Background
In 2018, UNLV was recognized and classified by Carnegie as R1, or “Very High Research”, which is the highest status for a research institution. To continue UNLV’s forward trajectory, the Top Tier 2.0 strategic initiative has been developed with the vision of:
- providing access to world class educational experiences that are responsive to the needs of our students and stakeholders,
- engaging in groundbreaking research, scholarship, professional and creative activities that have impact and cross boundaries,
- offering high value, cutting edge interdisciplinary physical and mental health care to support our community.
UNLV Libraries’ collection is a central University resource and one that is essential in supporting the core areas of Top Tier 2.0.
- Advance Student Achievement
- Bolster Research, Scholarship, Creative Activity
- Create UNLV Academic Health
- Stimulate Socio-Economic Development
- Foster Community Partnerships
- Promote Social Justice, Equity and Inclusion
Given the current budget uncertainties and past budget challenges, it is unlikely that current collections can be maintained, and cuts will be needed. These cuts will have a significant impact on meeting the curricular and research needs of the campus.
The Libraries has created a report on the state of the collections budget to provide an overview of the situation and to explore options and impacts.
Summary
This report will:
- Provide a current overview of the Libraries’ collection
- share results of a national investigation of the collection budgets and expenditures of Greater Western Library Alliance (GWLA) member libraries, as well as peer and Carnegie “very high research activity” (RU/VH) benchmark libraries;
- provide a list and budget information on requested serial or recurring resources requested by faculty and students;
- provide a list and budget information on requested one-time resources requested by faculty and students;
- Budget Coping Strategies.
Section 1: UNLV Libraries collections overview
UNLV Libraries serials/monographs allocations
The UNLV Libraries’ collections budget funds the purchase and subscription of resources in all formats to support the teaching, research and community engagement missions of UNLV. Every year a larger percentage of our budget is devoted to continuing resources which are subject to annual inflationary increases. For FY23/24, the Libraries collection budget is $8.5 million and the budget for the School of Medicine Library is $1.5 million. This fiscal year, FY23/24, 90% of our collection funds will be spent on continuing resources, which include databases, e-books, and large packages of electronic journals, while 6% of the budget is allocated to monographs (the remaining budget is allocated to expenses, such as interlibrary loan, discovery systems, etc.). A major challenge for the budget is inflation. The Libraries overall inflation rate for journals, books, databases and other electronic resources averages 5%. In order for the Libraries to maintain the current resources, $450,000 must be added to the base budget each year to maintain the current level of resources, but this does not provide funding to add in additional serial resources requested by students and faculty.
Serials inflation rates
According to the Periodicals Price Survey (PPS), serials pricing is increasing at an average of 5.5% a year. Since 2010, serials prices have risen steadily. Contrary to stereotype, price increases are not driven only by science, technology, and medical (STM) disciplines. STM is expected to increase 4.7%, compared to 6.7% for social sciences and 6.3% for arts and humanities.
UNLV Libraries current budget context
The UNLV Libraries appreciates the many demands on the university budget during this challenging time and we are grateful for the one-time funding and special inflation allocations we have received in the past, this has helped us to maintain our collections. As we plan for the next few years in this fiscal climate, we need to address the ongoing impacts of inflation as well as prepare for a reduction in collections funding. In the past the Libraries has used a variety of strategies to deal with serials inflation including working with University Administration to include one-time funding and special inflation allocations (FY 16-19) and drawing from the monograph funds to cover serials inflation. Beginning with FY 24, the Libraries’ special inflation allocation ends and if additional funds are not received, the Libraries will need to initiate cancellation projects of up to $2 million in FY25 and FY26. In the current budget climate, the Libraries has not received inflation funding in FY24 and we do not expect to receive it in FY25 and possibly beyond that. We also have been made aware that a reduction in funding is possible in FY25. To prepare for this we will need to initiate cancellation projects of up to $2 million in FY25 and FY26.
Impact of proposed cuts on document delivery
A cancellation project will result in a loss of content impacting on faculty and students’ ability to both discover information and access materials needed. For a cancellation exercise of this size the Libraries expects to see a considerable increase in demand on our document delivery services to supplement the lost content, and the Libraries will likely look to additional collection cuts to fund the increased activity. The direct costs associated with document delivery include our membership to document delivery services (such as Rapid), copyright fees for articles, and expenses for shipping/delivery. In addition, a heavier reliance on document delivery will have an impact on faculty productivity due to wait time for articles and other materials to be delivered.
