This report, based on data from 49 colleges and universities in the USA and Canada, looks closely at academic library plans for print versions of journals, books, newspapers and magazines, directories and maps, drawings, photographs and other materials.
The study finds that libraries are shrinking their book collections and that spending on print book collections is declining. Nonetheless, close to 40% of survey participants felt insecure about the perpetual access policies of major eBook vendors, a factor limiting declines in print book collections.
The 97-page study also reports on trends and gives data on spending on print journal subscriptions without online access, spending on print directories, maps, newspapers and magazines and other items. Libraries also discuss how they make their culling decisions, whom they consult, how they survey their user base and what their plans are for their print collections in the near future.
Just a few of the report’s many findings are that:
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Libraries sampled spent an average of $266,131 on print books in 2017, a figure that was down from the total in 2016 by approximately 4%.
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Private colleges are willing to spend nearly 50% more than public colleges to retain print copies of journals with on-line subscriptions.
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28.57% of public colleges in the sample have phased out print subscriptions to newspapers and magazines.
Data in the report is broken out for public and private colleges, by level of tuition, enrollment level and institutional type.