Arl Preservation Statistics

This document presents data from 123 U.S. and Canadian research libraries that were members of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) during the 2002-2003 fiscal year. Since 1987-1988, the number of preservation programs managed by a preservation administrator has grown 66 to as many as 80 in more recent years, with 78 in 2002-2003. Shifting trends have made themselves evident in many categories. Preservation expenditures for ARL's 115 reporting member libraries were $97,833,909 in 2002-2003, which reflects an inflation-adjusted increase of 17% since the survey's revision in 1996-1997. Total preservation staff dropped to 1,746 FTEs in 2002-2003, after being over 1,800 FTEs in each of the last two years. Although all three levels of conservation treatment dropped from 2001-2002 levels, Level 1 and Level 3 treatment had seen unusually large upward spikes last year, and 2002-2003 amounts are more in line with what they have been throughout the last decade. Microfilming activity decreased to 50,397 bound volumes, the smallest amount of microfilming recorded in the history of the survey. Availability of external funds plays a critical role in preservation activities. In 1988, the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) began a multi-year, expanded cooperative preservation microfilming program, in which ARL libraries have participated extensively. However, it appears that cuts in the NEH budget have also negatively affected availability of external funding for preservation, which fell constantly from a high of $11,090,547 in 1992-1993 to a low of $4,917,732 in 1997-1998. In recent years external expenditures have been up and down, with the 2002-2003 figure of $7,326,613 representing a 7.4% increase from 2001-02. The data contained in the "Library Data Tables" are descriptive indices of preservation activities in research libraries, including preservation staffs, expenditures, and productivity. A copy of the ARL preservation statistics questionnaire and instructions, as well as footnotes to the statistics, is included. An appendix lists ARL member libraries as of June 1, 2004. (Contains 6 footnotes, 2 graphs and 16 tables.) [For 2001-2002 statistics, see ED498299.].

This document presents data from 123 U.S. and Canadian research libraries that were members of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) during the 2003-2004 fiscal year. Since 1987-1988, the number of preservation programs managed by a preservation administrator has grown 66 to as many as 80 in more recent years, with 77 in 2003-2004. Rapidly shifting trends have made themselves evident in many categories. Preservation expenditures for ARL's 109 reporting member libraries were $97,812,776 in 2003-2004, which reflects an inflation-adjusted increase of 18% since the survey's revision in 1996-1997. Total preservation staff dropped to 1,635 FTEs in 2003-2004, a decrease of 6.4% from 2002-2003; the fact that seven libraries who had reported data in 2002-2003 failed to report in 2003-2004 contributed to this decrease. Level 1 conservation treatment increased slightly from 2002-2003 levels, while Levels 2 and 3 dropped; total conservation treatment has decreased 10% since the survey was revised in 1996-1997. Microfilming activity jumped to 210,878 bound volumes; the sharp increase due mostly to a re-organization of counting at the Library of Congress, which alone reported 116,777 volumes microfilmed. Availability of external funds plays a critical role in preservation activities. In 1988, the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) began a multi-year, expanded cooperative preservation microfilming program, in which ARL libraries have participated extensively. However, it appears that cuts in the NEH budget have also negatively affected availability of external funding for preservation, which fell constantly from a high of $11,090,547 in 1992-1993 to a low of $4,917,732 in 1997-1998. In recent years external expenditures have been up and down, with the 2003-2004 figure of $6,603,883 representing a 9.9% increase from 2002-2003. The data contained in the "Library Data Tables" are descriptive indices of preservation activities in research libraries, including preservation staffs, expenditures, and productivity. A copy of the ARL preservation statistics questionnaire and instructions, as well as footnotes to the statistics, is included. An appendix lists ARL member libraries as of September 1, 2005. (Contains 6 footnotes, 2 graphs and 16 tables.) [For 2002-2003 statistics, see ED498301.].

