Skip to main content

Economics of Academic Libraries

Theory, Methodology, and Empirical Analysis

Economics of Academic Libraries cover

Economics of Academic Libraries

Theory, Methodology, and Empirical Analysis

Quantity
Pre-order. Available Apr 15 2027
$142.20 RRP $177.75 Website price saving $35.55 (20%)

Payment for this pre-order will be taken when the item becomes available

Description

Understand the economic behaviors of academic research libraries.

Librarians working for academic libraries make decisions on how to spend their budgets on collections, services, and programs. Given libraries' flat or reduced budgets, what/how/from whom to purchase library materials is an increasingly important issue. The theories and research methodologies presented here will help those working in academic libraries to understand the economic behaviors of academic research libraries and the information markets, helping to minimize costs and maximize limited resources.

It can be tricky to find the right methodologies to evaluate the efficiency of academic library services and programs. Economics of Academic Libraries breaks down research areas by methodologies applied in the literature and explains how they can be used by practicing information professionals. For example, some commonly used cost measures, such as cost-per-use analysis, while convenient, can be misleading because they do not differentiate fixed costs from variable costs. Lewis G. Liu introduces relevant research methodologies for a wide range of library operations in both the United States and internationally. Beginning with a theoretical framework of the economic behavior of academic research libraries in relation to the missions and goals of higher education institutions, Liu discusses inputs, outputs, and library data and applies cost functions to reference, circulation, collection management, and interlibrary loans.

Academic library researchers, directors, and practicing will rely on this book to guide their research and decisionmaking about library operations.

Accessibility Information

Additional accessibility information

  • EPUB 3.0
  • Conforms with the requirements of EPUB Accessibility Spec v1.1
  • WCAG level AA
  • WCAG v2.2 compliant
  • accessibility@bloomsbury.com

Hazards

The publication contains no hazards

Support for non-visual reading

  • No accessibility features offered by the reading system, device or reading software are disabled or otherwise unusable with the product
  • Has alternative text descriptions for images

Visual adjustments

Appearance of the text and page layout can be modified according to the capabilities of the reading system (font family and size, spaces, as well as color of background and text)

Navigation

  • Page list to go to pages from the print source version
  • Elements such as headings, tables, etc for structured navigation
  • All or substantially all textual matter is arranged in a single logical reading order
  • Content is enhanced with ARIA roles to optimize organization and facilitate navigation
  • Purposes of all links are made clear

Rich content

Language tagging provided

Table of Contents

Preface

1. Introduction
2. Long-Term Trends in Higher Education and Academic Libraries
3. The Economic Theory of Academic Library Spending Behavior: A Consumer Choice Approach
4. Economic Measures and Cost Analysis of Higher Education and Academic Libraries
5. Empirical Estimates of Scale and Scope Economies of Academic Libraries
6. Data Collection
7. Conclusion

Bibliography
Index

Product details

Published Apr 15 2027
Format Ebook (Epub & Mobi)
Edition 1st
Pages 176
ISBN 9798216188667
Imprint Bloomsbury Libraries Unlimited
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing

About the contributors

Author

Lewis G. Liu

Lewis G. Liu is a Professor at Baruch College of t…

Related Titles

Environment: Staging