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On the 80/20 rule

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Abstract

In a recent paper1 Burrell shows that libraries with lower average borrowings tend to require a larger proportion of their collections to account for 80% of the borrowings, than those with higher average borrowings. In that study, the underlying frequency distribution was a negative binomial. We are dealing with a case when the underlying distribution is of Lotka type. It is also shown that the “80/20-effect” is much stronger in this case.

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Michel Balinski & Victoriano Ramírez

References

  1. Q. L. BURRELL, The 80/20 rule: Library lore or statistical law? Journal ofDocumentation 41 (1985) No. 1, 24.

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  2. Q. L. BURRELL, V. R. CANE, The analysis of library data (with discussion),Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, A. 145 (1982) 439

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  3. L. EGGHE, Consequences of Lotka's law for the law of Bradford,Journal of Documentation, 41 (1985) 173.

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  4. L. EGGHE, The duality of Bradford's law, to appear inJournal of the American Society for Information Science, (1986).

  5. R. W. TrUESWELL, Some behavioral patterns of library users: The 80/20 rule,Wilson Library Bulletin 43, (1969) 458.

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Egghe, L. On the 80/20 rule. Scientometrics 10, 55–68 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02016860

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02016860

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