Market research and data services provider Research and Markets, Ireland, has announced the addition of the 'The Survey of Academic Libraries, 2010-11 Edition' report to their offering.
The report presents more than 245 pages of data and commentary on a broad range of academic library issues. These include spending on books, ebooks, journals, databases and other content vehicles; hiring plans and trends in salaries and benefits; subject specific and overall academic library investment plans in content and trends in the capital budget; data on the use of laptops in the library, and the usefulness of various internet tools, among other issues.
According to the study for more than 56 percent of the libraries in the sample, salaries and benefits in real terms declined in the past year. The libraries in the sample reduced spending on content/materials by 1.75 percent in the 2009-10 academic year; the median figure was 0. The study further notes that an enormous gap is opening up between the public and private colleges over capital spending. More than 55 percent of the public colleges say that their capital budgets will decrease over the next three years while only 5.56 percent of private colleges say the same. About a quarter of the libraries sampled have increased investment in information resources in business, finance and economics while about half that percentage has decreased such investment. Most have maintained it constant. More than 37 percent of private colleges have increased investment in this area while only 6.25 percent have decreased it.
The data in the report is based on a sample of more than 50 academic libraries in the United States and Canada.
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