research libraries in a global context

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Research Librariesin a Global Context:

An Exploratory Paper

Research libraries are the hub of a nation’s intellectual enterprise.Over the last decade, North American research libraries have facedmany pressures: expanding scholarly disciplines and the growth ofinterdisciplinary studies; the demands of scholars for new and expand-ed services; the increase in the number of formats collected; the needto preserve the collections from the ravages of decay; the move toonline catalogs; and budget constraints that affect all library efforts.These challenges will continue. At the same time, new external factorsare exerting increasing pressure on libraries and their parent institu-tions as they seek to serve scholars’ needs. These include:

� Transformations in Eastern Europe and around the world. InEastern Europe and the former Soviet Union the political up-heavals have resulted in extraordinary changes. The changes–political, social and economic–are linked and will impact the en-tire world. Substantial changes are also occurring along thePacific Rim and in Latin America.

� Impact of the global marketplace. The North American businesscommunity has found its marketplace as well as its competitionto be global. The need for personnel well-trained in the culturesand languages of the world is increasing. An editorial in The

This paper was originally prepared by ARL Staff for the ARL Board of Directorsand the ARL Committee on Collection Development. Prepared December 1989,revised October 1992.

[Haworth co-indexing entry note]: ‘‘Research Libraries in a Global Context: An Exploratory Paper.’’Co-published simultaneously in Journal of Library Administration (The Haworth Information Press, animprint of The Haworth Press, Inc.) Vol. 29, No. 3/4, 2000, pp. 77-91; and: Management for ResearchLibraries Cooperation (ed: Sul H. Lee) The Haworth Information Press, an imprint of The Haworth Press,Inc., 2000, pp. 77-91.

77

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MANAGEMENT FOR RESEARCH LIBRARIES COOPERATION78

Washington Post states, ‘‘Just about every country [the U.S. com-petes] with has met the challenge of imparting second- and third-language fluency to a substantial proportion of its citizens.’’1 Thefear that the United States and Canada will no longer be competi-tive in the world marketplace is real.

� Expanding boundaries of scientific and technical research.Scientific and technological efforts are increasingly collaborativeon an international basis. Developments occur in laboratoriesaround the world and scientists in the U.S. and Canada depend onawareness of these developments for progress in their own re-search. In addition, the results of research are increasingly beingpublished outside North America.

Research libraries–faced with fulfilling the information needs of aworld undergoing dramatic change, a business community participat-ing in a global marketplace, and a research community working acrossinternational boundaries–have responded by turning to their collec-tions and their supporting services. However, this may no longer beadequate. The 1980s and 1990s brought many changes: increased bookproduction worldwide; the addition of expensive electronic materialsto traditional print and microform resources; increases in prices–espe-cially for foreign serials; and inflation and weakened U.S. and Cana-dian dollars. All of these factors contributed to a dramatic decline inthe acquisitions of foreign materials. As foreign materials have be-come increasingly important, libraries’ ability to acquire them haseroded.

Reductions in the acquisition of foreign language materials andforeign imprints began in the 1970s. Major contributing factors haveincluded the demise of government and cooperative projects for for-eign acquisitions, the impact of inflation and devaluation of Canadianand U.S. dollars, the difficulty of finding staff trained in foreign lan-guages, and an undercurrent of an English-only attitude among libraryusers. The recent escalation of serials prices and the resulting cancella-tion of foreign journals are only the latest manifestation of the prob-lem.

Faced with the growing need for foreign materials, research li-braries have also had to respond to costly demands for automation,preservation, and new services at a time when available resources are

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Association of American Universities Research Libraries Project 79

increasingly unable to support the full range of needs. Choices havebeen necessary and the acquisition of foreign material has suffered.

