More Library Materials Budget Justifications

Albert Henderson

In the Winter 1990 issue of BRQ, Frederick C. Lynden outlined a strategy for justifying library materials budgets based on his experience at Brown University. Albert Henderson elaborates on this process by offering three additional arguments to justify increased funding at research libraries. These arguments are based on the accelerating publication rate, the shrinking of library budgets as a percentage of GNP, and the consequences for research of inadequate library holdings.

H 'aving listened to the learned opinions of librarians and scholars for .many years, I was very interested to read "Library Materials Budget

Justifications," by Frederick C. Lynden in the Winter 1990 issue of Book Research Quarterly. Lynden outlines an elaborate and sophisticated process. He shares with most of the academic/research communi ty a losing and some- times bitter battle for a realistic level of funding to have the publications with which all good research begins and ends. Unfortunately none of us has seen any real money since Congress tried to close the Missile Gap. I think it is urgent we try to reverse the trend.

I would like to offer three sets of new arguments to justify increased funding. The three are interrelated and, from my perspective, have been overlooked by most librarians and their advisors.

While Lynden ment ions the publication rate for scholarly materials, he provides no numbers . One can unders t and this. His focus is local. At Brown or any other university the creation of a new program, such as computers and information science or Japanese studies, will have a major impact on one year 's budget but not necessarily the next. Perhaps the requests and evaluations made by local selectors and depar tments are somet imes subjec- tive, idiosyncratic, or man ipu la ted- -pa r t i cu la r ly w h e n depar tment heads are warned by their deans not to ask for "too much . "

The publication rate for scholarly materials has increased exponential ly since the Royal Society issued its first Philosophical Transactions in 1665, and it shows no signs of stopping. Derek J. de Solla Price noted in Science Since Babylon that both technical papers publ ished and the n u m b e r of technical graduates has doubled every 15 years for 300 years. That's an average annual increase of only 5 percent. Engineering, Information's input activity clearly

Albert Henderson, president of Henderson Associates, is a consultant to scholarly and profes- sional publishers. He was previously an editor with Johnson Reprint and vice-president for marketing and production with Pergamon Press. Address for correspondence: 2423 Noble Station, Bridgeport, CT 06608.

82 Book Research Quarterly / Fall 1990

T A B L E 1 Statistics of College & University Libraries: United States & Outlying Areas

AVERAGE NUMBER OF PERIODICAL TITLES AT THE END OF THE YEAR

1970-71

NUMBER OF PERIODICAL TITLES AVERAGE NO. OF LIBRARIES NO. OF

O00s TITLES 3677 2535 1450

1972-73 3806 2908 1309

1974-75 4434 2972 1492 1975-76 4618 2987 1546 1976-77 4670 3058 1527

1978-79 4775 3122 1529

1981-82 4890 3104 1575

GAIN (LOSS) 33% 22.5% 8.6Z

Source: Dzgest of Educatzon Statlshcs 1982 table 182; 1989 table 357. No data are published for missing years.

reflects this accelerating publication rate, entering its millionth record in 1954, its two millionth record 21 years later in 1975, its three millionth record 14 years later in 1989, and its four millionth is expected well before the year 2000. Biosis Previews now reports 8.8 million records--adding new records at the rate of 1 million every two years. Physics Abstracts added 9 times as many records during the last 40 years as it did the prior 50.

Most academic libraries' holdings have not kept up with this acceleration since Johnson's "Great Society." administration in the 1960s. Reviewing the table, "Statistics of College and University Libraries: United States and Out- lying Areas" in Digest of Education Statistics [1982 table 182; 1989 table 357], one sees little growth in academic libraries' average subscription holdings. The average number of periodical titles taken on subscription increased less than 10 percent in 12 years (see Table 1).

If de Solla Price's calculations are correct, the number of technical titles published in the twelve-year period increased by about 70 percent, not in- cluding secondary publications such as new indexes, abstracts, translations, CD-ROM subscriptions, etc. Most of Price's hypothesis applies equally to publication ra tes- -and by inference to authoritative library reference collec- t i o n s - i n social science, business administration, the humanities, medicine, and law. Consider the birth of 1000 departments of computer and information science since 1965.

