Friday, March 23, 2012

Benchmaark Study: Library Spending and Priorities 2012

Results presented from Unisphere's 2012 b"enchmark study of funding trends in academic, public and special libraries.

Panel:
  • H. Frank Dervone, Purdue Univ
  • David Lee King, Topeka and Shawnee County PL
  • Mike Diaz, ProQuest
  • Dick Kaser, Info Today
  • Joseph McKendrick, Unisphere Research
"The digital squeeze: Libraries at the Crossroads"

  • think BIG, start small, move fast
  • Library Resource Guide benchmark study
  • over 700 libs responded to the study
  • books have maintained their budget share (from 2011 to 2012)
  • public libs more optimistic than academic and special wrt next year's budget
  • public libs in general don't do a good job of arguing for what they need: I need to do that for my dept...argue for what I need to improve virtual services...and do it at the right time for budget!
  • libs are increasing investment in: ebooks, support for cloud-based solutions
  • cloud based computing will grow, esp for smaller libs
  • some ils systems are moving to the cloud (really?!...hmmm)
  • David Lee King's lib had an MBA holding business librarian who helps peeps with business plans etc.
  • cloud computing by libs is up from last year
  • libs priorities for coming year: patrons are key
  • shift to community-based services (irl or virtually)
  • complete report online here...can also email info@dbta.com for a complimentary copy...would be interesting to see how tbpl stacks up esp wrt ebooks
  • sector reports will be available over the next ten days -- public, academic and special libs reported on by size of institution

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