As a continuation of my previous blog, I have found additional information that discusses library budgets specifically regarding the serials collection. “Data from the National Center for Education Statistics and the Association for Research Libraries show that over the past 25 years funding for libraries in higher education has shrunk dramatically as a percentage of total expenditures” (Bosch & Henderson, 2012). Not only are budgets decreasing in academic libraries, but also in public libraries. “In response to the 2012 EBSCO Library Collections and Budgeting Trends Survey, conducted in February 2012, 69 percent of libraries reported that their current-year budgets had remained flat or decreased, 52 percent indicated that they expect their budgets for the upcoming year to remain flat, and 22 percent expect their budgets to decrease” (Bosch & Henderson, 2012). From these statistics, it is clear that budgets are predicted to keep declining in the next upcoming years.
What are
libraries doing as a result of the reduced budgets?
As mentioned
in my previous blog, some libraries are reducing the same of staff working as
well as not staying open as many hours to reduce costs. Additionally, “Most libraries
reported that they were likely to decrease spending for print journals,
print-plus-online journals, and print books” (Bosch & Henderson, 2012).
This means that there will be fewer materials for people to use to get access
to the materials they need.
Increase
in serials prices
“While
state and library budgets continue to decrease, research indicates that serials
prices are increasing at a rate that also seems to be escalating” (Bosch &
Henderson, 2012). While some prices only have a small increase, there are some
serials that are more expensive than others. “Prices for science, technology,
and medical serials remain the highest, compared with prices for serials in
other subject areas” (Bosch & Henderson, 2012).
How to
keep costs down
“Serials cancellations
and reductions in monographic purchases remain the primary tools used to
control costs” (Bosch & Henderson, 2012). Another approach to reduce costs
is by “changing or dropping journal packages and using pay-per-view instead of
subscriptions as a purchase mechanism” (Bosch & Henderson, 2012). Do you
find pay-per-view to be more effective than purchasing the serial say for a
yearly subscription? I think that it depends upon the title and how frequently
the title is looked at and used by people. With pay-per-view, the titles would
only be offered online. Libraries are foreseeing the shift from print to
electronic resources in regards to saving money and cutting costs. “In both
2011 and 2012, approximately 80 percent of library respondents to EBSCO’s
survey said they are likely to reduce the number of print subscriptions while
planning to increase the number of e-journal subscriptions” (Bosch &
Henderson, 2012).
What
will happen to publishers?
With
libraries purchasing more online resources, publishers are going to find that
they are not bringing in as much business as they once did. “As funds and
revenues tighten, smaller publishers will continue to be bought by larger ones,
so consolidation in the industry will continue” (Bosch & Henderson, 2012).
When smaller publishers are bought out, then there will not be as many
companies to compete with prices. These larger companies will be able to set
prices and get what they are asking because there will not be as much
competition.
How is
social media affecting serials?
Are you a
fan of your home library on Facebook? Do you follow your home library on
Twitter? If so, then you are probably utilizing the mobile services that social
media sites offer for people on the go. “Context has now become an important
part of discovery and brings it to the attention of users: Who has
reviewed/recommended/liked/tweeted/bought content” (Bosch & Henderson,
2012). By using social media sites, people are able to respond to other users’
comments and information immediately. They can “like” a status or comment on
Facebook or they can tweet about something so their followers can see. People
can also post links to websites and articles that they find interesting. Other
people are more likely to access and look at this information because one of
their friends found it to be interesting. As a result, the information and the
source get passed around for many people to see. “Current discovery systems
rely on users actively searching for information, but social networks could
very well change this process and increase the rate of erosion for traditional
information containers” (Bosch & Henderson, 2012).
Serials
on cell phones
“Mobile
devices are becoming more important to serials delivery, with 73 percent of
publishers that responded to the 2012 EBSCO survey indicating that they plan to
increase access to content via mobile apps” (Bosch & Henderson, 2012).
Would you use an application developed for your library to access serials? I
think that this is a good idea because how is it any different from people
using a computer to access databases. It might take them longer to search and
browse but eventually I think that people would get used to using the
application.
What
affects the cost of serials?
“Any
number of factors can impact price changes, including the overall health of the
world’s economy, rates for currency exchange, publishing industry trends, and
subscription cancellations” (Bosch & Henderson, 2012).
References:
Bosch,
S., & Henderson, K. (2012, May 1). Coping with the terrible twins: cost
inflation and revenue stagnation are at the heart of pricing ills. Library
Journal, 137(8), 28+. Retrieved from http://lj.libraryjournal.com/2012/04/funding/coping-with-the-terrible-twins-periodicals-price-survey-2012/
No comments:
Post a Comment