Supporting the threefold mission of teaching, research and public service has been an ongoing challenge for academic libraries and the UNH Library is not immune to these pressures. Recent changes in academic publishing and scholarly communication have exacerbated the problem. The Association of Research Libraries reports the following statistics:
- Journals have gone up in price an average of 9% a year since 1986, while the consumer price index has increased only 3.3% a year
- Libraries spent 170% more to purchase 6% fewer journal titles in 1999 than in 1986
- Commercial journal publishers are expanding their market control through acquisitions, mergers, and the purchase of individual titles from learned scholarly societies
(Source:
Association of Research Libraries)
The bottom line is this: we would need to have at least a 10% annual increase in the collections budget to sustain the number of continuations, periodicals and databases that we currently maintain. Given state and university budget realities, this level of funding is highly unlikely.
Serials to be reviewed by
Title or click Department below.
