Selected Findings: The Survey of Library Database Licensing Practices, 2012 Ed. From Primary Research
From the Primary Research Group Web Site:
This 116-page report studies the database licensing practices of 60 academic, public, corporate, and law libraries from across the globe, representing more than a dozen countries and regions including the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and continental Europe, as well as a handful of participants from developing countries.
From a News Release Posted on Medlib-L:
Data in the report is broken out for US, developing country, and Non-US developed country participants, as well as by type of library and library size, among other variables.
Some the report’s many findings are that:
+ Libraries in the sample spend a mean of $70,030 per year on electronic licenses for e-books
+ eBook spending by the libraries in the sample has increased by an aggregate 60% over the past two years.
+ 44.64% of libraries in the sample expect to cut 25% or more of their current contracts for directories in the next two years.
+ 7.02% of survey participants say that the ability to access databases through smartphones and other handheld devices is essential for their library and 33.33% categorize it as important.
+ 48.28% of survey participants in college libraries and 45.45% of those in public libraries would like blogs indexed in the databases they now use.
+ Libraries in the sample participated in a mean of 3 consortia from which they licensed at least one database and consortia accounted for 44.56% of the database licenses for the libraries in the sample.
+ For libraries in the sample, electronic content on business and finance has increased in price by a mean of 6.91% in the last year.
+ Survey participants estimate that a mean of 22.53% of their database vendors sometimes deliver problematic invoices which library personnel are compelled to check carefully.
+ About 47% of survey participants report a modest increase in database usage at their library in the past year, much of this accounted for by libraries in the United States, 53.13% of which increased used modestly and 15.63% of which increased use substantially.
See Also: Seven Page Excerpt from the Report (PDF)
See Also: Table of Contents and Ordering Info
Filed under: Companies (Publishers/Vendors), Data Files, Libraries, News, Public Libraries
About Gary Price
Gary Price (gprice@gmail.com) is a librarian, writer, consultant, and frequent conference speaker based in the Washington D.C. metro area. He earned his MLIS degree from Wayne State University in Detroit. Price has won several awards including the SLA Innovations in Technology Award and Alumnus of the Year from the Wayne St. University Library and Information Science Program. From 2006-2009 he was Director of Online Information Services at Ask.com.