Reference PurchasingMLA Conference 2010Patricia GregoryDeb KatzPatrick Wall

Public LibrariesThe Reference Collection

PubLib / RSS Survey

56%Public –Single

Building

44%Public-Multi Branch

Library Type

Public Library (s-ingle building)- 56%Public Library (part of a mult- branch system)- 44%

The community served:

29%Urban

39%Sub-

urban

27%Rural

6%Other

Setting

UrbanSuburbanRuralOther

For Public Libraries How large is the population your library serves?

Response Percent Response Count

Under 5,000 people.5.8% 8

5,000-10,000 people.8.6% 12

10,000-50,000 people.39.6% 55

50,000-100,000. people20.1% 28

100,000-250,000. people15.1% 21

Over 250,000 people.11.5% 16

answered question 139

The survey question was:How has your budget for purchasing reference materials changed over the last 5 years?

Answer Options Response Percent

Response Count

It has not changed. 16.3% 22It has increased by more than 10 percent. 4.4% 6

It has increased by less than 10 percent. 11.9% 16

It has decreased by more than 10 percent. 53.3% 72

It has decreased by less than 10 percent. 8.9% 12

I do not know. 5.2% 7

Other (please specify) 15

answered question 135

skipped question 4

Reference Materials Budget Last 5 years

16.3%No Change

4.4%Increased more

than 10%

11.9%Increased less

than 10%

53.3%Decreased more than

10%

8.9%Decreased less than 10%

5.2%Don’t Know

62.1% Decreased.

•But, 16.3% stayed the same, and an additional 16.3% actually increased.

Our Reference Budgets

•“It has decreased, but so have all of our other book-buying budgets. I don't think it has decreased in a greater proportion than the other budgets (for fiction, YA, etc.)”.

• “. . . the budget for online reference databases has increased, but those funds do not come out of the reference budget”

•“We weeded our reference. We are moving to online products”

What we are buying:

2% 38%Purchase

Fre-quently

48%Purchase

Infre-quently

11%Do Not

Purchase/ NA

Databases

Purchase ExclusivelyPurchase FrequentlyPurchase In-frequentlyDo Not Purchase / NA

59% purchasing databases infrequently or not at all.“Our databases are mostly provided by the state library. The one's we pay for are not part of the reference budget, but are part of our IT budget”.

“Databases are paid through another fund or are free (state library)”.

What we are buying:

5%

38%Purchase

Infre-quently57%

Do Not Purchase /

NA

Reference Ebooks

Purchase ExclusivelyPurchase FrequentlyPurchase In-frequentlyDo Not Purchase / NA

95% Purchase Infrequently or not at all.Though:“Databases and Ebooks are a separate budget item”.

“Databases & e-book purchases are made before I get the budget”.

“We buy Ebooks, but not for reference.”

What we are buying:

1% Purchase Exclusively

46%Purchase

Fre-quently51%

Purchase Infre-

quently

2% Do Not Purchase/ NA

Print Reference

Purchase ExclusivelyPurchase FrequentlyPurchase In-frequentlyDo Not Purchase

48% yea to 52% nay on printIs Print dead or just badly wounded for reference?Is it just the economy?Is it a reference question if it is asked of your database without your help?

What our patrons are using:

50%Used Fre-

quently

46%Used Infre-

quently

4%Not Known

Databases

Used FrequentlyUsed InrequentlyNot Used or NAUsage Not Known

What our patrons are using:

5%Used Fre-

quently

37%Used In-

frequently

42%Not Used

or NA

16%Unknown

Reference Ebooks

Used FrequentlyUsed InfrequentlyNot Used or NAUnknown

What our patrons are (still) using:

30%Used Fre-

quently

66%Used In-

frequently

1%Not Used or NA

4%Usage

Unknown

Print Reference

Used FrequentlyUsed InfrequentlyNot Used or NAUsage Unknown

Percentages

•Databases—Holding steady, increasing.

•Ebooks –Maybe the wave of the future, but smaller libraries are not buying now.

•Print– Its death has been foretold for many years now.

How we determine what our patrons want in our reference collections?We have got to ask.

How we determine what our patrons want?•Patron Survey

▫SurveyMonkey-Free to cheap, great for quick, short surveys.

▫Zoomerang.▫Counting Opinions-Library specific, great

control, on the expensive side.▫Wufoo.com.▫Google Docs survey tool.

But ask them.

Ask them what they like to use.Ask them what questions we are not able to help them answer.Ask them if they would like to check out what was formerly reference material.

Other methods libraries use:

•Vendor counts – tells you something, but maybe not what you want to know.

•In house use-scanning print materials-or shelvers keep a log of what goes back without being scanned.

•Reference staff keeps track of questions they have difficulty answering-shops for item to fill the hole in the collection

The future of reference purchasing, the vendor reps:•“I think that the purchase of print

reference will continue to decline and electronic will continue to rise”.-vendor rep

•“They [Libraries] are purchasing both formats, but print still predominates. . . there seems to be more talk about ebooks than purchasing”.-A different vendor rep.

•We purchase as part of a cooperative system for e-books and databases, in-house for print materials, print is in response to patron needs.

•I think we do better with the print materials than we do with the databases - after all, so many people use the databases remotely that it's hard to tell whether they are satisfied.

Where do you find it (once you know what form it is in)? Outstanding Reference Sources list from RUSA CODES-on the RUSA Awards page (along with the previous nine years of lists) and in RUSQ.

RUSA CODES Outstanding Reference Sources• The Selections for 2010• Archaeology in America: An Encyclopedia (Greenwood Press), Francis P.

McManamon• Encyclopedia of African American History: 1896 to the Present (Oxford

University Press), Paul Finkelman• Encyclopedia of Modern China (Charles Scribner’s Sons), David Pong• The Encyclopedia of the Spanish-American and Philippine-American Wars

(ABC-CLIO), Spencer Tucker• Encyclopedia of Environmental Ethics and Philosophy (Gale Cengage), J.

Baird Callicott and Robert Frodeman• Encyclopedia of Human Rights (Oxford), David Forsythe• Social Explorer, an online reference resource• Broadway Plays and Musicals: Descriptions and Essential Facts (McFarland &

Company Publishers), Thomas S. Hischak• American Countercultures (Sharp), Gina Misiroglu• Encyclopedia of Gender and Society (Sage), Jodi O’Brien• Encyclopedia of Marine Science (Facts on File), C. Reid Nichols and Robert G.

Williams

Where do you find it?-continued

Library Journal-Reviews in each issue, eReviews, and their best of the year.

Booklist

Kirkus Reference Supplement

What do we think?

How would you describe the relationship between the reference materials you purchase and the reference needs of your patrons?

Answers Response Percent Response Count

Our reference purchases are totally in sync with our patrons' reference needs.

9.6% 13

Our reference purchases reflect what we believe our patrons want, but we have no way of knowing whether or not this is true.

46.3% 63

We purchase the best material we can and hope for the best.

36.0% 49

Other (please specify) 19.1% 26

answered question 136

skipped question 3