This document presents data from 124 U.S. and Canadian research libraries that were members of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) during the 2001-2002 fiscal year. Since 1987-1988, the number of preservation programs managed by a preservation administrator has grown irregularly from 66 to around 80 in more recent years. A fluctuating growth in preservation expenditures and staffing across the ARL membership accompanied this development. Preservation expenditures for ARL's 116 reporting member libraries were $96,575,155 in 2001-2002, an approximate 60% increase in expenditures for preservation since 1991-1992. Total preservation staff increased to just above 1,835 full-time equivalents (FTEs) in 2001-2002, the highest level in six years. Among the types of conservation treatment, Level 1 jumped about 40% from 2000-2001, while Level 2 continued a slow, gradual decline. Level 3 treatments spiked upward to more than 280,000 volumes; however, this appears to be an isolated incident: a tropical storm recovery project at the university of Houston was responsible for approximately 250,000 of the treated volumes. Microfilming activity increased to 88,170 bound volumes, the first increase in microfilming activity since 1995-1995. Availability of external funds plays a critical role in preservation activities. In 1988, the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) began a multi-year, expanded cooperative preservation microfilming program, in which ARL libraries have participated extensively. However, it appears that cuts in the NEH budget have also negatively affected availability of external funding for preservation, which fell constantly from a high of $11,090,547 in 1992-1993 to a low of $4,917,732 in 1997-1998. In recent years external expenditures have been up and down, with the 2001-2002 figure of $6,819,889 representing a 20% increase from 2000-2001. The data contained in the "Library Data Tables" are descriptive indices of preservation activities in research libraries, including preservation staffs, expenditures, and productivity. A copy of the ARL preservation statistics questionnaire and instructions, as well as footnotes to the statistics, is included. An appendix lists ARL member libraries as of October 1, 2003. (Contains 5 footnotes, 2 graphs and 16 tables.) [For "ARL Supplementary Statistics 2001-2002. A Compilation of Statistics from the Members of the Association of Research Libraries," see ED498271. For the 2000-2001 statistics, see ED468926.].

This document presents data from 123 U.S. and Canadian research libraries that were members of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) during the 2005-2006 fiscal year. Since 1987-1988, the number of preservation programs managed by a preservation administrator has grown 66 to as many as 80 in more recent years, with 77 in 2005-2006. Shifting trends have made themselves evident in many categories. Preservation expenditures for ARL's 111 reporting member libraries were $107,937,836 in 2005-2006, which reflects an inflation-adjusted increase of 27% since the survey's revision in 1996-1997. Total preservation staff grew to just under 1,800 FTEs in 2005-2006, an increase of 5.4% from 2004-2005. Level 1 conservation treatment decreased from 2004-2005 levels, while the number of items treated at Levels 2 and 3 increased; total conservation treatment has increased by more than 50,000 volumes in the past year, bringing it higher than it has been in the last four years. Microfilming activity decreased by about 11,000 volumes, to 154,857; the high microfilming values over the last three years was due largely to a re-organization of counting at the Library of Congress, which reported 121,386 volumes microfilmed. Availability of external funds plays a critical role in preservation activities. In 1988, the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) began a multi-year, expanded cooperative preservation microfilming program, in which ARL libraries have participated extensively. However, it appears that cuts in the NEH budget have also negatively affected availability of external funding for preservation, which fell constantly from a high of $11,090,547 in 1992-1993 to a low of $4,917,732 in 1997-1998. In recent years external expenditures have been up and down, with the 2005-2006 figure of $6,270,601 representing a 2.3% decrease from 2004-2005. The data contained in the "Library Data Tables" are descriptive indices of preservation activities in research libraries, including preservation staffs, expenditures, and productivity. A copy of the ARL preservation statistics questionnaire and instructions, as well as footnotes to the statistics, is included. An appendix lists ARL member libraries as of January 1, 2007. (Contains 6 footnotes, 2 graphs, and 14 tables.) [For the 2004-2005 statistics, see ED501324.].