Section 2: Library collection budgets – review of peers
Table 4 below shows libraries that are members of the Greater Western Library Alliance (GWLA). The Greater Western Library Alliance is a consortium of 39 research libraries. Membership provides discounted, consortial purchasing on a range of journals, databases, and monographs that has provided cost avoidance in the millions. Members also participate in expedited document delivery of materials among GWLA libraries in order to share collections. The table displays total expenditures for collections over a period of three years.
The Table shows that UNLV Libraries collections budget ranks 26 out of 37 member libraries in collection expenditures.
| Institution | Total expenditures on materials 2021 | Total expenditures on materials 2020 | Total expenditures on materials 2019 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arizona State University Campus Immersion | $11,998,678 | $12,119,256 | $12,518,477 |
| Baylor University | $10,189,303 | $10,654,689 | $11,231,190 |
| Brigham Young University | $15,060,378 | $9,423,334 | $11,364,692 |
| Colorado State University-Fort Collins | $9,179,350 | $9,333,914 | $9,786,129 |
| Iowa State University | $10,125,253 | $11,912,270 | $12,029,075 |
| Kansas State University | $5,864,769 | $5,600,642 | $5,290,037 |
| Oklahoma State University-Main Campus | $7,911,017 | $8,122,560 | $8,126,224 |
| Oregon State University | $5,928,164 | $5,612,079 | $5,893,242 |
| Rice University | $12,655,232 | $13,077,047 | $13,076,290 |
| Southern Illinois University-Carbondale | $5,814,546 | $5,889,730 | $5,258,297 |
| Southern Methodist University | $6,862,501 | $6,934,189 | $8,612,059 |
| Texas A&M University-College Station | $25,520,702 | $27,575,093 | $21,857,347 |
| Texas State University | $8,833,452 | $8,684,257 | $7,817,380 |
| Texas Tech University | $10,816,479 | $10,303,193 | $7,579,241 |
| The University of Texas at Austin | $21,880,424 | $21,241,571 | $23,073,591 |
| University of Arizona | $16,429,369 | $16,039,003 | $14,555,147 |
| University of Arkansas | $7,881,273 | $7,569,948 | $7,602,238 |
| University of Colorado Boulder | $13,829,670 | $14,572,173 | $14,865,516 |
| University of Delaware | $11,985,353 | $12,258,825 | $9,498,531 |
| University of Hawaii at Manoa | $8,922,800 | $9,302,420 | $8,677,285 |
| University of Houston | $13,229,489 | $13,904,893 | $13,316,184 |
| University of Illinois Chicago | $8,552,168 | $8,995,771 | $9,190,993 |
| University of Kansas | $9,567,544 | $10,292,746 | $9,733,408 |
| University of Missouri-Columbia | $12,311,131 | $9,887,797 | $8,215,907 |
| University of Nevada, Las Vegas | $8,517,295 | $8,493,884 | $8,937,839 |
| University of New Mexico-Main Campus | $7,484,145 | $7,499,106 | $9,108,056 |
| University of Oklahoma-Norman Campus | $9,580,142 | $8,889,145 | $8,661,980 |
| University of Oregon | $7,580,183 | $7,396,869 | $7,398,293 |
| University of Southern California | $21,075,316 | $22,796,195 | $21,593,965 |
| University of Utah | $10,186,211 | $10,235,100 | $9,998,933 |
| University of Washington-Seattle Campus | $19,882,104 | $18,257,810 | $19,441,583 |
| University of Wyoming | $8,849,522 | $8,912,524 | $8,453,163 |
| Utah State University | $6,557,205 | $6,046,021 | $5,776,610 |
| Washington State University | $8,072,286 | $7,888,259 | $7,672,501 |
| Washington University in St. Louis | $15,024,965 | $15,701,915 | $15,171,333 |
| Wayne State University | $11,369,430 | $10,349,210 | $10,523,801 |
| West Virginia University | $8,233,412 | $7,630,313 | $7,395,681 |
Section 3: List and budget information on requested serial or recurring resources requested by faculty and students
Due to the fact that the Library has had a flat-budget over the past few years, we have maintained a list of subscriptions that have been requested by students and faculty via course forms or directly to the Libraries. The resources on the list are items the library cannot currently purchase without canceling another resource. The Libraries has received requests for a variety of resources including print and electronic journals, online databases, streaming media and data sets. Currently, the list of items contains a request for 47 resources for a total of $357,168.83. One note, these are serial or recurring costs and subject to inflation rates. The full list of resources are available in Appendix A.
