18 · ARL Statistics 2007–2008
Table 6
Electronic Resources Expenditures in ARL University Libraries, 2007–2008
Sum Number Reporting
Expenditures for Computer Files
(one-time/monographic purchase)
$73,102,024 108
Expenditures for Electronic Serials $554,880,484 110
Expenditures for Bibliographic Utilities, Networks, etc.
(Library)
$23,667,883 103
Expenditures for Bibliographic Utilities, Networks, etc.
(External)
$21,079,241 87
Expenditures for Hardware and Software $79,507,314 110
Expenditures for Document Delivery/Interlibrary Loan $14,027,391 108
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 other materials
expenditures have.
The average ARL university library now spends 51% of its materials budget on electronic resources (Tables 7A and 7B)
and 68 ARL libraries report that they spent more than 50% of their materials budget on electronic resources (see Rank
Order Table 20).
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