Each year research libraries in the aggregate are able to purchase asmaller portion of published foreign resources than the year before.This decline results in serious gaps in collections that pose a long-termthreat to research and scholarship. The following findings highlightthe fiscal problems and their impact:

� The costs of books and serials have risen more rapidly than othermajor categories of library expenditures during the last decade,and materials budgets have not kept pace. Data from the ARLStatistics, illustrated by the graph on page 85, compare the me-dian cost of monographs and serials with expenditures and num-ber of volumes or titles purchased for the past five years.2

� Analysis of statistics collected by ARL shows that ARL librariesin 1990-91 were able to buy only 85% of the new books boughtin 1986. Serial expenditures have taken an increasing slice of thelibrary budget, accounting in 1991 for more than three of everyfive dollars spent on on-campus materials. ‘‘If these trends per-sist by 1993 serials unit costs and expenditures will be doublewhat they were in 1986.’’3

� The recent report on The Acquisition of Latin American Materi-als showed that 28 American research libraries with the largestLatin American holdings saw an increase in average expendi-tures from 1986 to 1990 of 17.7%, whereas the average cost ofmonographs reflected an increase of 43%.4

� The Report on ARL Serials Prices Project documents that theportion of the serials universe held by ARL libraries is decreas-ing markedly.5

� Subscription costs for foreign serials have increased dramaticallyover the past seven years, with the greatest increases occurringfor serials published in Austria, Japan, The Netherlands, Switzer-land, and West Germany. According to a recent study, 1993 sub-scription prices for non-U.S. titles will increase 9-10%, parallel-ing an actual 1992 increase of 9.3%.6

For both the United States and Canada, the crisis facing researchlibraries reflects an information crisis. Coverage of the global publish-ing output by North American research libraries, once thought to becomprehensive, is diminishing at a time when research is becoming

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increasingly international. Four perspectives help in understandingthis issue:

� changes in global research and publishing patterns;� shifts in information needs;� collecting patterns of U.S. research libraries; and� cooperative collection development programs.

CHANGES IN GLOBAL RESEARCHAND PUBLISHING PATTERNS

Statistics compiled by UNESCO document the growth in the num-ber of titles published worldwide, from 715,500 titles in 1980 to842,000 titles in 1989. The UNESCO statistics further document thediffusion of book production and the continued growth in productionin Third World countries. While the number of titles published indeveloped countries increased barely between 1980 and 1989–from570,000 to 579,000 titles–book production in Third World countriesgrew from 145,000 to 263,000 titles in the same period. The statisticsalso bring into sharp focus significant shifts in publishing among thetop ten publishing countries in the world.7 The comparison of worldbook production between 1980 and 1989 shows that the U.S. share ofworld-wide publishing declined slightly. However, the 1980s saw theemergence of Japan, China, and Korea as important publishing cen-ters. The Asian share of world book production increased from 18.8%in 1980 to 24.8% in 1989.

(The figures on page 86 capture the present status of world bookproduction and the contributions of publishing outside of North Amer-ica. It should be noted that the figures do not distinguish betweenresearch and non-research materials and include not only academicbooks, but all published titles.)

Analysis of the science and technology literature offers an addition-al perspective. Science & Engineering Indicators-1991 allows a moredetailed look at the distribution of publications in these fields. Theshare of research articles in core journals written by U.S. scientists andengineers has fallen from 38% in 1973 to 35% in 1987.8

Available information provides illustrations of the growth of non-U.S. science and technology publications. For example, in the BIOSIS

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database, U.S. authors published 25.91% of the source materials in-dexed in 1988, while Western European and Japanese authors pub-lished almost 40% of the papers. Another example is the steadygrowth of Japanese shares of publications. A study in Science notes,‘‘in the 1973 through 1984 time frame, the number of Japanese-au-thored papers increased by 53%. In contrast, the number of U.S.-au-thored papers remained almost unchanged.’’9

SHIFTS IN INFORMATION NEEDS

One major trend of the 1980s was the internationalization of infor-mation and research. Significant shifts include those occurring in for-eign language studies and in the collaborative efforts of researchers.After the decline of foreign language studies in the 1970s, statisticsfrom the National Center for Education Statistics show an upturn inthe number of foreign languages doctorates and a rise in foreign lan-guage study. The availability of high speed computing and improvedtelecommunications has led to a dramatic increase in collaborationamong researchers. Computer-literate scholars will increasingly con-duct, advance, and share research through national and internationalelectronic networks and databases in their respective fields.

As science and technology research and development increase inforeign countries, there will be corresponding growth in foreign sci-ence and technological publications. European science and Japanesecommercial technology are increasingly important to science and en-gineering in North America. This is vividly illustrated by the fact thatbetween 1980 and 1984, references in articles by U.S authors to ar-ticles by non-U.S. authors increased from 25% to 29%.10 Such in-creases are expected to continue.

