ARL has published announcements that three new statistical reports are available (fee-based).
Below find links to the publication announcements and ordering info along with a few highlights from each publication.
1. ARL Statistics 2012–2013
ARL has released the ARL Statistics 2012–2013, the latest in a series of annual publications that describe the collections, staffing, expenditures, and service activities of ARL’s 125 member libraries. Of these, 115 are university libraries (16 in Canada and 99 in the US); the remaining 10 are public, governmental, and nonprofit research libraries (1 in Canada, 9 in the US).
The 2012–2013 ARL Statistics survey utilized a revised questionnaire, which was finalized in 2011–2012 after an extensive review process led by the Task Force on Reviewing the ARL Statistics, the ARL Annual Salary Survey, and the ARL Supplementary Statistics. The revised survey is designed to make the data more useful, relevant, and easy to collect. The new ARL Statistics survey strikes a balance between keeping pace with the rapidly changing environment in research libraries and codifying the evolution of the 21st-century research library.
ARL libraries are a relatively small subset of libraries in North America, but they account for a large portion of academic library resources in terms of assets, budgets, and the number of users they serve. The total expenditures of all 125 member libraries in 2012–2013 were almost $4.4 billion; of that, $3.3 billion was spent by the 115 university libraries and slightly more than $1 billion by the nonuniversity libraries.
2. ARL Academic Law Library Statistics 2012–2013 Published
ARL has released ARL Academic Law Library Statistics 2012–2013, which presents data describing collections, expenditures, personnel, and services in 73 law libraries at ARL member institutions in the US and Canada.
In 2012–2013, the reporting law libraries held a median of 440,087 volumes, spent a total of $218,319,074, and employed 1,867 FTE staff. Expenditures for materials and staff accounted for the bulk of total expenditures, at approximately 48% and 44% respectively. Respondents reported spending a total of $17,656,543 in one-time resource purchases and $82,079,521 in ongoing resource purchases.
2. ARL Academic Health Sciences Library Statistics 2012–2013 Published
ARL has released ARL Academic Health Sciences Library Statistics 2012–2013, which presents data describing collections, expenditures, personnel, and services in 60 health sciences libraries at ARL member institutions in the US and Canada.
In 2012–2013, the reporting health sciences libraries held a median of 199,770 volumes, spent a total of $244,887,038, and employed 1,814 FTE staff. Expenditures for materials and staff accounted for the bulk of total expenditures, at approximately 50% and 36% respectively. Respondents reported spending a total of $8,217,463 in one-time resource purchases and $110,224,500 in ongoing resource purchases.
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