Library Materials for learning, research, and scholarship:
Budget challenges for FY10
Current budget situation for FY09 and FY10
Due to constraints of the 2008-2009 (FY09) University budget and the likelihood the FY10 budget will be equally constrained, the Libraries must begin a complete review of continuations (serials, periodicals, journals, and databases).
Purdue Libraries expects a $1.0 to 1.2 M shortfall for FY10. This fiscal year, FY09, the Libraries received a 2% base budget increase on the nearly $10.5 information resources budget, approximately $200,000. The projected inflation for Purdue’s continuations for FY09 is conservatively estimated to be $735,000 (7% of $10.5 M). The university administration has been able to provide $500,000 “one time” funds; that is, non-recurring in the base budget. This additional funding will allow the Libraries to pay the continuation bills for FY09.
For next year, FY10, the Libraries will start the year with a shortfall of 5%. In addition, the University administration anticipates it will be unlikely funds will be available to support any addition to the information resources (continuations and monographs) budget for 2009-2010 (FY10). Since each year the publishers and vendors pass on to academic institutions an annual inflation increase of 6-7%, Purdue Libraries would have an additional short-fall of $600,000 to $700,000 for a combined shortfall for FY10 of $1.0 to 1.2M.
We are not alone
The high percentage increase for subscriptions has been going on for years. We have been very fortunate at Purdue because the university administration has been able to help the Libraries to cover increasing subscription costs through one-time funds each year. Many other universities have been facing annual cuts for the past several years, and are looking at even further cuts this year and next. The overall U.S. economic situation will make it impossible for the University to provide additional funding to the Libraries next year.
Because the inflation rate for scholarly materials is the root cause for this problem, Purdue’s peer institutions and other CIC universities are also facing similar situations. The most recent Association of Research Libraries (ARL) statistics for library expenditures for subscriptions show a 340% increase from 1984 to 2007. During this time period, the Consumer Price Index increased 90%.
Purdue will work with other libraries to meet Purdue faculty and students’ information needs, if not with collections within the Purdue libraries, through Interlibrary Loan services.
How will we address the current situation?
Librarians will be working together and with faculty across campus to evaluate current subscriptions and licenses by considering the following: overlap with other resources (particularly with databases); overall cost and inflation rates for specific subscriptions and/or publishers; usage statistics for the materials; availability of electronic access to the same resources; the research value of the materials; and contractual obligations to maintain subscriptions for a certain amount of time.
Libraries staff are currently working on pulling together all available data concerning materials usage, prices and price increases, and duplication of resources. Once this data is compiled, liaison librarians will begin working with faculty in their departments to determine what cuts need to be made.
Decisions on which materials need to be cut from the Libraries materials budget must be made by May 2009. Publishers will be alerted over the summer 2009, and cancellations for scholarly journals/serials/periodicals will be effective January 1, 2010.
What about the future?
This model for scholarly communication is not sustainable, and has prompted discussions in libraries and in higher education for several years. Purdue sponsored a day-long symposium on the future of scholarly communication in May 2008. Other campuses are doing the same. While radical changes to models of scholarly communication can’t and/or won’t happen overnight, continuing discussion about the situation, encouraging faculty to be advocates for change within their departments, colleges, disciplines, and professional organizations, will help with libraries and campuses in the future.
For more information about issues relating to scholarly communication at Purdue, please visit http://scholarly.lib.purdue.edu/. Links to issues of national and international concern are available from this site.