Europe includes five of the ten largest language groups in the worldand is responsible for almost 44% of world book production. A look atthe growth in book production in the major European countries docu-ments the significant growth. As extraordinary political and economicchanges are taking place projections forecast ‘‘a further sizable in-crease in the volume of European publishing, very likely for the nextcouple of decades and not only in the countries of Germany and GreatBritain, where the national book production is already at an all timehigh. Publishing activities have also been on the increase, and veryimpressively so, in France, Italy, and Spain.’’11

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In recent years, concern has increased over the rapid advances byJapan in science and technology. Federal governments, the privatesector, and universities and research libraries have expanded efforts tomonitor Japanese science and technology and to acquire the resultingresearch information. However, few North American scientists andengineers are fluent in Japanese, and research libraries have not main-tained strong collections of Japanese scientific and technical journals.

COLLECTING PATTERNSOF NORTH AMERICAN RESEARCH LIBRARIES

Historically, 40% to 60% of materials in major research collectionshave been foreign imprints. While estimates of foreign acquisitionsvary from library to library or country to country, data from the Li-brary of Congress, Harvard University, and several other researchlibraries confirm that research libraries are acquiring a declining per-centage of the world publishing output.12 A look at Library of Con-gress acquisition statistics shows that acquisitions from non-U.S. na-tions average 20% to 25% of output. The most troublesome aspect ofthat review is the marked decline in number of titles acquired bypurchase from major areas of the world over the recent period.13 TheLibrary of Congress is not alone in the severity of the reductions.Another example comes from Harrassowitz, the primary vendor forGerman materials, which reported a 20% reduction in titles exportedto the U.S. compared to 1985.14

Clearly, Western European materials remain important. And, whilethese materials are assumed to be widely available in U.S. and Cana-dian research libraries, the weakening of the U.S and Canadian dollarsand higher prices for European materials have made acquisitions re-ductions inevitable. A study of European receipts conducted by theLibrary of Congress in 1991 indicated a steady increase in prices aswell as a decline in receipts over the past nine years.15 Libraries aremost aware of the weakened value of the dollar when renewing peri-odical subscriptions, but the loss of purchasing power also affectslibraries’ acquisitions of foreign monographic imprints. For example,the average price of a European title is about $97.00 (U.S.).16 This ismore than twice the average price of U.S. titles.17

The limited efforts by research libraries to increase coverage ofJapanese scientific and technical literature contrasts with the intensive

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U.S. response to meet the expanded demand for Russian languagematerials following the Soviet launching of Sputnik. Greater recogni-tion is needed of the problem of limited availability of Japanese scien-tific and technical literature and its impact on research capacity.

An assessment of North American collections of foreign researchmaterials is difficult because data on titles added by country of origin,expenditures for non-U.S. and Canadian imprints, and size of holdingshave simply not been available. However, collection assessments offercircumstantial evidence of the problem of foreign acquisitions. Oneexample is the 1985 Research Libraries Group (RLG) sample study ofgeology collections among member libraries. The study showed ‘‘thesingle most statistically significant factor in the failure to acquire (orthe decision not to acquire) to be language. While foreign languagematerials represent only 22% of the entire sample (85 of 392), theycomprise 55% of all items not held (38 of 70). In other words, thegeology participants did not hold 45% of all foreign language titles.Russian-language materials fared particularly poorly.’’18 AnotherRLG study carried out by nine member libraries with historicallystrong German collections indicated that of a random sample of 557German research titles published in 1982, 27% of the survey titleswere not held by any of the participants.19 While these two studiesfocus on particular subjects, the collection evaluation data in the RLGConspectus On-line provides a composite picture of research collec-tions and indicates serious weaknesses in several foreign languageareas.

Several other studies point to deteriorating coverage of foreignmaterials. A 1984 ARL membership survey on foreign acquisitionsrevealed significant gaps in materials from Middle Eastern and Asiancountries. There was also a general conclusion that coverage in NorthAmerican libraries for foreign scientific and technical literature fromnon-European countries was particularly weak.

