in the history of newspapers and magazines, the Monitor was starting to look like one of the few places publishing could turn for even a dim ray of hope.