The study looks closely at the database licensing practices of major academic and research libraries, examining issues such as disputes with vendors, purchasing plans, spending volume, impact of open access journals, staff time related to database purchases, and many other issues of interest to acquisitions and licensing librarians and others involved in intellectual property purchasing. Among the issues covered are: spending plans for ebooks, electronic directories, electronic journals, index databases; current and projected spending broken down by subject area; use of attorneys in disputes with database vendors, and much more.

This report looks closely at database licensing issues in the USA, Australia, continental Europe, the UK and other countries and areas. The study is based on data from 70 major libraries, predominantly academic and special The report covers spending and procurement trends, use of eBooks and electronic directories as well as major databases, the impact of mobile computing and many other issues. The study looks closely at librarian preferences for the inclusion of various kinds of cyber materials in full text databases.Also covered in great detail are library spending plans, subscription renewal plans and views of price increases for various kinds of electronic content. The report also covers the impact of digital repositories and open access publishing on database procurement, as well as providing detailed data on the prevalence of legal disputes between publishers and libraries. The 115+ page report presents a plethora of unique data on library purchasing practices for databases.

The Survey of Library Services for Distance Learning Programs presents benchmarking data from more than 100 college libraries concerning their programs for serving their distance learning students. This 145 page report gives extensive data, broken out by size and type of college, for public and private colleges, and for U.S. and Non-U.S. libraries. Among the more than 500 tables of data presented is information about: use of real time chat and virtual reference services for distance learners; percentage of libraries that offer special classes for distance learners; future plans to offer information literacy courses to distance learners; policies on providing web pages, blogs or listservs that specifically serve the needs of distance learners; number of interactive online tutorials provided to distance learners; state of relations between the library and distance learning instructors; percentage of libraries with equivalent of library orientation program for distance learners; the role that libraries play in distance learning orientation; percentage of libraries that maintain agreements with other colleges to offer library services to their students; percentage of libraries with an official liaison to the distance learning program; percentage of libraries with a full time position devoted to distance learning; staff size for library distance learning staffs; policies on line item in the library budget for distance learning; evaluation of distance learners use of the library; evaluation of distance learners information literacy skills; distance learner attitudes towards the library; assessment of the reference needs of distance learners; electronic reserve policies for distance learners; spending on shipping costs to serve distance learners; library's primary means of shipping books and other materials to distance learners; library staff responsible for serving distance learners; provision of remote assistance by the library in how to use the courseware management system; level of access to library databases provided to distance learners; copyright issues; annual salary of librarians devoted to distance learning.

Of main findings -- Departmental assessment -- Standardized testing -- Assessment office -- Student assessment of instuctors -- Evaluation of adjunct faculty -- Faculty involvement in assessment -- Tutoring -- Assessing student services -- Assessment environment -- Curriculum changes -- Use of benchmarking data -- Use of consultants and services -- Post graduation assessment -- Assessing assessment.

The study profiles the interlibrary loan efforts of nine leading American colleges: the University of Texas at Arlington, Tulane University, the University of Minnesota, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, Brigham Young University, the University of Tennessee, Colorado State University, Oberlin College and Stony Brook University. The libraries interviewed shared their thoughts on a broad range of topics including but not restricted to: workflow management, productivity measures, departmental organization, budgets and spending trends, service to distance learning students, copyright and licensing issues, measures for special collections, automation and software use, use of institutional repositories and open access publications, shipping costs and procedures, and many other facets of academic interlibrary loan management. The purpose of the report is to define and diffuse best practices by profiling measures taken by nine leading institutions of higher education. Although the report contains much useful quantitative information, especially relating to budgets and employment, the focus in this report is on a journalistic narrative explaining departmental goals, procedures and practices and evaluating results.

This latest edition of The Survey of Academic Libraries presents data from more than 75 American and Canadian academic libraries. Data are broken out by size and type of library for easier benchmarking. Data coverage includes: trends in staffing and salaries, hiring plans, changes in the deployment of labor in the library, materials spending, including specific data on databases, traditional print books and journals; receipts from grants and endowments, trends in capital spending, spending on library learning centers, trends in spending through online booksellers, plans for digital repository development, and developments in special collections, among other areas. TABLE OF CONTENTS List Of Tables 3 SURVEY PARTICIPANTS 20 Introduction & Demographics 21 Chapter One: Summary Of Main Findings 23 Chapter Two: Staff 36 Chapter Three: Materials Spending 44 Chapter Four: Grants 50 Chapter Five: Capital Spending 64 Chapter Six: Technology Education Center 74 Chapter Seven: Books 78 Chapter Eight: Subject-Specific Investment 86 Chapter Nine: Journals 101 Chapter Ten: Information Literacy 111 Chapter Eleven: Special Collections 117 Chapter Twelve: Building Plans 127 Chapter Thirteen: Notable Library Science Schools 131 OTHER REPORTS FROM PRIMARY RESEARCH GROUP INC.

Survey of academic libraries, chiefly in the United States and Canada, on their use of classroom response systems (clickers); whiteboards, tablets, and other presentation aids; internet technologies such as instant messaging, blogs, wikis, podcasting, photo sharing, online simulations/tutorials, virtual classroom/reality software, virtual reference software, and course management systems; instructional budgets; instructional computer labs; and instructional furniture.

The Survey of Student Retention Policies in Higher Education presents data from a benchmarking study of the retention policies of 40 American colleges. Data is broken out for public and private colleges, by Carnegie class and enrollment level, to allow for easier benchmarking. This 100+ page study presents data on: spending on consulting services to aid in student retention, spending on conferences, reports and other information and analysis about retention; percentage of colleges that have a dean or other high level administrator for retention; retention rates for students; ways in which colleges track and present retention data; perceived impact of financial assistance on retention; perceived impact of severity in grading on retention; perceived impact of tutoring services on retention; perceived impact of psychological counseling serviceson retention; perceived impact of general economic conditions on retention; perceived impact of involvement in extra-curricular activities on retention; perceived impact of the quality of food services and residence halls on retention; use of interviews of transferees or drop outs from the college; use of interviews of graduates of the college; importance of exit interviews; percentage of colleges that maintain records on students that are engaged in few or no extracurricular activities; description of college info literacy policies; percentage of colleges that offer child care services to students; role of part time job finding services; perceived importance of career services division for retention; perceived importance of the academic advising services unit for retention; perceived importance of peer mentoring for retention; percentage of colleges that intervene at pre-determined thresholds of student difficulties such as number of classes missed or low grade point average; description of college efforts to reach out to help high risk students; College spending on tutoring services; Projected future spending on tutoring services; Perceived impact of tutoring services on retention; Source of tutors; Cost of Tutors; percentage of residence halls that have student advisory centers; percentage of colleges that have hired consultants to advise on the academic advising services; Annual Budget of the academic advising unit; number of full time equivalent positions allocated to the academic advising unit; description of rate of growth in the college's financial aid to students over the past two years; description of changes in tuition levels; perceived view of the need to increase financial aid or lower tuition in order to maintain or enhance enrollment; institutional attitudes towards the encouragement of instructor-student interaction outside of class; percentage of students that need special help in reading, writing or pronouncing English; percentage of colleges that offer ESL.