Library Guides: Library Collection Budget Assessment: Library Collection Budget Overview

How does the library’s materials budget compare to that of other institutions?

Answer: Comparative 2016-17 Materials Budget Data For Our IPEDS Peer Institutions


Institution Name	FTE	Total	Per Student
California Institute of Technology	2,240	$3,272,525	$1,461
Massachusetts Institute of Technology	11,247	$11,390,802	$1,013
New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology	1,805	$1,180,000	$654
Michigan Technological University	6,666	$3,024,338	$454
Worcester Polytechnic Institute	6,136	$2,612,410	$426
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute	7,747	$2,496,880	$322
Georgia Institute of Technology-Main Campus	26,625	$8,241,935	$310
Colorado School of Mines	5,897	$1,709,502	$290
Missouri University of Science and Technology	7,383	$1,576,394	$213
South Dakota School of Mines and Technology	2,475	$442,360	$179
New Jersey Institute of Technology	9,123	$1,462,494	$160

What Are FY 20 Projections?

FY 2018-19 current Library materials budget is $1,933,399
Projections for FY 2019-20 inflation of serials (which accounts for 92.16% of overall materials budget) are 7.64%
- Calculated based on actual renewal costs
- Whenever possible we participate in consortia deals as well as multi-year contracts to limit costs & inflation
The Library requested a 7.64% inflation factor for serials FY 2019-20 of $136,131
- Also requested $12,970 in new funds to support two new subscriptions:
  - Mintel Academic Database = to support Economics and Business as well as Entrepreneurship & Innovation.
  - Nature Physics Journal = to address consistent faculty and student requests for this title, high turnaways, and ILL requests exceed copyright limits.
The budget approved for FY 20 only increases the library material's serials budget by 3.82% with no increase for one-time purchases (books, backfiles, etc.) and no funds for new subscriptions for FY 2019-20
Resulting in a $2,001,464 total for FY20

The Library will need to cancel at least $68,065 in existing subscriptions to cover its loss of buying power.

Please check out the FY 20 Cancellation tab for details

Do you have any other general data on historical materials inflation?

Answer: Yes. Library materials inflation is a broadly recognized challenge in academia.

The following chart from the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) provides visual evidence of the annual price pressures for both monographs (books) and serials (journals) between 1986-2011