Information for Social Scientists - Issue 42  Tags: info_for_social_scientists iss social_sciences  

University Libraries Materials Budgets FY 2008-2010

The University Library Materials Budget is the primary source of funding for collections purchased by the Robert W. Woodruff Library; the Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library; the Marian K. Heilbrun Music and Media Library; the Matheson Reading Room; the James S. Guy Chemistry Library; and the Math/Science Reading Room.

The Emory Libraries have not been immune to the economic downturn. The impact has touched collections, staff, hours and even entrances. This report will highlight the impact on the General Libraries (Woodruff, Candler, Chemistry, and Math/Science) with information current as of March 2009.

Collections:

The General Libraries has already cut $200,000 from the current (2008/2009) collections budget. Savings have primarily come from moving more journals to online-only subscriptions (Moving Beyond Paper Project), staff vacancies, and a decision to acquire most new monographs as academic-quality paperbacks rather than hardbound volumes.

Fiscal Year 2010 will bring additional collection cuts as the library struggles to adjust a reduced budget to inflationary pressures which can range from five to ten percent. Chuck Spornick, Head of Collection Management for the General Libraries, estimates that almost $637,000 will need to be trimmed from the 2010 collections budget.  Library staff is already carefully reviewing electronic database subscriptions for usage and unique content and a modest journals review is also planned.  The targeted combined saving for serials and databases is slightly over $200,000. As in past years, library subject specialists will identify potential cancellations which will be posted on a website for faculty and student comment. We hope to have databases available for review this spring and journals posted by August 15th. (Note: The journals cancellation project is separate from the journal titles included in this year's Moving Beyond Paper Project. The Moving Beyond Paper journal titles are NOT being cancelled but being moved to online-only status.)

Purchases of new databases in 2010 will be limited. A $150,000 budget has been proposed, down from $400,000 in 2009. This modest budget will give the library some capacity to add new databases or electronic backfiles of select journals.

There will be modest decreases (2-3 percent) in various book funds, although this reduction combined with a projected increase of 3 percent will reduce purchasing power by approximately 5 percent.

Staff:

A decision has been made not to fill ten vacant library positions and to place other searches on hold. The African-American Studies Librarian vacancy (formerly held by Carmelita Pickett) will not be filled. Other positions that have been vacant and will not be filled include economics (held by Justin Otto) and LGBT Studies (held by Bill Holden). Discussions on how to handle collections and services for these areas in 2009/2010 are ongoing.  The search for a new Director for Manuscripts and Rare Book Library (MARBL) continues. A full list of current social science staff is found in tab 7.  As another cost-saving measure, professional travel budgets have been reduced.

Building:

Plans for renovating Woodruff stack tower levels 8 and above (costing about $2.3million per floor) are on hold as are plans for building additional off-site storage areas. The number of building copiers has been reduced. The seldom-used Candler Lobby entrance to the Matheson Reading Room has been closed. The library is considering reduced hours during 2009/10 winter break. The Copy Center on Level 1 has recently announced that it will be closed both weekend days for the remainder of the semester.

General Information Trends

Other Local Libraries:

As sobering as the Emory Libraries' current and future cuts are, other academic libraries and information providers are faring much worse. The University of Georgia recently completed a cut of $600,000 serial subscriptions (593 titles) with more likely to come next year. Georgia Tech is currently soliciting comments on over 1300 journals proposed for cancellation. (Note: This large number does include a number of print journals which will continue to be available electronically). Georgia State has also announced a journal cancellation project with a target of $400,000 in savings.  Georgia State has also removed 37 databases from their resource list and stopped their popular library delivery program.

Rising Materials Costs:

While current economic trends are definitely causing problems for libraries, there is no doubt that the major underlying problem is the rising costs of library materials especially serials and electronic information.  The cost for electronic resources has been increasing at an unsustainable rate of 8% annually. The cost of serials in any format is taking over academic library budgets. The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) reports that median expenditures for serials in research libraries has risen 340% from 1986-2007. During that same period the price of expenditures for monographs increased 87%, mirroring the rise of the United States Consumer Price Index. Squeezed by the increase in serials and electronics budgets, the actual number of monographs purchased by academic libraries over the 20 year period rose only 12%.

Future of the Scholarly Monograph:

Many would claim that the scholarly monograph, an important criterion for tenure, is an endangered species. As the library market for scholarly monographs shrinks, many academic presses are facing fewer sales, more returns, and in the case of university presses, loss of subsidies because of university or state budget cuts. A recent survey of the Association of American University Presses (AAUP) documents a 10% drop in sales between July and December of 2008. Even successful presses such as Utah State University Press have been threatened with closure because of state budget problems. The AAUP has revised and reissued "Tips for Hard Times" originally published in 2001 and plans a "Tips for Hard Times" Roundtable at its 2009 convention. For more information read "University Presses in Tough Times" from The Exchange Online, newsletter of the AAUP.

Other Problem Areas:

Looking beyond books and journals, tough times have also hit other information suppliers. New Yorker Films, a major supplier of foreign and independent films for Emory and other libraries, closed in February after 44 years of operation. The situation of newspapers is especially dire. Over 120 papers, many of which have been publishing for over a century, have disappeared since January 2008. National papers are not immune. The New York Times recently announced additional layoffs and the Washington Post is being kept afloat by profits from its subsidiary, Kaplan Educational Services. Locally, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC) continues to shrink and recently announced intentions to cut an additional 90 positions from its news division.  One section the AJC and many other papers have shrunk or eliminated is book reviews.