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ARL Statistics 2011–2012 Published

ARL Statistics 2011-2012 cover
ARL Statistics 2011-2012

ARL has released the ARL Statistics 2011–2012, the latest in a series of annual publications that describe the collections, staffing, expenditures, and service activities of ARL’s 125 member libraries. Of these, 115 are university libraries (16 in Canada and 99 in the US); the remaining 10 are public, governmental, and nonprofit research libraries (1 in Canada, 9 in the US).

The questions and definitions in the 2011–2012 ARL Statistics survey were revised and modernized after an extensive review process led by the Task Force on Reviewing the ARL Statistics, the ARL Annual Salary Survey, and the ARL Supplementary Statistics. As a result of this revision process, the “titles” variable now captures a count of all items across all formats, libraries now report e-books as a subset of volumes held, the expenditures section was revised to focus on whether expenditures are one-time vs. ongoing, fringe benefits expenditures are collected in separate questions, and a new section entitled “Use of Electronic Resources” was added. The revised ARL Statistics survey also reflects the revised instructions from the US Department of Education’s Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) regarding doctor’s degrees and doctor’s degree fields. Last, the subset of the main data that pertain to Special Collections expenditures and staffing was collected on a separate survey form in response to the growing interest in sharing information about Special Collections in a more systematic fashion.

These revisions were implemented with the goal of making the data more useful, relevant, and easy to collect and are a crucial first step in the important task of keeping pace with the rapidly changing environment in research libraries, while simultaneously codifying and reflecting the evolution of the 21st-century research library in the ARL Statistics data.

ARL libraries are a relatively small subset of libraries in North America, but they account for a large portion of academic library resources in terms of assets, budgets, and the number of users they serve. The total library expenditures of all 125 member libraries in 2011–2012 was almost $4.5 billion; from that, almost $3.3 billion was spent by the 115 university libraries and more than $1.2 billion by the nonuniversity libraries.

ARL has collected and published annual statistics for its member libraries since 1961–62, expanding upon the work of James Gerould, who collected this information first at the University of Minnesota and later at Princeton University. The data he collected, covering the years 1907–08 through 1961–62, are now called the Gerould Statistics. The complete data series from 1908 through the present represents the oldest, most comprehensive, continuing library statistical series in North America.

Ordering Information

Online Edition

ARL Statistics 2011–2012
Martha Kyrillidou, Shaneka Morris, and Gary Roebuck, comps. and eds.
2013 * 144 pages
ISBN 1-59407-914-5 * EAN 978-1-59407-914-6
$170

The ARL Statistics Collection provides online access to the annual publications ARL Statistics, ARL Academic Health Sciences Library Statistics, and ARL Academic Law Library Statistics that have been published since 2006. The cost of IP access to this collection is $500 for nonprofit organizations and $750 for all others.

Print Edition

ISBN 1-59407-913-7 * EAN 978-1-59407-913-9 * ISSN 0147-2135
$170 ($85 ARL members)

Shipping and Handling

US: UPS Ground, $10/publication
Canada: UPS Ground, $15/per publication
International and Rush Orders: Call 301-362-8196 or e-mail pubs@arl.org for quote.

Order online IP access and print copies from:

ARL Publications Distribution Center
PO Box 531
Annapolis Junction MD 20701-0531
Phone: 301-362-8196
Fax: 240-396-2479
E-mail: pubs@arl.org

Payment by check, money order, MasterCard, or Visa is accepted. Make check or money order payable in US funds to Association of Research Libraries, Federal #ID 52-0784198-N.


The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) is a nonprofit organization of 125 research libraries in the US and Canada. Its mission is to influence the changing environment of scholarly communication and the public policies that affect research libraries and the diverse communities they serve. ARL pursues this mission by advancing the goals of its member research libraries, providing leadership in public and information policy to the scholarly and higher education communities, fostering the exchange of ideas and expertise, facilitating the emergence of new roles for research libraries, and shaping a future environment that leverages its interests with those of allied organizations. ARL is on the web at https://www.arl.org/.

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