| Periodicals are a primary source of important and fresh information. For many reasons, a library cannot match rapid increases in the quantity of periodicals and, therefore, national governments should get involved. Saudi Arabia, however, has yet to formulate a national information policy and there is evidence that existing collections are too small to meet national needs. This study is designed to evaluate these collections in order to demonstrate the need for such a policy.;Data analysis showed that, except for scientific titles, Saudi libraries are not very strong in periodicals. This is especially so for culturally related titles. Generally, a correlation exists between availability of periodicals and the institution's level of development. Most periodicals are acquired by modern libraries which acquire mostly English titles dealing with modern sciences, and issued in the industrialized world. However, titles in Arabic, from developing nations, and in the humanities and social sciences are not as well attended. Newly issued titles are also an area of thin coverage. Academic libraries are the richest, while public libraries are extremely poor in periodicals. As for regions, the Central region has a modest edge over the other two regions.;In conclusion, there is a real need to improve existing periodicals collections and integrate them in an organized national system whose goals and objectives should be defined within the framework of a comprehensive national library policy.;A 4450-title sample was compiled. 1165 of them relate to the Saudi culture. The other 3285 at-large titles were taken from citation, ILL data, and two selection tools. Availability of the titles in 15 major Saudi Arabian libraries was determined. |
