Center For Research Libraries
Submitted by Arianne Hartsell-Gundy and Jenny Presnell 11/25/13
Below is a summary of issues surrounding ACRL membership and Miami University Libraries. After our look at the
issues, we would recommend:
1. Renewal of CRL membership. Not only does this provide us with the cheapest access to the NYT online, but it
puts us in membership with other libraries in a bargaining position for resources, much like OhioLINK. We
need to not think of CRL as a repository, they not only negotiate prices, but are attempting to negotiate
standards with publishers. The NYT deal will cost us $29,087.56 in 2015 with CRL, Without CRL the cost
would be $66, 300.00 ($3.90 FTE). If we want the NYT subscription to continue, it is still cheaper to maintain
the CRL membership.
2. Look at our ILL data and try to use the Linda Hall Library as often as possible. It is unclear in the data we had
if access to if Linda Hall would have been useful to us. The Linda Hall Library is not strictly historical for
science journals. In addition, some literature seems to suggest that historical articles in science research are
incredibly important1
3. In general have better data (titles, etc.) on what and who (departments, etc.) are using CRL through
OhioLINK and through ILL.
4. Take better advantage of webinars offered by CRL. This mostly is just having Jenny or Arianne publicize
them.
5. Actually vote on the collections as well as suggest collections for CRL to purchase.
Miami has been a member of the Center for Research Libraries since
1980 and is a full voting member. There are a total of 209 active
members. Our membership costs $25,028 which is figured at 5 year
average of the library budget multiplied by .0052. CRL’s main
mission has always been a combination of collective purchasing,
collection sharing, and collection preservation. In the past, CRL
would purchase major microfilm collections as well as back runs of
important journals, magazines, and newspapers with worldwide,
multilingual coverage. As the climate of information production and
formats of information presentation and preservation has changed,
CRL is in the process of leveraging its purchasing power to negotiate
not only group prices on digital products, but more importantly on
influencing the behaviors of major publishers of these collections.
Their strategy is to keep these publishers aware of the data libraries
need of the rights and needs of the users.
CRL Holdings
5 million newspapers, journals
dissertations archives,
government publications
 10,000 newspaper titles,
especially early African
American and ethnic papers
 66,500 serials, many historical
titles pre-mid 20th century:
trade journals, science journals
 Access to Linda Hall Library
(see left)
 800,000 doctoral dissertations,
especially useful for foreign
dissertations. Acquires about
5,000 annually, so more of an
It was difficult to figure out usage from both sides (Miami and CRL).
historic collection
For instance, we had wanted to check a list of science journal titles
 Foreign government documents
borrowed for a fee from other libraries against the Linda Hall
as well as U.S. documents
collection, to see if this was a potential money saver for Interlibrary
 Other significant collections:
Loan. We could never get a clear sense of the titles Miami had asked
Primary and secondary
for on ILL (change in ILL system) nor could we find a clear list of
textbooks, college and
university catalogs, curriculum
1 On the Shoulders of Giants: The Growing Impact of Older Articles. Alex Verstak, etal. arXive.org Nov. 2014.
guides.
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http://arxiv.org/abs/1411.0275 and The Extraordinary Growing Impact of The History of Science.
https://medium.com/the-physics-arxiv-blog/the-extraordinary-growing-impact-of-the-history-of-science-642022a39d67
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titles from the Linda Hall Libraries to check against our holdings. There is more work that could be done here.
How Miami University Uses CRL
1. CRL is a top-15 supplier, ahead of Indiana University, Cleveland State, and Bowling Green. CRL is a last resort
borrower (we go there when we can’t find the resource anywhere else). [Data from Miami]
2. From Feb 2011- Feb 2014, Miami has borrowed 191 books from CRL [Data from Miami]
3. Membership in CRL can support those areas not heavily used on campus by providing access to collections
that we could not justify the purchasing expense.
Cooperative projects and other benefits
 Educational seminar on sources. Many are available on YOUtube
(http://www.youtube.com/user/CRLdotEDU)
 eDisederata – a comprehensive database of in-depth reviews of digital collections and other resources.
Allows for user comments.
 Linda Hall Collection – free ILL access to over 50,000 titles (current and back issues) of STEM print serials.
 Digitized historical periodicals. The collection is made up of general interest magazines and trade journals
from the period 1850-1920. Technology, industry, agriculture, medicine, and architecture are strongly
represented. Available through ILL unless we subscribe to the database. Items are then available directly to
the user.
 World Newspaper Archive.
