Background for the LibraryIT Task Force

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Background for the Library-IT Task Force - 1
Unsustainability

• Pat Burns
• Interim Dean, CSU libraries and
• VP for IT

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Outline

• Review Hawkins article on Library
  Unsustainability
• Present data on CSU Library
• Review options for space needed for storing books

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Published Works
Faculty
Librarians
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I. Reference

• Brian L. Hawkins, The Unsustainability of the
  Traditional library and the Threat to Higher
  education, from Brian L. Hawkins and Patricia
  Battin (eds.), The Mirage of Continuity,
  Reconfiguring Academic Libraries for the 21st
  Century, Council on Library and Information
  Resources, Washington, D.C., pp. 129-153 (1998).

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National Trends (p. 131)

• From 81 to 95, library acquisition budgets at 89
  of the nations finest schools
• Tripled in absolute
• But, increased only 82 when CPI factored in
• And, due to increases in costs of acquisitions,
  these libraries actually lost 38 of their buying
  power over this time period
• Trend projected until 2030 predicts libraries
  would have only 20 of the buying power they had
  in 1981

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Factors Leading to Unsustainability (p. 132)

• Rapidly rising costs of materials
• Continued increase in the number of items
  available for purchase
• Impracticality of continuing to build large,
  costly warehouse-type structures to shelve
  printed materials
• Replicating collections that exist elsewhere

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Conclusion (p. 133)

• Libraries clearly will not scale into the 21st
  century using the current model.

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3 Major Cost Components

• Purchase costs (collections)
• Personnel costs (staffing)
• Space costs

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Purchase Costs, Collections (p. 133)

• Association of Research Libraries (ARL) Stats
• ARL collections budgets have increased by 8 on
  average from 1981-1991
• But, acquisitions costs have risen 12 on average
  over this same time period
• Beginning in 1990, ARL acquisitions budgets have
  begun to flatten out due to funding pressures in
  higher education that persist today
• Exacerbated by huge growth in available
  information

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Library Buying Power 1980-2010
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Personnel Costs, Staffing (p. 135)

• ARL annual costs for staffing average about twice
  the annual costs for acquisitions
• Percentage of ARL budgets for staffing have
  shrunk from 67 to 63 over this time period
• Ethnographic project at CSU libraries indicates
  that we could be much more competitive at
  research and deliver higher quality education by
  instilling better searches of our existing
  databases
• Issue of appropriate filtering becomes greater
  as the volume of available information increases

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Space Costs (p. 138)

• If we proceed with the library model as we have
  known it, the costs associated with storing and
  archiving the information will bankrupt our
  institutions of higher education.
• The formerly accepted model of 20 of our
  collections are accessed 80 of the time has
  changed to the 90-10 model, as of 1998 when
  this book was published
• Likely even more presently

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Future Directions (p. 141)

• Moving toward a cooperative strategy of
  electronic storage will not only reduce problems
  associated with physical space, but will also
  address the critical problems of preservation of
  print materials that libraries are facing.
• Enlist faculty support for a new publishing
  paradigm.
• NIH directive, next is NSF, to make articles
  produced under federal grants freely accusable
  after a reasonable embargo period
• Develop a new paradigm that emphasizes access
  over ownership
• Avoid abundant duplication of purchases
• Take advantage of economies of scale, a
  federated approach

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Data for CSUs Libraries
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CSU Library Expenditures
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CSU Number of Journal Subscriptions
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CSU Inter-Library Loan
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Analysis

• Annual budget growth over a decade
• CSU average annual growth in materials budget
  3.9 (2.6 when Materials Other factored in)
• ARL average annual growth in materials budget
  8
• Staffing budget
• CSU 44 of total
• ARL 63 of total
• Salvation
• For some time, reduced purchase of print journals
• Aggregators for electronic access
• Inter-Library Loan (avoids duplication)

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Needs

• Even with aggregation, costs have risen due to
  having to purchase bundled packages
• Budgets have not kept up
• Embarrassingly low discretionary materials budget
  for books, as low as 1,000 per year for some
  departments!
• Back-volumes of electronic journals need of
  almost 1 million
• Perpetual access purchase needs exist, but are
  undefined

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At CSU, Volumes Held

• Out of space for physical volumes
• 1,515,790 volumes in Morgan
• 80,000 currently unshelved due to over capacity
• 631,693 volumes in Lake Street
• Add about 30,000 physical volumes/yr.

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The PASCAL2 Proposal Oct. Deadline

• High-density, environmentally controlled book
  storage facility at Fitzsimmons Medical Center
• Capacity about 700,000 volumes (size dependent)
• One-time costs
• 15-year up-front lease 850,000
• Move costs _at_ 1/vol. 700,000
• Withdrawal costs 5/vol. (probably negotiable)
• Annual recurring costs 465,921!!!
• 15-year total costs 8,538,815 0.81/vol.-yr.

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Lake Street Alternative

• Approach
• Construct a small addition to Lake Street
• Raise sprinkler system and patch roof
• Replace fixed shelving with compact shelving
• Would gain space for 160,000 volumes
• Costs
• One-time 760,500
• Amortization 30 years for building, 15 years for
  shelving
• Annual recurring costs 20,000/yr.
• Normalized costs 0.37/vol.-yr.

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Projection _at_ 30,000 volumes/yr.

• Library staff believe 150,000-250,000 volumes
  could be withdrawn and not affect access
• 80,000 over capacity now
• Net gained 70,000 to 170,000 volumes
• With withdrawal, we would have 2.3 to 5.7 years
  of time to act
• Pascal would add23 years, or 27 years total
• Lake Street would add 5 years, or 9 years total
• Expansion possible there, if needed

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Fundamental Questions
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Are We Storing Appropriate Materials?

• Withdrawal
• Have never withdrawn, heretofore
• Library staff believe 150,000 to 250,000 volumes
  could be withdrawn, with little or no effect upon
  access
• Survey for an initial stab
• New storage space
• Pascal or Lake Street?
• Redirect some resources into more electronic and
  high-demand books?

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Optimizing Our Collections Purchases

• The most appropriate mix of purchases of
• Books (monographs)
• Print only
• Print and electronic
• Electronic only
• Journals
• Print only
• Print and electronic
• Electronic only
• Database access, e.g. Web of Science,
  Lexus/Nexus, etc.

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But, the Biggest Question

• What aspirations do we share for the Library?
• What do we want the Library to become?
• Currently, CSU Libraries ranks 103 of 113
  American Research Libraries
• As we add new graduate and research programs, do
  we want to fund Library materials for those

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Survey of Faculty and Graduate Students

• Targets low hanging fruit for withdrawal.
• Would like the Task Force to review, and we would
  like to conduct this survey ASAP.

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Epilogue

• From Gary Larson

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