There is, however, an additional important consideration: an appar-ent trend toward collection homogeneity. As libraries reduce foreignacquisitions, there is an almost inevitable tendency to concentrate onacquiring only core titles. The long-term impact will be more overlapamong collections and less coverage of the ‘‘universe’’ of foreignresearch materials. The danger is that collections will become evenmore limited and that areas outside the mainstream trade market willsimply no longer be covered adequately by any library.

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COOPERATIVE COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS

Over the years, research libraries have pursued a number of strate-gies to build comprehensive collections through cooperation in collec-tion development. The establishment of the Farmington Plan afterWorld War II was the most far-reaching effort to ensure that ‘‘onecopy of every important foreign book’’ was available in the UnitedStates. The Farmington Plan exemplified the large-scale, decentralizedsystem of specializations by voluntary agreements among Americanresearch libraries. By 1972, tensions between cooperative collectionresponsibilities and institutional priorities, the complexities of the sub-ject allocations, the high costs of acquiring and processing materials,and the perceived inclusion of materials marginal to local interests allcontributed to the decision to terminate the Farmington Plan. Amongdecentralized efforts to build cooperative acquisitions programs inarea studies were the Latin American Cooperative Acquisitions Pro-gram (LACAP), which operated between 1959 and 1972, and thePublic Law 480 program begun by the Library of Congress in the1960s, which is being phased out.

Research libraries have begun several ongoing coordinated pro-grams. Among these is the National Program of Acquisitions andCataloging at the Library of Congress, which supports acquisition andcataloging of research materials published throughout the world. Thecollecting programs of the Center for Research Libraries have en-riched access to specialized foreign materials, especially to foreignnewspapers, foreign dissertations, and foreign government publica-tions. The Shared Resources Program of the Research Libraries Groupis another important effort. Central to the RLG program is the assign-ment of primary collecting responsibility for certain categories ofmaterials. Still another example is the Seminar on the Acquisition ofLatin American Library Materials (SALALM), which has concen-trated on improving support for and access to Latin American researchresources. In addition to these highly visible cooperative efforts, manyregional, state, and local cooperative arrangements have been carriedout over the years.

The decline in foreign acquisitions has sparked concern amongfoundation officers and public policy-makers. For example, two im-portant initiatives are the recent funding provided by the Henry LuceFoundation for support of eleven major Southeast Asian collectionsand the special funding by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation for a

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Serial Unit Price (+108%)

Serial Expenditures(+92%)

Monograph Unit Price(+46%)

Monograph Expenditures(+16%)

Serials Purchased (–5%)

MonographsPurchased (–23%)

% C

hang

e S

ince

198

6

120%

100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

0%

–20%

–40%1986

Fiscal year

1988 1990 1992 1994

Source: 1992-93 ARL StatisticsPrepared by Kendon Stubbs; copyright 1994 by theAssociation of Research Libraries

Monograph and Serial Costs in ARL Libraries,1986-1993

cooperative program for Russian and East European acquisitions atMichigan and Indiana Universities. The U.S. Government has ad-dressed foreign acquisitions to a modest extent, primarily throughTitles II-C and VI of the Higher Education Act (HEA) and the Japa-nese Technical Literature Act. Title II-C, Strengthening Research Li-brary Resources, provides some funding for acquisition of foreignmaterials, though more II-C funds have gone to support improvingbibliographic access to foreign materials. II-C grants in this area have

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Latin America & Caribbean6.0%

North America 13.8%

Asia 18.8%

Arab States 0.9%

Oceana 1.8%

Africa 1.3%

Europe and USSR 57.4%

1980

SOURCE: UNESCO Statistical Yearbook, 1991

1989Latin America & Caribbean5.9%

North America 11.9%

Asia 24.8%

Arab States 0.7%

Oceana 1.7%

Africa 1%

Europe and USSR 54%

DISTRIBUTION OF WORLD BOOK PRODUCTION1980 AND 1989

focused primarily on the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe,East and Southeast Asia, and Latin America. HEA Title VI was origi-nally part of the National Defense Education Act. The centers for areastudies funded by Title VI have provided some support for acquisitionof foreign materials, especially periodicals. In 1991 first time fundingof $500,000 was provided for foreign periodicals by the HEA Title VI,section 607 program. The Japanese Technical Literature Act has pro-vided $1-2 million annually for Japanese technical literature transla-

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tions and indexing of such translations by the National TechnicalInformation Service (NTIS).

