18 · ARL Statistics 2006–2007
Table 6
Electronic Resources Expenditures in ARL University Libraries, 2006–2007
Sum Number Reporting
Expenditures for Computer Files
(one-time/monographic purchase)
$59,808,658 107
Expenditures for Electronic Serials $476,225,086 111
Expenditures for Bibliographic Utilities, Networks, etc.
(Library)
$26,771,671 101
Expenditures for Bibliographic Utilities, Networks, etc.
(External)
$18,931,797 84
Expenditures for Hardware and Software 75,169,750 109
Expenditures for Document Delivery/Interlibrary Loan 12,849,607 109
Table 6 contains data on several items which previously had been collected only in the ARL Supplementary Statistics.
These data are especially useful because they reflect monies spent on all electronic serials, while the ARL Statistics
categories of “serials purchased” and “serials expenditures” include only those journals that provide full-text
electronic versions to their subscribers. The Expenditures for Electronic Serials time series may be viewed as an
alternative to the Serials Purchased series, both figures reflecting in their own way the influence the electronic serial is
gaining in the modern research library.
Not only have electronic materials expenditures grown sharply in the past decade, they have grown at a rate far
exceeding that of library materials expenditures overall. As shown in Graph 6, in every year of the last decade
electronic materials expenditures have grown sharply, anywhere between two and ten times faster than materials
expenditures have.
The average ARL university library now spends just under 47% of its materials budget on electronic materials (Tables
7A and 7B) and 50 ARL libraries report that they spent more than 50% of their materials budget on electronic materials
(see Rank Order Table 20).
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