Survey of Academic Library Plans for the Print Book Collection

The study looks at the print book collection plans of 53 college and university libraries. The reports helps its readers to answer questions such as: Are print book collections growing or declining? What role do interlibrary loan departments play in book culling decisions? When print books are culled how many are digitized? What has been the impact of eBooks on print book decision-making? How comfortable are library patrons with the substitution of eBooks for print books? How do the perpetual access policies of eBook vendors impact print book decision-making? How many libraries use quantitative models of likely print book use as an aid in collection culling? What factors are most taken into account in culling decisions? What percentage of print book collections are culled each year? What is the influence of various academic departments on the print book vs. eBook purchasing decision? What kinds of major mistakes have academic libraries made in their print book culling decisions? In what areas are academic libraries least likely to replace print books with eBooks? Just a few of the report’s many findings are that: • 22.64% of the libraries in the sample had tried to develop some form of predictive model as an aid in print book collection retention or culling decision-making. • The median percentage of the entire book collection culled each year was 1.75%. • The most print book culling was by colleges in the lowest tuition range, less than $6,000 per year. • Private college libraries were much more likely than public college libraries to use offsite storage space; nearly 27% of the former had done so, but only 7.41% of the latter. • 57.72% felt that the major eBook vendors had policies that were well thought out and libraries felt very secure with them.