Re: Pricing of Journals

On 01/26/99, Albert Henderson <noblestation[_at_]compuserve.com> wrote:
>
> On 25 Jan 1999, Bert Boyce <lsboyc[_at_]lsuvm.sncc.lsu.edu> wrote:
> >
> > On 01/22/99, Albert Henderson <noblestation[_at_]compuserve.com> wrote:
> > >
> > > In the New York Times (Oct 21, 1998:B9) Karen W. Arenson reports that
> > > wealthy universities are beginning to loosen their purse strings as
> > > endowments soar. Why don't they restore their library collections?
> > >
> > > In constant dollars, endowments of 71 research universities doubled
> > > between 1986 and 1997 -- nine years. Their library collections and
> > > educational programs did not do anywhere near as well, did they?
> >
> > Well the endowments have certainly grown. It would have been
> > criminal if they had not in the current investment environment. If you
> > count their growth as income, then I guess the Universities are hoarding
> > that income. However, since the endowed funds in my School are all in
> > scholarship funds (except for one small $25,000) account whose earnings
> > may be expended in an unrestricted manner, and I can't touch the growing
> > principle, only the increased earnings, and those only for the purposes
> > for which they were originally contributed, we just increase the size
> > of the scholarships when we can. It is just unclear to me where I get
> > these endowment dollars to buy books.
>
> I was not counting endowment growth as income. I indicated that
> revenue in excess of expenditures must go to the endowment since
> there could be no distribution to shareholders, as in a for-profit
> organization. Or perhaps, in the case of public institutions, it
> should go back to the treasury.
>
> You should get surplus revenue dollars by increasing expenditures
> to equal revenues. Dept. of Education figures for the state of
> Louisiana, for instance, indicate surplus revenues of $9 million
> in FY94 and $59 million in FY95. You would probably need only a
> small fraction.
>
> Going back 20 years in the Digest of Education Statistics, one
> cannot find a single year in which public or private higher
> education ran in the red. Instead, we see surplus revenue
> (in constant dollars) tripled while library spending increased
> by one third!
>
> During that 20-year period, spending on academic research more than
> doubled. Library spending actually dropped one year, (from FY 85 to
> FY 86), aggravating the library crisis while profits climbed.
>
> I cited the NY Times article simply to suggest that administrators
> may be beginning to recognize the insanity of their record.

One practical consideration that nobody has mentioned regarding the library spending issue is the question of how much physical space a particular library has. I'm guessing (and this is only a guess - I have no facts to support this theory) that limited physical facilities are one possbile contributing reason for the failure of library spending to match revenue growth according to the numbers quoted by Mr. Henderson. To increase the number of holdings that will fit within a library, I assume the library must either remove study carols or reading rooms or increase the size of the building. Removing study carols or reading rooms seems to me to be an undesirable course of action. However, increasing building size requires not only available real estate, but also a sizeable amount of money for design and construction costs. I know that my alma mater is currently in the design and planning stages for increasing the physical size of the libary, in anticipation of increasing the breadth and scope of its holdings. But such a project takes many years to complete.

I admit that the above does not take into consideration the possiblity of subscribing to journals or periodicals through cd rom, database or other computer-based media (which require very little space). Thus, I don't know if the above theory really "holds water," at least as to the last five years or so. I am interested in hearing from those who are more informed about this issue to see if physical space is, in fact, a real factor in purchasing decisions.

Benedict A. Monachino
<bam[_at_]p-a.com> Received on Wed Jan 27 1999 - 12:59:36 GMT