Trends in Research Library Acquisitions and ILL Services by Martha Kyrillidou, Program Officer for Statistics and Measurement The recently published ARL Statistics 1993P94 presents an updated picture of the changes taking place in research library acquisitions and interlibrary loan services. The two major trends that continue to impact research libraries are declining acquisitions of serials and monographs, resulting from double digit price increases for these materials, and growth in interlibrary loan activities. The acquisition of serials and monographs by ARL libraries has declined since 1986 by 4% and 22%, while expenditures for serials and monographs have increased by 93% and 17%, respectively. During the same eight years, interlibrary borrowing increased 99% and lending increased 50% in ARL libraries. Although libraries are buying fewer serials and monographs than they bought nine years ago, they are serving a larger body of users, 10% more students and 16% more faculty. The median number of students increased from 16,684 to 18,287, with the number of graduate students rising more rapidly. For the same time period, the median number of faculty increased by 180. In 1986 the median ARL library subscribed to 16,198 serials and bought about 33,200 monographs; in 1994 the median ARL library bought only 15,583 serials and 25,803 monographs for a larger number of both students and faculty. Faculty and students borrowed on interlibrary loan almost twice as many items in 1994 as they did in 1986. Interlibrary borrowing by ARL libraries has a higher growth rate than lending, although the volume of borrowing activity is still less than half that of lending. Since 1986, the average annual growth rate for interlibrary borrowing was 9%; 5.2% for interlibrary lending. Per student interlibrary borrowing activity increased 10% during the last year alone, compared to a 7.3% average annual increase since 1986. By 1996 or 1997, research libraries may be borrowing twice as many items on a per student basis as they did ten years ago. Dramatic as the increase in interlibrary loan activity for ARL libraries may seem, it is minor when compared to trends in other academic libraries in the United States. The national (IPEDS) data for all U.S. academic libraries in 1988, 1990, and 1992 shows that U.S. ARL academic libraries filled about two of every five academic interlibrary lending transactions in 1988. It also shows that the ARL "share" has gradually decreased ever since. ARL libraries' share of the interlibrary lending of all academic libraries was 42% in 1988 but only 35% in 1992. Therefore, while interlibrary lending increased 21% in the U.S. ARL libraries from 1988 to 1992, it increased 43% for all academic libraries. Also, one out of every four academic interlibrary borrowing transactions was initiated by an ARL library. U.S. ARL borrowing was 26% of the academic interlibrary borrowing activity in 1988, 28% in 1990, and 24% in 1992. There is not a clear downward trend in U.S. ARL borrowing activities as a percent of the national academic output of interlibrary borrowing, but there is some indication of a decline. U.S. ARL interlibrary borrowing increased 31% between 1988 and 1992, while the interlibrary borrowing activity for all academic libraries throughout the country increased 44%. It is not clear why interlibrary lending and borrowing is increasing at different rates in different libraries. One explanantion can be that the volume of ARL interlibrary loan activity is so large that the growth potential is not as high as that for smaller libraries. But could there be other reasons as well? Are some libraries more efficient, providing better turnaround times? To what extent do fees for ILL services impact the volume of activity? Are faculty and student expectations more likely to be met at research institutions through local collections, whereas there is a greater need for remote resources at institutions with less comprehensive library collections? To what extent do consortia and statewide library systems contribute to different levels of activity? Whatever the reasons, the recent trends in interlibrary services suggest a growth in service1 that seeks to take full advantage of distributed library resources. ARL Statistics 1993P94 is available from ARL Publications for $25.00 for member libraries and $65.00 for nonmembers (plus $5.00 shipping and handling per publication). Interlibrary Loan Activity in U.S. Academic Libraries Libraries in ARL ARL ARL Granting percent ALL percent of Libraries Doctoral Doctoral academic all academic (N-95) Institut. * Granting libraries** libraries Interlibrary lending 1988 2,349,966 3,783,540 62% 5,590,321 42% 1990 2,736,198 4,584,543 60% 6,596,111 41% 1992 2,846,071 5,256,676 54% 7,987,047 35% 1994 3,040,829 N/A N/A Interlibrary borrowing 1988 950,508 1,943,905 49% 3,672,852 26% 1990 1,181,403 2,308,707 51% 4,199,269 28% 1992 1,251,957 2,756,658 45% 5,304,680 24% 1994 1,499,429 N/A N/A * The number of libraries in doctoral granting institutions was 466 in 1988, 488 in 1990, and 500 in 1992. * *The number of all academic libraries was 3,438 in 1988, and 3,274 in 1990 and 1992. Source of data: IPEDS Academic Libraries Survey and ARL Statistics. 1 ARL experimental data collected for other service activities like circulation and reference transactions also show large increases. While interlibrary loan activity increases, it continues to be a small percent of a library's circulation activity. Interlibrary borrowing is, on average, about 2% of total circulation excluding reserve circulation. ------- ARL 180 A Bimonthly Newsletter of Research Library Issues and Actions Association of Research Libraries May 1995