RLI 282 ARL Library Budgets after the Great Recession, 2011–13 8 RESEARCH LIBRARY ISSUES: A REPORT FROM ARL, CNI, AND SPARC 2013 • Elimination of vacant positions • Hiring freezes • Staff layoffs • Early-retirement program • Staff furloughs • Unspent funds from prior year One can presume that some of these strategies have been at play in recent fiscal years as well. The written commentary indicates increases were frequently the result of union contracts or were targeted retentions for high-performers. One should keep in mind too that ARL libraries have for some years been finding ways to reduce staff numbers through numerous efficiency and service-improvement strategies and this trend has accelerated in the last five years. This means that the same salary pool can be spread across smaller numbers of staff thus allowing for increases even in difficult times. In any event, the fact that member institutions were awarding increases is a positive reversal of the multi-year trend since 2008 and indicative of the commitment to retaining talented and valuable staff. Moreover, written comments indicate that awards were not stingy, particularly given the cost-of-living changes indicated by the CPI (see Figure 9). When amounts were provided, in FY11–12 nearly two-thirds of the awards were 2.9% or less. On the other hand, the remaining one-third was 3% or more. In FY12–13 slightly over half were 2.9% or less, so almost half were 3% or more. Figure 9. Provide details regarding increments of increase: Canadian US Private US Public Non Academic FY2011-2012 Total Responses = 26 Response Count Response Percent Range 1 – 2% 10 38% Range 2 – 2.9% 7 27% Range 3% or more 9 35% N=5 N=3 N=4 N=1 N=5 N=4 N=4 Note: 26 of the 60 libraries that gave increases to all eligible staff provided details concerning the amounts given. FY2012-2013 Total Responses = 39 Response Count Response Percent Range 1 – 2% 7 18% Range 2 – 2.9% 14 36% Range 3% or more 18 46% N=1 N=7 N=7 N=3 Note: 39 of the 61 libraries that gave increases to all eligible staff provided details concerning the amounts given. N=2 N=8 N=1 N=9 N=1