Services we don’t use/use much (but should):
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Purchase on Demand – items such as foreign doctoral dissertations can be purchased on demand; back
issues of newspapers that CRL already owns; archival material from other governments, NGOs,
organizations. Maximum expenditure of $2,000 per patron per year. See sample purchases:
http://www.crl.edu/demand-purchase-program
Suggest for acquisitions – can suggest that CRL purchase collections that cost more than $1,000 and are not
readily available from more than 5 CRL libraries. Nominations once a year. See:
http://www.crl.edu/purchase-proposal-program
Electronic Offers – Reduced purchase prices for digital collections. We have had some of these products on
our wish list, but because of local funding models were not able to take advantage of them during the offer
period. See: http://www.crl.edu/electronic-resource-offers
Educational Videos – past educational seminars on such topics as Middle Eastern Resources, etc., not
necessarily restricted to CRL Collections
Reference Consultation Services – CRL will work with faculty to design assignments with CRL’s collections
Webinars on issues of interest to Collection Development librarians. We should advertise these more,
internally.
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Basic Usage Data for Center for Research Libraries by Miami University Libraries
(source: CRL)
Activity with CRL by Miami University, Fiscal Year 2014 (July 2013 through June 2014)
Usage statistics of CRL collections for Fiscal Year 2014
Miami U. participation in CRL activities
for Fiscal Year 2014
 Total number of requests received: 54
9/13/2013: New York Times Academic
 Requests filled by LOAN: 2
Site License (teleconference): 1
 Requests FILLED DIGITALLY: 2
registered
 ITEMS SCANNED on demand: 1
 DIGITAL PAGES scanned: 426
10/9/2013: CRL Collections and
 DOCUMENT DELIVERY requests filled: 36
Services (webinar): 1 registered
 Linda Hall Library requests made: 0
 Linda Hall Library requests filled: 0
1/21/2014: New York Times Site
 DIGITAL DOWNLOADS by the institution: 9
License Terms (teleconference): 1
registered
Physical item loan breakdown by CRL category
2/19/2014: Text and Data Mining
(webinar): 1 registered
 CRL Monographs: 1
 CRL Serials: 28
 Total of items loaned: 29
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Electronic Resource purchase information for Fiscal Year 2014
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4/24/2014: Annual Members Council
meeting and Collections Forum: 1
registered
New York Times
LandScan (renewal): Savings of 10% off of list price
Activity with CRL by Miami University, Fiscal Year 2013 (July 2012 through June 2013)
Usage statistics of CRL collections for Fiscal Year 2013
Miami U. participation in CRL activities
for Fiscal Year 2013
 Total number of requests received: 22
10/10/2012: CRL Collections and
 Requests filled by LOAN: 5
Services (webinar): 2 registered
 Requests FILLED DIGITALLY: 1
 ITEMS SCANNED on demand: 1
11/13/2012: Text Mining
 DIGITAL PAGES scanned: 596
Opportunities (webinar): 1 registered
 DOCUMENT DELIVERY requests filled: 6
 DIGITAL DOWNLOADS by the institution: 14
1/16/2013: News in a Digital Age
 Linda Hall Library requests made: 0
(webinar):1 registered
 Linda Hall Library requests filled: 0
Physical item loan breakdown by CRL category
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CRL Monographs: 6
CRL Newspapers: 3
Total of items loaned: 9
Purchase Proposal participation for Fiscal Year 2013
In Fiscal Year 2013 CRL purchased twelve collections for a total list price of
$180,798. Miami rated (voted for) six of those twelve sets 4–6 on a scale of 0 to
6 (with 6 as the highest), for a list price of
$80,623:
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Bod-ljon par Tibet Daily (1961–66; 1979; 1982; 1984; 1998; 2002; and
2005–06).List Price $2,490
British Intelligence on the North-West Frontier 1901-1949: India Office
Political and Secret
Reports on Tribes and Terrorism. British Library and India Office
Collections. List Price $7,549
Foreign Office Files for Post-War Europe, Series Two: The Treaty of
Rome and European
Integration, 1957-1960. List Price $14,600
Knickerbocker Press Newspaper (1910-1937). List Price $19,000
Newspapers from Nazi Germany (1929–45). List Price $9,750
Papers of the War Refugee Board. List Price $15,034
Satirische Zeitschriften (Satirical Periodicals) (1848-1933). List Price
$12,200
Details of Purchase Proposal tiles acquired FY 2013: Electronic Resource
purchase information for Fiscal Year 2013
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LandScan: Savings of 10% off of list price
Activity with CRL by Miami University, Fiscal Year 2012 (July 2011 through June 2012)
Usage statistics of CRL collections for Fiscal Year 2012
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Miami U. participation in CRL activities
for Fiscal Year 2012
Total number of requests received: 32
Requests filled by LOAN: 6
Requests FILLED DIGITALLY: 0
ITEMS SCANNED on demand: 0
DIGITAL PAGES scanned: 0
DOCUMENT DELIVERY requests filled: 12
Linda Hall Library requests made: 0
Linda Hall Library requests filled: 0
DIGITAL DOWNLOADS by the institution: 9
Physical item loan breakdown by CRL category
CRL Monographs: 1
CRL Newspapers: 176
Dissertation: 1
SAMP Serials: 2
Total of items loaned: 180
8/24/2011: Middle East and Islamic
Resources (webinar): 1 registered
4/19/2012: Annual Members Council
meeting and Collections Forum: 2
registered
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