ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries July/August 1984 / 359 T h ree years o f ch a n g e in co lleg e a n d university lib raries P rep ared by the N ation al Center for E ducation Statistics W ashington, D .C . Academic library statistics from 1979 to 1982 reflect changes in holdings, budgets, staff, and usage. T o t a l operating expenditures of college and uni v e rsity lib ra rie s in c re a se d by 3 0 .4 % b e tw e e n school years 1978-79 and 1981-82, w hile the infla tion rate was 37.3 % for the same period. Expendi tu re increases for salaries (30.0 %) w ere low er th an the inflation rate, w hile expenditures for fringe benefits (47.8 %) exceeded the inflation rate. Total receipts from F e d e ra l G o v ern m en t g ran ts d e creased by 23.2% from 1979. These are some of the findings of a N ational C en ter for E ducation Statistics (NCES) survey of col lege and university libraries for the school year end ing in 1982.1 The survey had a 91 % response rate from a universe of 3,326 college and university li braries. D a ta w ere im puted for all nonrespondents w ith th e exception of 89 institutions th a t w ere not in th e 1979 survey. This report presents selected ag gregates for the 50 states and D istrict of C olum bia and com pares them w ith the last NCES survey of college and university libraries for the school year ending in 1979. 1All library d a ta are reported w ith reference to academ ic years 1978-79 and 1981-82, except for li b rary staff and student enrollm ent d ata w hich are reported as of fall 1979 and 1982, and library refer ence transactions which are reported as of spring 1979 and 1982. Holdings and acquisitions T otal book volumes increased from 517.2 m il lion in 1978-79 to 567.8 million in 1981-82 (Table 1). Although total book collections increased d u r ing this period, acquisitions of book volumes and ti tles decreased by 9.1% and 11.6% , respectively, w hen com paring the tw o survey years (Table 2). This decline in book acquisitions continues th e d ow nw ard tren d w hich began in 1972-73. Periodical subscriptions, how ever, increased 3.0 % (Table 2). The popularity of periodicals car ried over into m icroforms, w here th e num ber of periodical titles available increased a substantial 58.3 % over 1978-79 (Table 1). Acquisition of peri odicals on microforms was up 52.5 % from 1978-79 to 1981-82 (Table 2). Audiovisual m aterials w ere being added at a slower rate, dow n 22.4% from 1978-79 (Table 2). Expenditures and receipts O perating expenditures in academ ic libraries in creased by $452.9 m illion or 30.4% from 1978-79 to 1981-82 (Table 3). D uring the same 3-year pe riod, the inflation rate, based on th e Consum er Price Index, was 37.3% . (The inflation rate is de rived from m onthly figures published by the Bu reau of L abor Statistics.) Thus, expenditures did not increase as fast as inflation. 360 / C &R L News Table 1—Holdings of library m aterials, by type in college and university libraries: 50 States and D .C . 1979 and 1982 Holdings, by type 1978-79 1981-82 % change (In thousands) Book volumes 517,152 567,826 + 9.8 Book titles 338,426 369,916 + 9.3 G overnm ent documents (in separate collections) 89,974 106,285 + 18.1 Microforms—book titles 39,094 46,631 + 19.3 M icroforms—periodical titles 2,493 3,947 + 58.3 M icroforms—other 223,502 307,443 + 37.6 Audiovisual materials (titles) 20,738 24,762 + 19.4 All other library m aterials (titles) 118,952 160,182 + 34.7 Table 2—Acquisition of library m aterials, by type in college and university libraries: 50 States and D .C ., 1979 and 1’982 Acquisitions, by type 1978-79 1981-82 % change (In thousands) Periodical subscriptions 4,749 4,890 + 3.0 Book volumes 21,460 19,507 - 9 . 1 Book titles 14,405 12,735 - 1 1 .6 Governm ent documents (in separate collections) 7,270 6,303 - 1 3 .3 M icroforms—book titles 3,275 3,054 - 6 . 3 M icroforms—periodical titles 282 430 + 52.5 M icroforms—other 21,609 26,375 + 22.0 Audiovisual materials 2,089 1,621 - 2 2 .4 All other library materials (titles) 5,328 4,690 - 1 1 .9 Table 3—O perating expenditures and receipts of college and university libraries, by type: 50 states an‹ D .C ., 1979 and 1982 Expenditures and receipts, by type 1978-79 1981-82 % change (In thousands) Total library operating expenditures $1,490,863 $1,943,769 + 30.4 Salaries and wages1 703,280 914,379 + 30.0 Fringe benefits 113,310 167,515 + 47.8 Wages of students2 79,086 100,847 + 27.5 Books 223,207 255,767 + 14.6 Periodicals 178,385 258,066 + 44.7 Microforms 20,029 22,384 + 11.8 Audiovisual m aterial 16,960 15,661 - 7 . 6 All other library m aterials 9,174 9,321 + 1.6 Binding and rebinding 25,176 30,351 + 20.6 All other library operating expenditures 122,256 169,478 + 38.6 Total receipts from Federal Governm ent grants 25,186 19,343 - 2 3 .2 in c lu d e s estim ated value of contributed services. 