All of these efforts, both past and ongoing, provide valuable experi-ence in coordinated collection development and help to define thelimitations. They underscore the fact that libraries have achieved sig-nificant progress through collective action, but they also bring intosharp focus the fact that current efforts are quite limited. While someareas of the world receive needed attention, many others are withoutcooperative programs. Many of the questions that past cooperativeefforts tried to address remain, but technology provides a new frame-work and new opportunities to address the issues.

WHAT IS NEEDED

In a time of flux in international affairs, an inevitable conclusion isthat the production of foreign information resources will expand andcosts will increase. It is time to focus renewed attention on the prob-lem and to design new strategies. Research libraries are an integral,dynamic part of the changing information environment. They are andmust remain gateways to the broadest world of scholarly information,regardless of country of production, language, or format. ARL’s inter-est in foreign acquisitions is long standing and ARL and its Committeeon Research Collections continue to pursue a variety of strategies andprojects to strengthen research libraries’ programs in this area.

The dimension and complexities of the foreign acquisitions prob-lem call for serious consideration of several basic questions:

� What are the priorities for foreign imprint materials acquisitionsby U.S. and Canadian research libraries as a group?

� What important gaps exist and what potentially unnecessary du-plication could be reduced through a cooperative collection de-velopment plan?

� What is the level of both real and perceived need for foreign ma-terials by researchers and scholars in various disciplines?

� What opportunities exist for expanded funding?� How will changes in the information environment affect collec-

tion building efforts?� What is the role of existing cooperative programs and what new

capabilities are needed?

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To address effectively the problems of foreign acquisitions andfulfill successfully their role in North America’s research enterprise,research libraries must address the following concerns:

1. Expanding North American holdings and access to the world’sinformation output.

Research libraries have an opportunity to build on achievementsin existing cooperative collection development programs, pastand present, and on the strengths and continuing commitment tomajor foreign acquisition programs at the local, regional, nation-al, and even international level.

2. Creating new systems of affordable, effective access to foreignmaterials.

One important avenue for investigation will be to seek ways forcapitalizing on the opportunities provided by the emerging Na-tional Research and Education Network (NREN). The goal ofthe proposed network ‘‘is to enhance national competitivenessand productivity through a high-speed, high-quality network in-frastructure.’’20 The implementation of NREN would allow re-search libraries to provide scholars with access to materials viaexpanded network services.

3. Rethinking research library roles and relationships in providingaccess to foreign materials, especially expensive foreign serials.

No individual library can expect to be comprehensive in its cov-erage of the world’s knowledge. ARL libraries must recognizethe importance of further cooperative activity and be pragmaticabout the roles of research libraries in a global context. Further,ARL libraries must articulate these changing roles and relation-ships to their parent institutions, to gain both their understandingof the problem and their financial support.

4. Expanding funding sources for acquiring foreign materials.

Financial considerations, including the need to expand fundingsources, will play a fundamental role in shaping potential strate-

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gies. The Mellon and Luce foundation initiatives highlight thesignificant contribution of this sector to improving foreign ac-quisitions in research libraries. Clearly, governments have a vitalrole to play in addressing the problem of foreign acquisitions andshould commit significantly greater resources to this problem.

5. Resolving issues related to the processing and preservation offoreign material.

The processing and preservation of foreign research materialspresent special challenges. Research libraries need to addressthese challenges as part of any foreign acquisitions program.

ARL ACTIONS

A multifaceted response to the foreign acquisitions crisis is urgentlyneeded. ARL places paramount priority on the formulation of cooper-ative strategies for developing and providing access to foreign materi-als located both in North America and abroad. In 1991 ARL launcheda three-year project, Scholarship, Research Libraries, and ForeignPublishing in the 1990s. This ARL project is directed toward develop-ing a clearer understanding of the forces influencing North Americanresearch libraries’ ability to build collections of foreign materials. Theintent is to mobilize major segments of the higher education communi-ty, including research libraries, in developing effective strategies andthe resources needed to address scholars’ foreign information needs.Support for the project is provided by the Andrew W. Mellon Founda-tion.

