U.S. Academic Library Spending, Staffing and Utilization during the Great Recession 2008–2010

Abstract

The study analyzes the U.S. academic library spending, staffing and utilization trends during the “great recession” in the period 2008–2010. These trends are compared to similar trends during the period 1998–2008, one of the most robust economic periods in U.S. history. The data used in the study was from publicly available surveys from the National Center for Education Statistics. In general it was found that for both periods many similar trends persisted and were not significantly affected by macroeconomic conditions, and that U.S. academic libraries cannot be seen as a homogeneous group with similar investment and operating profiles. Between 2008 and 2010, growth among especially small to medium sized libraries has declined; while large libraries continue to expand their investments and grow, particularly in electronic services. The economic collapse that occurred in 2008 and the effects of which are still being distributed through the economy and society are having the same impact on all types and sizes of libraries, as many library trends are not influenced by the economic downturn of the period 2008–2010. The study describes the significant differences in the level and scope of spending, staffing, and utilization by size of library, and how the differences among small and large libraries became more accentuated in the period of the great recession.