ACRL College & Research Libraries News

College & Research Libraries News

ACRL Statistics Reported

Vol. 4L No. 7

July/August 1980

Comparative statistics for 1978-79 are now available for ninety-eight of the North American university libraries that are not members of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL).

These statistics, compiled and published as a pilot project by ACRL, complement the statistical data that ARL pub- lishes annually for its member libraries. (Ninety-eight uni- versity libraries currently are members of ARL.)

Since the ACRL Statistics is comparable to ARL Statistics, it will now be possible to compare data for nearly all the “doctoral-granting institutions” in North America. The availability of this comparative data will enhance the ability of university libraries to use the “Standards for University Libraries” adopted by ARL and ACRL in 1979.

Like ARL Statistics, ACRL Statistics supplies data on the holdings, acquisitions, expenditures, enrollment, personnel, and interlibrary loans of the participating institutions. Whereas ARL Statistics surveys the larger research institutions that meet ARL membership criteria, ACRL Statistics provides a statistical portrait of the medium-sized and smaller university libraries.

Table 1 on page 195 displays selected comparative data taken from ARL Statistics and ACRL Statistics. The table lists median figures for ninety-eight ARL university libraries and ninety-eight ACRL university libraries (1978-79). A median is, of course, a midpoint—half the figures lie above that point and half are below.

It is worth noting that for the ARL university libraries the median ratio of interlibrary loan items loaned to inter- library loan items borrowed is 2.4 to 1, whereas for the ACRL libraries the ratio of items loaned to items borrowed is only 1.5 to 1. This contrast supports the idea that the larger research libraries are still carrying a disproportionate share of the interlibrary loan burden.

Note also that the median ratio of expenditures for salaries and wages to expenditures for materials was 1.9 to 1 for ARL libraries and only 1.4 to 1 for the ACRL libraries. One possible explanation is that the ARL libraries must invest more staff time in maintaining large existing collections and files.

TABLE 1

University Library Statistics 1978-1979 (Medians)*

Categories	ARL Libraries	ACRL Libraries
Volumes in library	1,741,760	635,628
Volumes added (net)	67,749	24,913
Current serials	18,909	7,080
Interlibrary loans loaned	11,241	3,609
Interlibrary loans borrowed	4,768	2,425
Library materials expenditures	$1,550,206	$ 664,234
Current serials expenditures	$ 825,121	$ 312,514
Total salaries and wages	$2,566,067	$ 959,313
Total library operating expenses	$4,605,041	$1,906,228
Professional staff FTE	62	27
Total staff FTE	252	102

*Sources: ARL Statistics, 1978-1979 and ACRL Statistics 1978-1979.

Copies of ACRL Statistics may be ordered by ACRL members for $7.50 (prepaid) and by non-

ACRL members for $8.50 from ACRL/ALA, 50 E. Huron St., Chicago, IL 60611. ■■

LIBRARIES POLLED ON TRAVEL POLICIES

Imagine for a moment what would happen if your library were suddenly cut off from all communication or contact with other libraries and with the library profession generally. Working in isolation, you and your colleagues would be unable to benefit from the ideas and innovations of others, and the library practices at your institution would gradually fall behind the times.

One way libraries keep up with new ideas and developments in librarianship is by helping staff members to attend library-related meetings and workshops. In April, ACRL polled the institutions that are participating in the ACRL 100 Libraries Project about their policies on staff travel. We found that virtually all the libraries surveyed provided some degree of assistance to their staff members for attendance at library conferences and continuing education activities.

Among the 100 libraries responding to the ACRL 100 Survey, 98 make available at least partial support for staff travel to meetings and workshops. Ninety help defray the costs of hotels and meals; ninety-seven provide funds for registration fees; and all 100 allow released time for meetings and continuing education. Forty-eight institutions, in addition, offer at least partial tuition reimbursement for library-related academic courses.

Who is eligible to receive support? At more than 90 percent of the responding institutions, all professional staff members—from the library director to entry-level librarians—are eligible to receive travel funds, reimbursement for registration fees, and released time.

Support staff are also eligible to receive assistance at a majority of the reporting institutions.

Sixty-four of the libraries polled make available travel funds to support staff at least under special circumstances; seventy-three libraries provide funds for registration fees to clerical/support staff at least in some cases; and eighty-three grant released time to support staff.

Most of the libraries surveyed do not impose hard and fast requirements for receiving assistance. Nor do most impose set limits on how often staff members may attend meetings or workshops. Rather, most tend to evaluate requests for support on the basis of certain general priorities and make available funds to staff as budgets permit.

What principles and priorities do the libraries surveyed by ACRL follow in allocating funds for staff travel and meeting attendance? The most important principle, mentioned on the questionnaire more often than any other, was that the library should benefit from the staff member’s participation in the activity; second, the activity should be relevant to the staff member’s job responsibilities; third, the activity should be of high quality; fourth, opportunities for support should be distributed equitably among the staff (and the distribution should be perceived as equitable by the staff); and fifth, the activity should contribute to the professional growth of staff members and should benefit the individuals involved.

In general, travel for official library business (to represent the library or to receive special training) has the first call on the budgets of libraries polled. When the request for support comes from an individual staff member, special consideration is often given to those who are invited to deliver a paper, chair a session, or serve on a panel or committee. At the same time, an effort is usually made to make certain that all staff members, including younger members, are given opportunities to attend meetings.

In order to get the maximum benefit from expenditure for staff travel, twenty-eight of the libraries polled require staff members who have received assistance to submit written reports about their experiences at the meetings or workshops they attended. Twenty-eight libraries also require staff members to give oral presentations about their experiences.

One-third (34 of 100) of the responding libraries report having written policy statements that specify criteria for awarding travel funds and reimbursements. Twenty-one of these institutions have made available copies of their policy statements to the ACRL office. You may order a set of these policy statements by sending $3 and a self- addressed mailing label to ACRL/ALA, 50 E. Huron St., Chicago, IL 60611. ■■

CLIP #1 NOW AVAILABLE

In this issue:

ACRL Statistics Reported …. 193