Results of the 1998-99 Library Materials Budget Survey of the ALCTS/CMDS/Chief Collection Development Officers of Large Research Libraries Discussion Group

ALA Midwinter Meeting Report January 30, 1999

Compiled by
Robert G. Sewell
Associate University Librarian
Collection Development and Management
Rutgers University
rgsewell@rci.rutgers.edu

Narative Summary

The results of the 1998/99 Library Materials Budget Survey of the membership of the ALA/ALCTS/CMDS Chief Collection Development Officers of Large Research Libraries Discussion Group is being reported herein. The response rate was the same for this year as last, 63% or 28 out of 44. These rates are down from previous years.

Survey Results

1. The average 1997/98 materials budget expenditure was $7,313,377 and the average base materials budget was $6,787,532. The average base allocation in 1998/99 is $7,674,179. Yale spent $16,396,000 in 1997/98. Cornell, Michigan, NYPL, and Toronto all spent over $10,000,000. (Toronto figures were converted from Canadian dollars to US dollars.)

2. Increases or Decreases to the Base:

a. The spreadsheet for increases/decreases to the base shows ten years of data. It gives the annual average increases to the base for each institution for the years that it reported. The average annual increase for the group during the 1990s was 5.7%. Only Rutgers and Hawaii had overall average negative figures.

b. The increase in base budgets for the group as a whole (twenty-seven useable responses) from 1997/98 to 1998/99 was 4.9%. However, the average based on the increases reported for individual libraries for the same period was 4.7%. The average is down from the previous year when the average was 5.5%.

c. The highest increases for this year are Northwestern at 11%, and U-C, Davis at 10.5%.

d. No reporting institution reported a decrease in the base this year. U-C Berkeley, Georgia, Rutgers, Virginia, and Wisconsin reported no increases.

3. One-time funds, i.e., one year supplements to the base, continue to be an important factor in materials budget allocations. The average for 1997/98 was $739,382. Among those who know the amount the average is $493,357. Berkeley received $2,740,000 last year and expect to get $1,000,000 this year, as does Texas.

4. The reporting of endowed funds remains problematic. Endowed funds for the large private universities are the major source of funding, often in the base allocations. For others, primarily state institutions endowed and gift funds are bundled together as �non-state funds,� and not calculated in the base. Figures are provided in the spreadsheet.

5. Seven reported supporting bibliographic utilities (such as OCLC and RLIN) out of their materials budget in 1997/98; most do not.

6. Seventeen reported binding expenditures in 1997/98 from the materials budget ranging from $22,735(Cornell) to $484,501(Minnesota), with the average expenditure among these $252,011. For the first time, the percentage of the total budget spent on binding has been given. The average for those reporting this percentage (eighteen) is 4.5%.

7. Nineteen reported paying for Center for Research Libraries membership from their materials budgets at an average cost of $46,293. Eleven reported paying other memberships, such as ARL and RLG, from their materials budget, at an average of $32,273.

8. As libraries increasingly are relying on �access over ownership,� one would expect to find increasing amounts being spent on ILL and document delivery. Of the twenty-eight reporting, only eleven used their materials budget to fund ILL and ten for document delivery. Virginia ($65,000)and Rutgers ($48,979) are the two university libraries that spent the most on ILL; for document delivery, Arizona tops the list at $240,450. Of the ten who fund document delivery from their materials budget, the average expenditure was $56,679.

9. Allocations for Electronic Resources:

a. The most consistent trend in all the areas reported on is the increase in expenditures for electronic resources. But the increase is not as dramatic as one might think. In 1994/95, the average amount spent was $334,007 and percentage of the budget was 5.5%; in 1995/96, $410,600, 7.0%; in 1996/97, $551,268, 9.0%; and in 1997/98 $642,319 and 10.0%. The allocation for 1998/99 is $718,089. Last year four libraries spent over $1,000,000 on e-resources.

b. States such as California, Ohio, and Georgia have state consortia that provide the majority of funding for electronic resources.

c. New questions related to amounts spent for networked resources and for materials purchased on perpetual leases and �temporary� licenses proved difficult to answer. Some did, but this small amount of information has not yet been analyzed.

d. British Columbia, Berkeley, and Rutgers reported using materials budget funds for hardware (public workstations) and software; Cornell and Toronto purchased software. Most do not use materials budget funds for these types of purchases.

10. Balance between Serials and Monographs:

Among those reporting, there is a distinct change in the trend toward increasing the amount devoted to serials at the expense of monographs. In 1996/97 the split was 69.9% vs 39.1% and in 1997/98, it was 59.7% serials and 32.6% monographs. This part of this change may be due to asking respondents for the first time this year to give the percentage of the budget spent on binding, so three percentages were given for serials, monographs, and binding. In the past, some reported percentages for serials and monographs that added up to 100%. It could also be that commitments to serials is actually going down at some places, either through cancellations or more new money being devoted to monographs or other one-time expenditures.

11. Serials Cancellations:

Serials cancellations are down this year among those reporting. The average was 335 cancellations last year and 223 this year for the twenty-six that reported. Georgia reporting canceling the most: in 1997/98, 4134; and this year, 3111.

12. Approval plans seem to be stabilizing this year, with not many significant increases or decrease being reported. For the first time the questionnaire included a question on how much was spent on them. Among the twenty-four reporting, the average expenditure in 1997/98 was $860,858. Nine (Arizona, Arizona State, Michigan, NYU, NYPL, Ohio State, Penn State, Toronto, and Yale) spent over $1,000,000 on them.

13. Of the twenty-eight responding, six reported spending the materials budget on software maintenance and cataloging records related to approval plans. No amounts were specified.

14. For the first time this year, there is a spreadsheet on the percentage of the budget spent on broad subject categories: Arts/Humanities, Social Sciences, S.T.M., Areas Studies, and Interdisciplinary.