ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries 6 2 2 / C &RL News annual research program at the ALA A nnual Con­ ference in W ashington, D.C. in Ju n e 1998. U se this o p p o rtu n ity to sh are w ith y o u r col­ leag u e s recen t research o r w o rk s in p rogress th at ad d ress significant issues to science an d te ch n o lo g y librarianship in its b ro a d e s t sense. P ro p o sals w ill b e se le c te d th ro u g h a blind re v ie w p ro c e ss o n th e basis o f tim eliness, evi­ d e n c e o f sch o larsh ip , a n d re lev an ce to science a n d tech n o lo g y assem bly. An abstract n o t e x ceed in g 250 w o rd s sho u ld co n v e y th e title a n d p u rp o s e o f th e project, its s c o p e , m e th o d o lo g y , c o n c lu s io n s , a n d re l­ ev a n c e to scien ce a n d tech n o lo g y librarian- sh ip . Priority will b e given to p a p e rs th a t in d i­ cate re se a rc h analyses, e ith e r q u an titativ e or qualitative. D e a d lin e f o r su b m is sio n : N o v e m b e r 21, 1997. P ap ers will b e se le c te d at th e ALA Mid­ w in te r M eeting. Authors of accepted proposals should b e com ­ m itted to providing a 30-m inute presentation at the 1998 ALA Annual Conference. Electronic publi­ cation o f papers through ACRL/STS is an option. S u b m it a b s tr a c t (e -m a il p r e f e r r e d ) w ith n am e, institution, p h o n e , fax, a n d e-m ail a d ­ dress to: T am era Lee, Vet. M edical Library, 101 G reen e Hall, A uburn University, AL 36849- 5606; p h o n e : (334) 844-1749; fax: (334) 884- 1758; e-m ail: T am m yLee@ Lib.A uburn.Edu. ■ M e a s u r in g c h a n g e in a c a d e m ic lib r a r ie s : NCES s ta rts s o m e th in g n e w For m any years, th e N ational C enter for E du­ cation Statistics (NCES) has c o n d u c te d a b i­ en n ial A cadem ic Libraries Survey (ALS) as part o f th e Integrated P ostsecondary E duca­ tion Data Survey (IPEDS). D ata tables w ere p u b lish e d b u t n o com parative rep o rts w ere d o n e. T hat situation c h a n g e d this Ju n e w ith th e p u b licatio n o f The Status o f A c a d e m ic Libraries in th e U nited States: Results fr o m th e 199 0 a n d 1 992 A c a d e m ic L ibrary Sur- v e y s(NCES 97-413). This 28-page report, p re ­ p a re d u n d e r contract by th e A m erican Insti­ tu tes for R esearch, c o m p ares ALS d ata over tim e (1990-92) an d displays data u sin g the C arnegie classification. T he rep o rt focuses o n the follow ing seven indicators: L ib r a r y S ta ff • Library Staff/Student Ratios • Libraiy Staff/Instructions Faculty Ratios B o o k s , S e r ia l B a c k f ile s , a n d O t h e r P r in t M a te r ia ls • Total V olum es H eld • Total V olum es H eld p e r FTE S tudent • Total Library E xpenditures • Library Share o f Institutional B udgets • E xpenditures p e r FTE Student T h ese sev en w ere c h o se n b e c a u se they are im p o rtan t b u t also b e cau se data w ere available for bo th 1990 an d 1992 from at least 70 p e rc e n t o f th e IPEDS universe. O nly insti­ tu tio n s re s p o n d in g in b o th years w e re in ­ clu d ed in th e analysis. V alues for 1992 are sh o w n to g e th e r w ith p ercen tag e ch an g e in th o se values since 1990. G iven th e p re s e n t rate o f ch a n g e in the academ ic library com m unity, it is h a rd to get excited about statistics from 1990 and 1992, de­ spite the effective way they are presented in this report. It is an important milestone, however, in that it Is the first publication on academic libraries from NCES that compares data from different years and uses the Carnegie classification to organize it. Work is already underw ay on another report, this tim e by M athem atica, th at will u p d a te th o se sev en indicators using data from the 1994 ALS, a n d will also d o additional analy­ sis o f 1994 data. J o h n M inter A ssociates has already u se d a prelim inary file o f 1994 data from th e individual states to p ro d u c e several publications. C heck th e Jo h n M inter Associ­ ates W eb site: h ttp ://w w w .e d m in .c o m /jm a ; o r p h o n e (800) 444-8110. N o te : A few copies o f this report are available from the author o f this article (mlynch@ala.org). O therw ise they are available from: N ew O r­ ders, S uperintendent o f D ocum ents, P.O. Box 371954, Pittsburgh, PA 15250-7954. The stock n u m b er is 065-000-01033-0 a n d th e price is $4. You m ay place credit card orders by fax at (202) 512-2250. This p ro d u ct is also available a t h t t p : / / w w w . e d . g o v / N C E S / p u b s 9 7 / 974l3.htm l.—M a ry Jo Lynch, ALA O ffice f o r Research a n d Statistics mailto:TammyLee@Lib.Auburn.Edu http://www.edmin.com/jma mailto:mlynch@ala.org http://www.ed.gov/NCES/pubs97/