Date:
10/28/2002
Contact: Wendel Sloan at 505.562.2253
Reporter: Melveta Walker
PORTALES – If General Obligation Bond C passes on Nov. 5, academic libraries will receive enough dollars to purchase two library books for each full-time student attending college. Golden Library at Eastern New Mexico University will receive $144,541 and ENMU's Ruidoso Learning Center will receive $14,379.
"If you attended college in 1982, the average cost of a book in your college library was $29.00; today, almost twenty years later, the average cost of a college library book is $53.22. That's an increase of 83.5 percent, " said Julie Miller, president of the New Mexico Consortium of Academic Libraries.
"Of greater importance to ENMU, however, is that academic periodicals increase at the rate of 11 percent a year, and at an even higher rate in the sciences. All New Mexico colleges need science journals to train future high-tech industry leaders."
Here are some of the average costs per title today:
Physics $2,011.13
Chemistry $1,918.09
Engineering $1,142.84
Astronomy $1,083.91
Math & Computer Science $1,018.57
"Guidelines for academic libraries suggest replacing 5 percent of their collections per year to maintain currency. For a collection of 100,000 volumes, the average cost is $266,100 per year.
" As the demand for periodical databases is increasing, so is the cost. New Mexico's academic libraries purchase database subscriptions at a group rate. Even so, the cost of the base package of databases has increased 13 percent in three years," said Ms. Miller.
According to Ms. Miller, iIn addition to increased publishing costs, academic libraries face the following pressures:
User demands for information in more than one format (ranging from print to Web-based)
Dynamic program changes that require enhancing or building new collections in particular subject areas.
Rapid changes in information technology
Distance learning programs that require library services for students who may never set foot into the library.