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This Issue
May 1996
Science Library Renovations Completed Gutenberg and Beyond: An Exhibit Purchase Request Form on the Web Budget Squeezed by Journal Prices Finding the Needle in the World
Reserve to Deliver Personal Copies FLL and A-VLRC Cooperate on Classroom Technology Cataloging Project Increases
Selecting and Cataloging Electronic Resources |
Budget Squeezed
by Journal Prices
There is always a greater demand for books, journals, and other library resources than the Library's materials budget can accommodate. Each year, as part of our effort to acquire needed materials and at the same time to wisely spend the materials budget, the Library conducts a review of the previous year's periodical prices and attempts to project likely journal prices for the coming year. As has been the case for many years, the average price increase for journal titles far outpaced the overall Consumer Price Index (CPI) and the materials budget increase provided by the University for FY1995/96. While the CPI has remained in the low single digits and the University has regularly contributed a generous five percent increase to the materials budget (even while many other academic libraries have experienced real cuts in their budgets), prices for academic journals in recent years have increased ten percent for domestic titles, and up to twenty percent for foreign ones. Foreign periodical prices are especially difficult to predict because their prices are affected by fluctuations in foreign exchange rates in addition to the other factors influencing journal price increases. Since the periodicals budget represents nearly forty percent of the total materials budget, the impact of this phenomenon has been significant.
What about next year? Library suppliers are estimating that both domestic and foreign scholarly publishers will raise their prices between nine and eleven percent (assuming, in the case of foreign titles, that the dollar remains stable against other currencies). Forecasts of price increases of domestic journals by broad subject area for 1996/97 are: * Arts and humanities journals - 8%
Projected increases for foreign journals are: * Arts and humanities - 8%
The overall increase is expected to be 10.4%. Although FY1996/97 projections are lower than FY1995/96, the Library cannot sustain these significant increases on a yearly basis. To continue to acquire necessary journals the Library must have additional funding to maintain the status quo; or it must examine other alternatives, for example cancellation of lesser-used titles, a one-for-one policy for new subscriptions (a journal of comparable value is cancelled before another new journal is added), or reliance on electronic journals or electronic delivery of journal articles to hold down journal costs. The Library liaisons in consultation with faculty representatives will be examining these issues in the months to come and discussing alternative approaches to our traditional practices of buying, storing, and accessing journals. If you have further questions, please contact your departmental liaison or Dr. Richard S. Ross, Assistant University Librarian for Collections and Organization at 687-5160. |
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