Second, library materials budgets have not been "static." They have grown

Henderson 83

TABLE 2 Statistics of College & University Libraries: United States & Out ly ing Areas

TOTAL OPERATING EXPENDITURES, INCLUDING LIBRARY MATERIALS OF COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES INDEXED AGAINST THE GROSS NATIONAL PRODUCT

TOTAL LIBRARY MATERIALS LIBRARY LIBRARY

G.N.P. EXPENDITURES EXPENDITURES billions thousandsINDEX thousands INDEX

1970-71 I015.5 737533 726 $247,668 244

1972-73 1212.8 866838 715 $282,195 233

1974-75 1472.8 1091734 741 $327,904 223 1975-76 1598.4 1180128 738 $357,544 224 1976-77 1782.8 1259637 707 $373,699 210

1978-79 2249.7 1502158 668 $450,180 200

1981-82 3052.6 1943769 637 $561,199 184

1 9 8 4 - 8 5 3 7 7 2 . 2 2 4 1 6 9 9 8 641 $ 6 9 8 , 5 7 8 1 8 5

GAIN ( L O S S ) OF SHARE ( 1 1 . 8 % ) ( 2 4 . 1 g )

Source: Digest ~ Educatton Statistics and Col~e and Umversity Lib~rzes Fall 1985 [CS87-34~], No data are published ~r missing years.

smaller by several measures. As a percentage of the gross national product, total library expenditures on materials dropped from .0244 percent to .0184 percent--a 25 percent loss of share--dur ing the same twelve-year period (see Table 2). Looking at the average library expenditure indexed against the gross national product, we see a steady decline from 9.6 to 5.5--a 43 percent loss of share (see Table 3), while the publication rate doubled.

There is a reasonable basis to refocus our application for library materials, based on GNP indexing, because the total expenditures of all colleges and universities as a percentage of GNP has lost little during this period (see Table 4). The percentage of academic libraries' expenditure going for books and other library materials dropped from 34 percent in 1970-71 to 29 percent in 1981-82. Library materials deserve their fair share. I, for one, am led to conclude that the average academic library lost substantial ground in its acquisitions budget while other areas of academe are funded more generously (see Figure 1).

Researchers who suffer the consequences of such lost ground can offer a third set of arguments even more persuasive than a dearly demonstrated publication rate or GNP indexing. Numbers lack passion. But I believe that a study such as Henry H. Barschall's controversial "Cost-Effectiveness of

84 Book Research Quarterly / Fall 1990

TABLE 3 Statistics of College & University Libraries: United States & Outlying Areas

AVERAGE LIBRARY BUDGET VS. GROSS NATIONAL PRODUCT NO. OF LIBRARIES AVERAGE

Expend on acq. indexed G.N.P. NO. OF TOTAL AVERAGE against

bIlllonsLIBRARIES thousands thousands G.N.P. 1970-71 1015.5 2535 247668 $98 9.620818

1972-73 1212.8 2908 282195 $97 8.001395

1974-75 1472.8 2972 327904 $110 7.491247 1975-76 1598.4 2987 357544 $120 7.488741 1976-77 1782.8 3058 373699 $122 6.854595

1978-79 2249.7 3122 450180 $144 6.409567

1 9 8 1 - 8 2 3 0 5 2 . 6 3104 561199 $181 5 . 9 2 2 7 7 6

1984-85 3772.2 3388 698578 $206

GAIN (LOSS) OF SHARE

5 . 4 6 6 0 9 0

( 4 3 . 2 g )

Source: Digest of Education Statistics. No data are published for missing years.

Physics Journals," an analysis of two hundred physics journals published in Physics Today in 1988, ranking them based on "price per character," is im- portant for its expression of acute frustration (rather than as a guide for library purchases). Here a University of Wisconsin physics professor felt so thwarted that he took his valuable time and talent to study the prices of publishers as he might analyze the electrical resistance of a series of alloys. His frustration at "'static budgets" and rising prices is widely shared, not only by other scientists but by librarians and publishers.

Publishers, like librarians, are simply custodians of information. To stay solvent they make ends meet by cutting costs and raising prices. For every subscription lost to a "budget cut," the publisher must assess the subscribers that remain. Yet the rate of publication continues to increase, more papers and more specialized topics (spurred even by researchers like Barschall who stray outside their specific area of authority) eventually secure the blessing of some editor, and then curse the system of financial responsibility that demands payment for the printing, paper, postage, and editorial workman- ship needed to print 5 percent more papers each year, even though fewer copies are distributed.

