Primary Research Group has published Research Library International
Benchmarks (isbn 1-57440-101-3). The 200-page study is based on data from
45 major research libraries from the USA, Canada, Australia, Germany, the UK,
Italy, Japan, Spain, Argentina, and other countries. The report presents a
broad range of data on current and planned materials, salary, info technology
and capital spending, spending trends for e-books, journals, books and much
more. Provides data on trends in personnel deployment, discount margins from
vendors, relations with consortiums, information literacy efforts, workstation,
laptop and learning space development, use of scanners and digital cameras,
use of RFID technology, federated search and many other pressing issues for
major research libraries, university and otherwise.

A few of the report’s findings, presented in more than 500 tables, are:

Mean spending on materials/content by the libraries in the sample was
approximately $4.25 million, with a median of $1.91 million. Mean spending for
the university libraries in the sample was $5.47 million. The nominal increase in
materials spending this year for the libraries in the sample was 4.46%.

The corporate and legal libraries in the sample expanded their content
spending in very few subject areas.  University libraries tended to hold
spending on most subject areas  constant but increased in areas such as
medicine/healthcare, engineering, and business/finance and economics. In
general, information investment in the humanities and social sciences showed
more growth than investment in the pure sciences.

Spending on e-books by the libraries in the sample was a mean of $150,086 in
2007 with a range of “0” to $2 million. More than 60% of the libraries in the
sample plan to increase spending on e-books over the next two years, while
less than 7% plan to decrease e-book spending.

More than 60% of the libraries in the sample plan to increase spending on e-
books over the next two years, while less than 7% plan to decrease e-book
spending. All shades and types of libraries planned to increase e-book
spending, but as a rule, the larger the library, the greater the tendency to
increase e-book spending.

53% of libraries in the sample said that they would be not be digitizing much
of their general collection of out-of-copyright books, and nearly 35% said that
they had no plans to extensively digitize any of their collections.

A mean of 21% of the articles obtained by the libraries in the sample from
other institutions come from the digital repositories of these institutions rather
than from traditional inter-library loan channels.

Study Participants were: Loma Linda University, McMaster University,
Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organization (ANSTO), University
of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez, Saint Paul University, University of New South
Wales, Charles Stuart University, Hay Group University of Southern California,
University of New Mexico Libraries, Universidad de San Andres, Biblioteca Max
von Buch , Library of University of Seville, Hunter College, South Dakota
School of Mines and Technology, BP,Texas Woman's University, University of
North Florida, Thomas G. Carpenter Library, University Libraries, University at
Buffalo, The State University of New York, Research Library Federal Reserve
Bank, University of Rio Grande, Mercer University/Jack Tarver Library , James
J. Hill Reference Library, MITRE Corporation, Click University, Xerox, Raytheon
Company, The Catholic University of America, University of Glasgow, Victoria
University, University of Wyoming Libraries, Dartmouth College, WorkSafeBC,
Thompson, Ventulett, Stainback, & Associates, Nalco Company, City College
of New York, Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales FLACSO Sede
Académica Argentina, Biblioteca de los Recursos Hídricos de la República
Argentina, University of Bristol, Griffith University, Lincoln University, University
of Sussex, University of Detroit Mercy, University of Wollongong Library, Miura
Memorial Library, Chubu University, KSU, Rutgers University, The University of
Akron, and the University of Idaho.

For a table of contents and other further information, view our website at
www.PrimaryResearch.com.