Cushwa-Leighton Library Strategic Plan Proposal

This proposal is listed in the “Proposals Outside Task Forces” and comes from Strategic Initiative IV “Develop and Focus Resources to Advance the Mission of Saint Mary’s College”

Action 5.4.1 “Increase the number, kind and coverage of library electronic resources and services.”

Background

A good liberal arts college has, at its intellectual crossroads, a good library. An excellent, competitive, nationally ranked college has an excellent, competitive, nationally ranked library. It offers access to information resources required to support the needs of students and faculty in their coursework and research. The collection of information resources provided by the library support the whole college, and as such is an important strategic tool.

In the past five years, the cost of information resources has continued to increase, with an inflation rate of 8-10% for journals and periodicals and the same rate for electronic resources. Books prices have also increased, although at a lower rate, averaging 5%. In those same five years the four lines in the Library’s budget allocation that represent the Information Access budget (books, periodicals, electronic resources & tapes/recordings) increased an average of 3.9% per year. As a result, we have been unable to maintain a steady state of acquiring resources, and certainly have not be able to expand resource availability as needed by our students. Consequently, in FY ’01, the periodicals line was over budget and continues so. In FY ’02, the electronic resources line was over budget and continues so.

The Library has employed several strategies to responsibly manage the budget within allocated resources.

(1) For more than three years, we reserved spending in the book lines to accommodate inflation increases in periodicals and electronic resources.

(2) Print indexes were cancelled as we subscribed to their electronic counterparts from 2000 on.

(3) FY ’04 expenditures reflected the beginning impact of a periodicals review and cancellation process to rein in expenditures.

(4) In FY ’04 some electronic resource costs were moved to endowed earnings accounts and a new image database was licensed entirely with gift funds (one time gift.)

(5) The Library continues to seek better consortial pricing as each database comes up for renewal, a practice that has saved considerable money, but still was unable to maintain spending within the allocation.

These short term strategies, however, do not offer a solution to the ever-increasing shortfall in funds.

A good collection includes both books and journals and, for the past 10-15 years, an increasing component of electronic resources. Electronic resources include journal indexes, full text journals and reference resources such as encyclopedias, dictionaries, handbooks, digital image databases and statistical data sets. These electronic resources do not replace other materials purchased, but are necessary additions to those resources. Robbing one to pay the other leaves widening gaps in current literature that will quickly become irreparable, even with large one time infusions of funds to try to fill in book titles missed when originally published. (Books quickly go out of print, etc.)

Despite our best efforts to economize, costs continue to exceed allocated funding. It has become difficult to maintain our current databases. That selection of databases is already embarrassingly inadequate for what we are trying to offer at Saint Mary’s College. It is beneficial to have the research resources of the U. of Notre Dame next door when we cannot fill our students’ information needs, however, that blessing is at the same time a curse. Our dependence on resources being available at Notre Dame disguises Saint Mary’s real obligation to provide basic resources for its own curriculum and our own student learning on this campus.

Attached as Appendix 1, are some comparative data from libraries from the Private College of Indiana (2004 data), the Oberlin Group (2002 data) and the Great Lakes College Association/Associated Colleges of the Midwest (2002 data) surveys. Saint Mary’s College is below the average in all three groups (and below the median in all but the Indiana group) in Information Access Budget expenditure per student. The Indiana group is the most disparate in size and college resources, ranging from under 100 students at The Associated Mennonite Seminary (all graduate students) to much larger institutions, such as Indiana Wesleyan. The other two groups include more instituitons of our same size. Certainly, there are other comparative factors that show how well the college supports the informaiton needs of their users, however, expenditure for materials is one indicator.

Another view is the number of databases that are available to students at other colleges. Given the differences of what the various states provide in common to all institutions of that state, which is difficult to assess when searching their web sites, the first comparison is with two Indiana colleges similar in size, Earlham and Wabash. Earlham has 68 databases available, 16 of which are in the Indiana State funded package, INSPIRE. Of those, we have 11 beyond the INSPIRE databases, and five more are on our “needs” list. Wabash has 51 databases, 11 of which we have, and six more are on our “needs” list. Branching out beyond Indiana, for an example, Colorado College lists 172 online resources, 10 to which we subscribe and 6 are on our “needs” list. (It is not clear if any of those 172 are state funded.)

Proposal

To be realistic, let alone to be competitive, the Electronic Resources budget line needs a significant increase in budget in order to cover current costs (Appendix 2 Electronic Subscriptions 2005/2006) and to add databases as listed in Appendix 3. The list of databases needed is divided in three tiers suggestive of an increase over three years, but with an understanding that these are continuing, annual, costs. The cost for all three tiers for the first year is $36,091.