The New York Times reported "Climbing Tuition Tied to Shrinking Student Pool" [April 14, 1990]. Aside from noting the similarity of universities raising tuitions to publishers who raise subscription prices, one must infer that

Henderson 85

TABLE 4 Statistics of Co l l ege & University Libraries: United States & Outlying Areas

TOTAL OPERATING EXPENDITURES OF ALL COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES INDEXED AGAINST THE GROSS NATIONAL PRODUCT

TOTAL G.N.P. EXPENDITURES bi11ions millions INDEX

1970-71 1015.5 27541 2712 1971-72 1102.7 29722 2695 1972-73 1212.8 31923 2632 1973-74 1359.3 35026 2577 1974-75 1472.8 39818 2704 1975-76 1598.4 43605 2728 1976-77 1782.8 47223 2649 1977-78 1990.5 50498 2537 1978-79 2249.7 55296 2458 1979-80 2508.2 62465 2490 1980-81 2732.0 70524 2581 1981-82 3052.6 77315 2533 1982-83 3166.0 83356 2633 1983-84 3405.7 59597 1750 1984-85 3772.2 98257 2605 1985-86 4010.3 107685 2685 1986-87 4235.0 115900 2737

GAIN (LOSS) OF SHARE .9%

Source: Digest of Educahon Stahstms 1989 table 25. No data are published for rnlssing years.

universities are also moving to "control" costs--including the library ma- terials budget. The forecast is that times are going to get tougher for libraries, publishers, and researchers. The irony is that our educational system prom- ised a better life to its graduates and graduate students, including faculty like Professor Barschall, in return for an ever increasing output of specialized research. It is the graduate, rather than the student, who uses and contributes to the literature of primary research. Why should the library acquisitions budget be tied to enrollments?

Professor Barschall has an essential point of v iew--perhaps the most vi- t a l - t o offer to the politicians with power to make a difference. I would rather see him articulate his professional frustration specifically and direct it at library heads, deans, university presidents, business people, Congress, and the president. Can a scientist complete an adequate review of published research using incomplete library resources? What are the chances such re- search efforts will be effective when library resources are spotty? How ad- equate is the new technology as a substitute for primary publications on the shelf? How do scientists feel when they are unable to readily consult research

86 Book Research Quarterly / Fall 1990

F I G U R E 1 Academic Library Acquisitions

& Total Institutions Expenditures vs. G N P

100%

2.7% 2.7% INSTITUTIONS

.0244% ~ _

0 1970 1980

Note: Funds for library materials are diverted to other programs.

- .0184% LIBR. ACQ.

1990

materials in the library? How frustrated can a researcher be and cont inue to work productively?

Today the experience of most researchers is more apt to be like Professor Barschall's than that of the scholar reported by Patricia Battin, Commiss ion on Preservation and Access, in the 1988 Proceedings of the Society for Scholarly Publishing, who "was ecstatic about the resources in the Butler library stacks. The journals were all available in complete, unbroken runs . . . . "

More likely, the researcher suffers through a variety of d a t a b a s e s - - e a c h with its own peculiar search system and period of coverage, documen t de- livery se rv ices - -which may or may not produce the desired text in a rea- sonable period, and other gaps in coverage resulting from inadequate fund- ing. Frustration and anger are the result. We dread the day w h e n the average university library will subscribe only to a handful of journals showing a "cost-effective" high citation-impact r a t i n g - - t h e gourmet equivalent of a pasteurized-process-American-cheese-on-white-bread d i e t - - a n d a t enuous reliance on database plus document delivery services. The n e w technology is promising but still l imited and a poor substitute for the Alexandrian library, where primary sources are all within reach. Industry, government , finance, religion, national security, the professions, and the general public all have enormous appetites for new technology applied to goods, services, medicine, safety, and entertainment. Who will tell them that new research in America has been hobbled at its most basic level and that future advances will come more often from offshore sources?

Henderson 87

Each of the three budget justification arguments described can be par- ticularized neatly to any library. Librarians can measure and keep track of the acceleration of published papers in their libraries by making simple page counts of periodicals received, plus those desired by clientele. They can index their library materials expenditures, the total expenditures for their library, and their institution, by dividing them by the GNP (see Table 5).

TABLE 5 Selected Academic Libraries Expenditures on Library Materials as Related to G . N . P .

