This study presents and analyzes the findings of a 2012 survey of member libraries belonging to the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) about publishers' large journal bundles and compares the results to earlier surveys. The data illuminate five research questions: market penetration, journal bundle construction, collection format shifts,…

The publishers' hall at the recent Association of College and Research Libraries conference, held in Seattle in mid-March, was a study in give-and-take: how much publishers such as Elsevier and Oxford University Press will give in this lousy economy, and how much budget-strapped librarians can take. Libraries are some of the biggest customers for…

The rising prices of journals and serials--major information sources for academic and research communities--are explored in this work, which presents two contractor reports on the topic. These two reports are introduced by an overview and summary together with recommendations for further Association of Research Libraries (ARL) action, short…

Replacing a January 1980 publication of the same title, this collection of cost tables and other documentation from library materials cost studies conducted by members of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) or by library vendors contains excerpts from: (1) local cost studies conducted at Colorado State University, Indiana University, Iowa…

Rutgers University Libraries are using a Microsoft Access database to track the purchase of books requested by teaching faculty for use in the Reserve Collection. Reports are generated which show what is purchased, how money was spent. Combined with circulation figures and LC Subject areas, the database provides documentation of library support of…

The first of five sections in this final report for the College Cost Containment Project describes the organizational structure and purposes of the Washington Research Library Consortium (WRLC) and identifies the cost containment issues addressed by the project. The remaining sections describe the programs developed by the WRLC as appropriate…

This collection of documentation from library materials cost studies conducted by members of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) member libraries in the United States and Canada contains 11 documents divided into the following sections: (1) methodologies and data collection worksheets from the University of California at Berkeley, the…

Four essays on U.S. government documents address the didactic nature of many government publications; the reliability of government information and statistics on energy, crime, consumer prices, and unemployment; user needs and access to government information; and sources and services for science and technology libraries. (EM)