2Serving on hourly basis. July/August 1984 / 361 From 1978-79 to 1981-82, expenditures for li brary staff salaries increased 30.0% , but expendi tures for fringe benefits increased considerably m ore—up 47.8% (Table 3). In 1981-82, the total expenditures for staff compensation (sum of sala ries, fringe benefits, and wages for student assis tants) of $1.2 billion was just about double the am ount spent on library m aterial (sum of expendi tures for books, periodicals, microforms, audiovi suals, and other library materials). In comparing the two survey years, the 47.8 % increase in fringe benefits represents the largest percentage increase of any expenditures item, followed closely by the 44.7% increase of expenditures for periodicals. By comparison, expenditures for books increased by only 14.6%. Indeed, 1982 total expenditures for periodicals exceeded total expenditures for books, $258.1 million and $255.8 million, respectively. Only one expenditure item showed a decrease— expenditures for audiovisual materials was down 7.6% . Total receipts from Federal Government grants showed a 23.2% decrease. Staff A total of 58,476 full-time equivalent (FTE) per sons served on college and university library staffs in fall 1982, a 1.4% increase over fall 1979. This total represents approximately 155 FTE students per FTE library staff member in 1982, as com pared w ith 147 FTE students per FTE library staff m em ber in 1979.2 Females represented approxi 2Source of enrollment data: U.S. D epartm ent of Education, National Center for Education Statis- mately 75 % of the college and university library staff in both years. By contast, females represented only 52% of the college library administrators in 1982. Between 1979 and 1982 the num ber of fe male administrators increased by 6.9% while the n u m b e r of m ale a d m in istra to rs decreased by 3.0% . Library usage Although circulation of library materials was virtually unchanged—up 0.4 %, reference transac tions increased substantially, up 64.8 % since 1979. In the spring of 1982, reference transactions ex ceeded 1.6 million in a typical week. Interlibrary loans rose substantially; total loans to other li braries increased by 34.1% over 1979, and loans from other libraries by 18.0% . For more information The data used in this analysis is available from th e N a tio n al C e n te r for E d u c a tio n Statistics (NCES). Inquiries about the data tape should be directed to the Statistical Inform ation Office, Na tional Center for Education Statistics, 400 Mary land Avenue N .W ., (Brown Building, Room 606), W ashington, DC 20202; (202) 254-6057. For additional information about this report, contact Robert A. Heintze, Division of Multilevel Education Statistics, (202) 254-7351. E ditor’s Note: This report has been reprinted from the NCES Bulletin fo r February 1984. ■ ■ tics, Fall Enrollment in Higher Education 1979, and unpublished fall 1982 data. OMS selects ten ACRL members for its Institute on Research Libraries Twelve library school faculty have been invited to attend an Institute on Research Libraries July 9-27, sponsored by the Association of Research Li braries and operated by ARL’s Office of Manage m ent Studies. The three-week institute is being co-hosted by the University of North Carolina research libraries and the School for Library and Inform ation Sci ence, at Chapel Hill. It will encompass lectures, workshops, small group discussions, and a field ex perience in a major research library. Participants will be exploring the changes taking place in re search libraries, and will be assessing the implica tions of those changes for library education. The following ten of those selected are ACRL members: Robert N. Broadus, University of North C aro lin a School of L ib rary Science; T erry A. Brooks, University of Iowa School of Library Sci ence; Phyllis Dain, Columbia University School of L ibrary Service; John N. DePew, Florida State U niversity School of L ib rary and In fo rm atio n Studies; D .W . Krummel, University of Illinois at Urbana-Cham paign G raduate School of Library and Inform ation Science; William E. M cGrath, State University of New York at Buffalo School of In fo rm atio n and L ib rary Studies; B arb ara B. Moran, University of North Carolina School of Li brary Science; Robert D. Stueart, Simmons Col lege G raduate School of Library and Inform ation Science; Thom as T. S u rp ren an t, University of R hode Islan d G ra d u a te L ib ra ry School; and W ayne A. W iegand, University of Kentucky, Col lege of Library and Inform ation Science. Also selected were Claire England, University of Toronto Faculty of Library and Inform ation Sci ence; and Renee Tjoumas, Catholic University School of Library and Inorm ation Science. University administrators and research library directors will be involved in panel discussions dur ing the final week of the event. ■ ■