Results from the 2013 reference survey

1. Tell us what you want,
what you really, really want
Select results of
the global
reference survey
Elisabeth Leonard, MSLS, MBA
Market Research Analyst,
SAGE Publications, Inc.

2. Agenda
 Budgets
 Perceptions of reference
 Questions and comments

3. What I did
 Invitations to complete the survey were sent
to various listservs, including publib, colldev,
acqnet, and SLA chapter lists globally.
 Email invitations were sent to 800 reference,
collection development, and acquisition
librarians.
 There were 32 questions.
 Completed surveys were eligible to win an
iPad mini.
 Followed up with interviews and focus
groups.

4. Demographics
Demographics
 471 responses (600+ came to the first page)
 90% came from North America, 6% from Asia
Pacific, 2% from Europe, 1% from South
America, and 0.5% from Africa.
 58% were from academic libraries, 13% from
corporate libraries, 12% from medical libraries,
10% from government or military libraries, 6%
from public libraries, and 1% from school
libraries.

5. Trends: budgets

6. Reference budgets: last 5 years
Academic Public Special
Increased 10% 15% 12%
Stayed the
same
34% 15% 29%
Decreased 49% 65% 49%
Don’t know 7% 5% 9%

7. Reference budgets: next 5 years
Academic Public Special
Increase 10% 6% 18%
Stay the
same
34% 44% 32%
Decrease 54% 50% 44%
Don’t spend
now
1% 0% 5%
Eliminated 0.6% 0% 0.9%

8. Comparing trends in special
libraries
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
Increased Stayed the same Decreased Don’t know
Last 5 years
Next 5 years

9. General trends: budgets
Libraries are consolidating their budget lines,
with some no longer including a separate
budget line for reference
Spending often comes out of subject funds
and e-resources fund
A preference for e-reference
Growth to support new programs
Reduction because of journals spend and
increased e-resources spend
Importance of one time funds

10. Spending comes from subject
funds
“We have not had a reference budget for
some time now. Reference resources that
are acquired now come out of subject
area budgets along with any resources
needed for that area.”

11. Funds move to e-resources line
 “Although the amount of the reference
budget is probably about the same, the
type of materials purchases are quite
different. We used to spend considerable
money on paper monographs, standing
orders, and reference serials. We spend
very little on any of those, but much of the
money we spent has now been
transferred into the budget for online
resources.”

12. Consolidation of budget lines
“We continue to purchase reference materials but
we don't have a separate "reference" budget line.
We engaged in some reorganization a few years
ago, and that included folding many separate
small budget lines into fewer, larger, ones.”

13. A preference for e-reference
“We have a shared fund for purchases of
online resources - many of which are A&I
databases and thus 'reference'. But they
are not charged to our 'reference' fund.
Our 'reference' fund is only for print material.
So our online reference buying is increasing
each year. Our print reference buying is
holding steady or decreasing.”

14. Growth from new programs
“Our budget was cut last year, but we will
be gaining 3 new residency programs.
Therefore, in certain areas, I think our
budget will increase to meet GME
requirements.”

15. Importance of one time funds
“We've seen fluctuations in our reference
purchasing because, though we have definitely
seen cuts in the amount of monies we spend, we've
also been the beneficiaries of one-time money
which has then been used to purchase all sorts of
materials, including reference materials. This has
had the overall effect of off-setting cuts in the
budget.”

16. “E” (and a little print)
Academic Public Special
Print only 0.5% 0% 3%
Print preferred 4% 5% 6%
Online only 7% 0% 11%
Online preferred 68% 35% 50%
No preference 22% 60% 31%
No longer purchase
reference
1% 0% 5%

17. Perceptions of reference

18. People still ask for
 Subject handbooks
 Databases,
 Encyclopedias
 Dictionaries
 Updated editions
As well as journals, articles and textbooks

19. “Sometimes the requests
come from patrons, but
more often from
colleagues (after dealing
with patrons and noticing a
need) and professors.”

20. Comments
 The proliferation of single-volume
encyclopedias is incredible, given the
shrinking demand.

21. % of patrons librarians believe are
aware of reference resources

22. Librarian satisfaction with
perceived patron awareness

23. Top ways librarians think patrons
discover reference resources
 Following the direction of a librarian
 Following the direction of an instructor
 Searching online (eg. Google)

24. Are librarians satisfied with the
use reference resources get?

25. Why?
 It can always be better (I feel usage is good, but could be better/ I
always want people to read more, research more. I will never be fully
satisfied!)
 Free alternative resources (It is an uphill battle to get them to use the
library instead of Google or other search engine as their starting place.)
 Faculty not on board (Many faculty discourage students from using
reference materials when they are a great place to start the process.)
 Not enough value for the money (Aren't used heavily enough, based on
their research value.)
 Not enough promotion (We need to promote our reference resources.
These resources are basically underused and we are increasingly
selective about acquiring them in print; Usage does drive renewals)
 The value is in the answer (IMO, it doesn't matter if a Ref is used exactly
once, IF with that use it provides precisely what the patron needs.)
 C’est la vie (People are usually either library users, or they are not. Some
people just don't give priority to such things, and they probably won't
set the world on fire.)

26. Issues with discovery
 The Discovery service doesn't make it possible
to filter for this content. Our catalog does a
great job, but the students don't start there.
Our major reference vendor's content isn't in
the Discovery service (yet). Reference
Universe, the index to reference content,
does not work well enough in the Discovery
Layer or even on its own to get students to
that content. A problem that needs to be
fixed.

27. Questions? Comments?
Elisabeth Leonard, MSLS, MBA
Twitter: ElisabethAnn
Email: elisabeth.leonard@sagepub.com