As the university continues growing and expanding classes and programs, the list of requests from faculty and students will continue to increase. The Libraries anticipates an increase in requests for datasets:
- Currently, the licensing of datasets is a major focus of academic libraries in Tier 1 institutions. Datasets, though, are not one-time costs but recurring costs that the UNLV Libraries would have to pay for annually to maintain access. As mentioned above, inflation and flat budgets have impeded our ability to license data sources desired by our faculty.
Section 4: List and budget information on requested one-time resources requested by faculty and students
The Libraries maintains a list of one-time purchase requests from students and faculty which cannot be fulfilled due to budget constraints. The Libraries has received requests for a variety of resources including journal archives, electronic books, research collections and streaming media collections. Currently, the list of items contains a request for 109 resources for a total of $3,555,627.49. The full list of resources are available in Appendix B.
Section 5: Budget coping strategies:
| Coping strategy | Description of UNLV’s use of this strategy |
|---|---|
| Cancelled monographs and utilized savings to cover inflation | Reduced monograph purchasing by approximately 13,000 volumes ($700,000) since 2008 and switched to more robust demand driven and evidence-based strategies to supplement |
| Shifted journal subscriptions from print and electronic to electronic only | UNLV Libraries has converted all subscriptions to electronic only format where the publisher offers this single format option and the license guarantees perpetual access. This saving is a one time savings, it is not realized year after year |
| Cancelled journals and databases | Performed serials review projects to cut lesser-used and duplicate-format materials from our collection in 2008, 2010, 2014, 2021. These projects enabled the UNLV Libraries to save over $2.15 million |
| Demand driven book acquisition programs | In 2010, the UNLV Libraries moved to a just-in-time model to purchase e-books only when our patrons use them. This method of purchasing, called Patron Driven Acquisitions or Evidence-based Acquisitions, allows the library to provide access to thousands of e-books that we have not purchased. By only paying for titles that our patrons use, we spend our money wisely and save money by not spending dollars on the unused parts of our collection |
| More robust document delivery services | The Libraries participation in GWLA helped provide quick and cost-efficient borrowing access to other libraries’ collection. In the Fall of 2018, we became members of RAPID and RAPID-R, which provides unmediated access to the more robust monograph and journal collections. |
| Negotiate lower % inflation with publishers | Negotiated longer term deals with Elsevier, Wiley, SAGE, Springer and Taylor & Francis to receive better deals for the libraries. Through our success, we have a journal inflation rate of 2.5%; the national average is 5.5%. Our overall inflation rate for all collections is higher when we factor in databases, monographs, and other electronic resources. The libraries have also negotiated decreased subscription prices with some vendors. |
| Leverage consortial purchasing options | Purchasing through consortia allows the UNLV Libraries to achieve greater discounts than if we negotiated products on our own. We are members of several consortia, including GWLA, SCELC, UALC and Lyrasis. Our recent purchases through consortia include journal packages for Wiley, Springer and Oxford University Press and several online databases such as Lexis/Nexis Academic, Academic Search Premier and many others. The Libraries cost avoidance from GWLA in 2017 was $3,149,651.71. The Libraries has also created the Nevada Council of Academic Libraries to provide consortial options to other NSHE institutions. |
| Support alternative publishing models | To contribute to a decades long strategy from the higher education community to control rapid inflationary costs of academic scholarship, the UNLV Libraries support open access initiatives and have invested in an institutional repository. The result is the creation of Digital Scholarship@UNLV, an online repository that highlights the scholarly contributions of UNLV authors to the world while providing an alternative to traditional journals. Content in the repository does not substitute for publication in a commercial journal. In addition, the Libraries funds $35,000 for Article Processing Charges for Open Access articles for UNLV Faculty. The Libraries has also entered into five Read and Publish journal licenses, which either caps APCs for UNLV Faculty or allows UNLV Faculty to publish open access free of charge. |
| Centralize subscription purchasing and reduce collections overhead charges | Since 2008, UNLV Libraries has decreased the amount of expenses tied to the collections budget (expenses, such as binding, maintenance, etc) by 70%. |
Conclusions
UNLV Libraries has proven itself a conscientious steward of the collections budget, but the current budget environment and the ongoing impacts of inflation mean we have now reached a critical juncture and will need to reduce our collection expenditures.
As we move forward and tackle these difficult decisions the Libraries will continue to work with the administration and the faculty.
Bibliography
Bosch, Stephen, Romain, Sion, Elliot, Cynthia & Albee, Barbara. Going for Gold, Deep in the Red; Periodicals Price Survey 2023. Library Journal, April 11, 2023. Retrieved from https://www.libraryjournal.com/story/going-for-gold-deep-in-the-red. Accessed October 10, 2023.