(5 October 2015) Association of Research Libraries (ARL) has released the ARL Statistics 2013–2014, which presents data describing the collections, staffing, expenditures, and service activities of the Association’s 125 member libraries in fiscal year 2013–2014. Of these, 115 are university libraries (16 in Canada and 99 in the US); the remaining 10 are public, governmental, and nonprofit research libraries (1 in Canada, 9 in the US).
ARL libraries are a relatively small subset of libraries in North America, but they account for a large portion of academic library resources in terms of assets, budgets, and the number of users they serve. The total expenditures of all 125 member libraries in 2013–2014 were almost $4.7 billion; of that, approximately $3.4 billion was spent by the 115 university libraries and slightly more than $1.2 billion by the nonuniversity libraries.
The Association has collected and published annual statistics for its member libraries since 1961–1962, expanding upon the work of James Gerould, who collected this information first at the University of Minnesota and later at Princeton University. The data he collected, covering the years 1907–1908 through 1961–1962, are now called the Gerould Statistics. The complete data series from 1908 through the present represents the oldest, most comprehensive, continuing library statistical series in North America.
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