Project activities include:

� Developing joint projects with foreign area groups to analyzepublishing output and research libraries’ acquisition and deliveryof foreign imprint collections. Seven projects are underway. Theintent is to identify significant gaps in coverage and to establishpriorities for foreign materials by broad world areas.

� Conducting pilot test studies that will focus on acquisitions needsfor six areas, including Germany, Mexico, Russia, China, Japan,and Western African countries. Project task forces under the ae-gis of the respective foreign area group are being established.

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The goal is to test methodologies for establishing specific ac-quisitions targets.

� Working with the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Mid-west Center to bring together scholars and foreign area bibliogra-phers to assist in developing a greater understanding of the needsof scholars in various disciplines and in determining priorityneeds and strategies for improving access to foreign materials.

� Establishment of an AAU Acquisition and Distribution of For-eign Language and Area Studies Materials Task Force to bringtogether research library directors, area studies librarians, schol-ars and university officials to address needs for foreign languagematerials and to build coalitions for securing needed funding.

These efforts will provide the needed context and framework forunderstanding the magnitude of the problem, for evaluation of alterna-tive solutions, and for shaping ARL initiatives.

ENDNOTES

1. ‘‘Foreign language distractions.’’–editorial, The Washington Post, December15, 1989, p. A24.

2. Stubbs, Kendon, ‘‘Introduction,’’ ARL Statistics 1990-91 (Washington, D.C.:ARL, 1992), p. 8. The data included here cover the years 1986-1993. ARL Statistics1992-93 (Washington, D.C.: ARL, 1994), p. 4.

3. Ibid, p. 8-9.4. The Acquisition of Latin American Materials, a report to ARL from the Task

Force on the ARL Foreign Acquisitions Project [by the] Seminar on the Acquisitionof Latin American Library Materials ((SALALM)) [1992] p. 14.

5. Okerson, Ann. ‘‘Of making books there is no end.’’–In Report of the ARL Se-rials Prices Project (Washington, D.C.: ARL, 1989).

6. Faxon Planning Report 1993 (Boston: Faxon Press, 1992), p. 24-25.7. Statistical Yearbook, 1991 (Paris: UNESCO 1991).8. Science & Engineering Indicators-1991, p. 388.9. Narin, Francis, and J. Davidson Frame. ‘‘The growth of Japanese science and

technology,’’ Science 245 (August 1989): 603.10. Science & Engineering Indicators-1987 (Washington, D.C.: National Science

Board, 1987) p. 289.11. Knut Dorn, ‘‘Champagne Taste and a Beer Budget: The Problem of Increasing

Scholarly Publishing in Europe and Decreasing Academic Library Budgets in NorthAmerica,’’ Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Center for Research Li-braries, Chicago, Il., 24 April 1992, p 1.

12. Jutta Reed-Scott conversation with William Sittig, Director, CollectionsPolicy Office, Library of Congress, November 16, 1989.

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13. Library of Congress receipts for 1986 and 1987, Library of Congress Informa-tion Bulletin, February 8, 1988, pp. 52-58 and Library of Congress monograph re-ceipts for 1987 and 1988, Library of Congress Information Bulletin, January 16,1989, pp. 19-25.

14. Knut Dorn, ‘‘Champagne Taste,’’ p. 4.15. European Receipts of the Library of Congress (Washington, D.C. Library of

Congress, September 1991).16. Academic & Research Book Prices Report, 1990-91 Approval Program Man-

agement Report (New York: Baker & Taylor, 1991) p. 22.17. Grannis, Chandler B., ‘‘Book title output and average prices: 1991 prelimi-

nary figures,’’ Bowker Annual Library and Book Trade Almanac. 37th ed. (NewYork: Bowker, 1992) p. 506.

18. Research Libraries Group, Conoco Report April 4, 1987, p. 10. Unpublisheddocument.

19. Ibid p. 7.20. The National Research and Education on Network: A Policy Paper. (Prince-

ton, N.J.: EDUCOM Networking and Telecommunications Task Force, 1987) p. 1.

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research libraries in a global context

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