1970-1985. Ranked by Index per cent change INDEX CHANGE

1970 1985 from ACQUISITIONS ACQUISITIONS 1970 $O00s G.N.P. $O00s G.N.P. to

G.N.P. as O00,O00s: $I,015,500 index $4,010,300 index 1985

STHN ILL - CARBONDALE $1,189 .12% U MISSOURI COLUMBIA $I,001 .10% U MICHIGAN ANN ARBOR $1,468 .14% SUNY BUFFALO MAIN $903 .09% WAYNE STATE U $1,022 .10% U ILL URBANA $I,934 .19% RUTGERS NEW BRUNSWICK $1,006 .10% U CALIF SANTA BARBARA $I,009 .10% U HAWAII MAIN $855 .08% YALE $1,836 .18% U PENNSYLVANIA $935 .09% WASHINGTON U $919 .09% PRINCETON $1,274 .13% U GEORGIA $1,192 .12% HIT $620 .06% MICHIGAN STATE U $913 .09% DUKE $1,038 .I0% U CALIF DAVIS $1,204 .12% U CHICAGO $965 .10% INDIANA U BLOOMINGTON $1,125 .11% U UTAH $739 .07% COLUMBIA MAIN DIV $1,310 .13% U CALIF BERKELEY $1,572 .15% SYRACUSE U MAIN $731 .07% U WISCONSIN MADISON $1,185 .12% U KANSAS MAIN $798 .08% U SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA $812 .08% NEW YORK UNIV $879 .09% U PITTSBURGH MAIN $689 .07% JOHNS HOPKINS $564 .06% STANFORD $1,533 .15% U ROCHESTER $577 .06% HARVARD $1,772 .17% U WASHINGTON $1,102 .ii% U VIRGINIA MAIN $1,054 .i0% UCLA $1,413 .14% U FLORIDA $728 .07% NORTHWESTERN U $753 .07% U NC CHAPEL HILL $974 .I0% BROWN $446 .04% U ARIZONA $764 .08% ARIZONA STATE U $635 .06%

$2,306 $2 146 $3 335 $2 097 $2,445 $4 724 $2 582 $2 673 $2289 $4 916 $2 512 $2 518 $ 3 5 5 7 $3 447 $I 811 $2 681 $3103 $3 703 $2 980 $3 516 $2,392 $4 260 $5 115 $2 446 $4.141 $2837 $2962 $3 258 $2,555 $2,104 $5.755 $2 193 $6.872 $4,313 $4~333 $5.850 $3 022 $3 169 $4,228 $2,105 $4,425 $3,809

.06% -50.89% 05% -45.71% 08% -42.47% 05% -41.20% 06% -39.42% 12% -38.15% 06% -35.01% 07% -32.92% 06% -32.21% 12% -32.20% 06% -31.97% 06% -30.62% 09% -29.30% 09% -26.77% 05% -26.03% 07% -25.64% 08% -24.30% 09% -22.12% 07% -21.80%

.O9% -20.86%

.06% -18.04%

.11% -17.65%

.13% -17.61%

.06% -15.27%

.10% -II.51%

.07% -9.98%

.07% -7.63%

.08% -6.14%

.06% -6.10%

.05% -5.54%

.14% -4.94%

.05% -3.76%

.17% -1.80%

.II% -.89%

.ll% 4.10%

.15% 4.84%

.08% 5.12%

.08% 6.57%

.II% 9.92%

.05% 19.51%

.II% 46.66%

.09% 51.89%

Index: Individual library materials expenditures as % of GNP/1000000 Source: Digest of Educatmnal Statistics 1988 table 299 from "Library Statistics of Colleges & Universities Fall 1985" survey . . . data in thousands. Also, Library Statistics of Colleges & University Libraries. Part A: Institutional Data. Fall 1971. Table 2. Actual Operating Exp. Acquisitions includes operating expense for book stock, periodicals, microforms, audiovisual materials, and other library materials.

88 Book Research Quarterly / Fall 1990

They can deliver the most persuasive argument for their fair share of funds with the cooperation of library researchers, preferably the most prestigious and the most frustrated. Researchers must present their argument with pas- sion. Librarians must help them focus it directly at the individuals with discretion over funding.

Many of us believed that the "information explosion" was the problem and that the libraries were holding their own. Professor Barschall, for in- stance, begins his 1988 article, "The rapid increase in the prices of physics journals has forced many physics libraries, in the face of static budgets, to cancel some of their subscriptions."

Perhaps if Professor Barschall's libraries had their fair share of the funding, his journal subscriptions would be intact and their prices would have risen less sharply. If that fair share is restored soon, perhaps some of the damage, in terms of missing back volumes and reference works, can be repaired at a reasonable cost.