There must be a commitment to create and maintain a viable library of information resources adequate to support a nationally ranked liberal arts college. The current level of resources is inadequate for our current college curriculum, let alone the college to which we aspire to become.

Cost Summary

• Proposed new resources needed (all three tiers) Appendix 3 $36,091
• Of which, $6,500 are one time archival costs -$ 6,500
• Second yr. and continuing costs $29,591

Additionally:

• Current allocation for electronic resources $26,250
• Expected costs for FY ’06, Appendix 2 $38,985

• Increase in budget needed to cover current titles $12,735

• Total increase needed FY ’06, and ongoing $48,826

Aggregate Comparative Data on Information Resources Expenditures per Student					Appendix 1
	Endowment (Millions)	FTE Students	Total Liby Budget	Total Acquisitions	Acquisitions
				Budget	Expenditure per Student
Private College of Indiana (2004 data)
Saint Mary's	90.58	1,670	948,740	219,999	132
Average (29 colleges)	79.52	1,723	838,840	289,760	225
Median (29 colleges)	38.8	1,256	557,021	172,978	132
Oberlin Group (2002 data)
Average	335.31	1,991	2,635,579	1,093,089	560
Median	229.17	1,880	2,404,504	1,012,491	515
Great Lakes College Assn, Associated Colleges of the Midwest (2002 data)
Average (25 colleges)	239.45	1,602	1,767,774	709,694	424
Median (25 colleges)	141.8	1,451	1,434,487	646,310	369
Oberlin Group includes a number of the same colleges as the GLC/ACM group, including: Colorado College, Albion, Beloit, Earlham, Grinnell,
Saint Olaf, Wabash, Kalamazoo, Kenyon, etc.

Appendix 2

ELECTRONIC SUBSCRIPTIONS – 2005/2006

Vendor	Database	Renewal Date	Cost est. assumes minimum 5% inc. over 04/05
Gale Group (Direct)	General Business File	8-1-05	$5,410
Gale Group (Direct)	Lit. Resource Center	12-1-05	$6,210
EBSCO (INCOLSA)	InSpire		No charge expected for 05/06
EBSCO (ALI)	PsycInfo	7-1-05	$2,790
EBSCO (ALI)	PsychArticles	7-1-05	$2,845
EBSCO (ALI)	MLA	7-1-05	$2,865
EBSCO (ALI)	CINAHL	7-1-05	$1,460
EBSCO (INCOLSA)	Art Abstracts	1-31-06	$1,670
OCLC (ALI)	WorldCat	7-1-05	$1,365
Chemical Abstracts Service	SciFinder Scholar	9-1-05	$7,390 3-way split
ARTstor, Inc.	ARTstor Digital Library	1-24-06	$2,400
JSTOR (Direct)	JSTOR: Arts & Science I Collection	1-1-06	$2,165
Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc. (INCOLSA)	Encyclopedia Britannica	7-1-05	$790
Baker and Taylor (Direct)	B T Link	1-1-06	$1,625

Estimated cost for 2005/06 - $38,985

Appendix 3

Proposed Electronic Resources 2005-06

Tier One

Catholic Periodical and Literature Index Online - "product of a partnership between ATLA and the Catholic Library Association which covers all aspects of the Catholic faith and lifestyle. The database includes indexed citations to articles published in Roman Catholic periodicals, papal documents, church promulgations, and books about the Catholic faith that are authored by Catholics and/or produced by Catholic publishers. Indexing for CPLI Online corresponds to the print version, The Catholic Periodical and Literature Index, published by the Catholic Library Association. CPLI Online also contains more than 300,000 records covering Roman Catholic publications including, but not limited to, periodicals, books, newspapers, and papal documents. Coverage in the database dates back to 1981."

ATLA and CLA; vendor is EBSCO: $1,800 for single user access; $2,500 for unlimited access

Communication and Mass Media Complete – “cover-to-cover (“core”) indexing and abstracts for over 350 journals, and selected (“priority”) coverage of over 200 more, for a combined coverage of over 550 titles. Furthermore, this database includes full text for more than 230 journals. Many major journals have indexing, abstracts, PDFs and searchable cited references from their first issues to the present (dating as far back as 1915).”

Vendor is EBSCO: 2005 consortial pricing through INCOLSA - $3,400

Gender Watch – “full text database of unique and diverse publications that focus on how gender impacts a broad spectrum of subject areas. Designed to provide immediate answers to general reference questions, in addition to serving as an authoritative resource for Gender Studies, Women's Studies, Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender studies, and Family Studies.”

