In UK, Academic Libraries Face Budget Crunch, Seek Solutions

Guide suggests potential strategies, including shared services, resources

Norman Oder -- Library Journal, 03/25/2010

• Cuts expected in next three to five years
• Savings on resources key, but not easy to implement
• Open access offers no short-term savings
• Need to emphasize ROI

A new guide from the Research Information Network—established by the higher education funding councils, the research councils, and the UK national libraries—focuses on how academic librarians are experiencing and responding to financial pressures.

The document, titled Challenges for academic libraries in difficult economic times, notes that academic librarians expect a sustained period of cuts over the next three to five years and thus must reconsider the kinds and levels of service they can provide

There's no simple solution, but it's clear that library directors need support from senior managers in higher education sector, as well as from publishers and other information providers, the report says.

Finding collective efficiencies
The report notes that libraries have already pursued some of the simpler solutions, such as self-service checkout and even  business process reviews.

So there's relatively little scope for savings at individual institutions, though the report advises that there's "an urgent need" to share best practices in managing restructuring and that cuts in opening hours are inevtiable.

Rather, "larger-scale savings must come in the form of shared services in areas such as library management systems, management of digital resources, and shared cataloging," the report says, pointing to the sharing of resources as the largest potential savings.

"[A] bid has been submitted to the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) for the initial stages" of the development of such shared services, the report says, but it's unclear whether it can or will be funded.

Savings on materials
Can ebooks be a solution? Maybe, but librarians interviewed "express frustration that publishers’ policies on pricing and accessibility are inhibiting take-up." Thus the report suggests that libraries and publishers must cooperate "to promote innovative thinking on new models and routes to content." 

Moreover, several of those interviewed criticized the "big deals" made for journal content, and may want to negotiate directly with publishers. However, confidentiality clauses often block the sharing of information. Thus some collective action is necessary to reduce the cost of license deals.

Open access challenges
While libraries "have played a leading role in promoting open access initiatives, through the establishment of institutional repositories and of arrangements for the payment of open access publication fees," that doesn't make things any cheaper.

In the short run, the report observes, that will remain a burden on libraries, while in the "very long term, it is possible that open access may help in reducing the pressure on library budgets."

ROI
As in the United States, there's an increasing consciousness of the need to focus on return on investment, or ROI: "[Interviewees] believe that many senior managers in universities, as well as academics and students, have outdated views and expectations about the services that libraries now provide."

Thus, the report notes, "Libraries therefore need to be more proactive in seeking to understand user behaviour and workflows; and in rigorously analysing and demonstrating the value of their activities in improving students’ experience and in supporting teaching, learning and research."