[Milton-L] Milton & The Watchtower in libraries

[Sara van den Berg]

Patrick Scott wrote:
> John Hale asks:
>
> Do libraries take it [The Watchtower], and on what basis do they decide?
>
> According to WorldCat (admittedly incomplete but plausible as an
> indicator),
> 75 libraries using the OCLC system have The Watchtower (founded 1879,
> though very few have a run including the early years).
>
> However, only 15 of those are ARL libraries, even when you allow a
> related theological library to count as part of the ARL library's
> holdings. My own library, for instance, has only the Sept 15, 2007 issue
> (in the Milton collection). 
>
> By contrast, WorldCat shows 601 libraries with Milton Quarterly, and 314
> with Milton Newsletter, almost all university or college libraries.  
>
> Patrick Scott
> Director of Special Collections, 
> Thomas Cooper Library,
> & Professor of English,
> University of South Carolina,
> Columbia, SC 29208, USA.
> Tel: 803-777-1275
> Fax: 803-777-4661, attn Dr Scott
> E-mail: scottp at gwm.sc.edu
>  
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>   
A few hundred years from now, scholars of 20th-21st century religious 
groups will probably be interested in /The Watchtower/, just as we are 
interested in the writings of 17th c groups.  General academic research 
libraries may not need it now unless they have specialized collections 
for the study of American religion.  Libraries that subscribe to /Milton 
Quarterly/ and /Milton Newsletter/ reflect current research and teaching 
priorities (I hope).  I would assume that certain seminaries and other 
similar collections might subscribe.  On Worldcat, I noticed 54 
libraries have a subscription that includes current issues.  These 
include Christian seminaries and colleges, major academic libraries 
(e.g., UCLA), and public libraries  where presumably there is community 
demand.  The German national library and a major library in Israel also 
subscribe.

 Sara van den Berg