ProQuest : estimated 2005 pricing for 2 simultaneous users is $1,265 ($200 for each additional user)

Academic Universe – “searchable access to a comprehensive spectrum of full-text information from over 5,600 sources, selected to meet academic research needs, including:

• National and regional newspapers, wire services, broadcast transcripts, international news, and non-English language sources
• U.S. Federal and state case law, codes, regulations, legal news, law reviews, and international legal information
• Shepard’s® Citations for all U.S. Supreme Court cases back to 1789
• Business news journals, company financial information, SEC filings and reports, and industry and market news”

LexisNexis; available through INCOLSA; 2005 consortial pricing at $1.65/fte = $2640

JSTOR Collections

Arts & Sciences II: 122 titles – “adds depth to many disciplines introduced in Arts & Sciences I, such as economics, history, and Asian studies. Arts & Sciences II also offers core journals in several new disciplines, such as archaeology, classics, and African, Latin American, Middle Eastern, and Slavic studies.” Archival fee $2,000; annual fee $1,000.

Arts & Sciences III: 120 titles – “titles dedicated to scholarly research and theory in the field of music, as well as an international selection of titles, including journals published in the Netherlands, Croatia, Hungary, Germany, and France. In the language & literature titles, participants will have access to early book reviews for seminal works, original poetry, and important literary criticism. The language & literature journals span the literary cultures of many different countries and contain articles in several languages, including Arabic, Chinese, French, and Italian. The seven art & architecture titles, released in autumn of 2003, include a wide range of articles covering topics such as the mural paintings of Paleolithic bison in the cave at Altamira, Persian miniatures, the aesthetics of narcissism, the influences of Islamic art motifs on a 13th-century English Bible, Tibetan art, the films of Alfred Hitchcock, and South African photography.” Archival fee $2,00; annual fee $1,300.

Arts & Sciences IV: 100 titles – “areas new to JSTOR including law, psychology, and public policy and administration. Arts & Sciences IV will also include a selection of education journals as well as twenty business journals currently available as part of the Business Collection. Arts & Sciences IV will not contain the twenty-six other Business Collection journals that are available through Arts & Sciences I and II.” Archival fee $2,500; annual fee $1,200.

Project Muse - "offers over 250 quality journal titles from 40 scholarly publishers. As one of the academic community's primary electronic periodicals resources, Project MUSE covers the fields of literature and criticism, history, the visual and performing arts, cultural studies, education, political science, gender studies, economics, and many others."

Johns Hopkins; vendor is Johns Hopkins; available through INCOLSA; 2005 consortial pricing: full collection - $5,670; Basic Research Collection - $4,770; Basic Undergraduate Collection - $2,970; Social Sciences Collection - $3,780; Arts and Humanities Collection - $5,130.

Tier Two

Social Work Abstracts – “provides exceptional coverage of more than 450 journals in all areas of the profession, including theory and practice, areas of service, social issues, and social problems.”

NASW; vendor is OVID or Silverplatter: estimated 2005 pricing for 4 simultaneous users: $2,200.

Tier Three

Biological Abstracts – “information on life science topics from botany to microbiology to pharmacology. Indexes articles from over 4,000 serials each year.”

Producer is BIOSIS; vendors are EBSCO, NISC, Ovid, or SilverPlatter: estimated 2005 pricing for

12-month lease includes two simultaneous users: 1995-present $7,285; 1985-present $9,510;

1969-present $10,815.

Oxford English Dictionary – “the accepted authority on the evolution of the English language over the last millennium. It is an unsurpassed guide to the meaning, history, and pronunciation of over half a million words, both present and past. It traces the usage of words through 2.5 million quotations from a wide range of international English language sources, from classic literature and specialist periodicals to film scripts and cookery books.”

Oxford University Press; available from INCOLSA; 2005 consortial pricing at $.179/fte = $286

ATLA Religion Database - “provides information on topics such as biblical studies, world religions, church history, and religion in social issues. ATLA contains more than 1.3 million bibliographic records covering the research literature of religion in 35 languages. It includes more than 430,000 article citations, from more than 1,500 journals (600 currently indexed), more than 200,000 essay citations from 15,300 multi-author works, and more than 400,000 book review citations.”

American Theological Library Association; vendor is EBSCO; available through PALNI: estimated consortial pricing 2005 - $2,695

American Humanities Index – “covers more than 1,000 journals published from 1975 to the present, including many smaller journals and publications unavailable in other reference sources….. provides cover-to-cover indexing and abstracting of on-going journal content, including coverage of all original creative works, such as poetry and fiction.”

Vendor is EBSCO: 2005 consortial pricing through INCOLSA - $850