The changing print resource base of academic libraries in the United States

Changing economic factors in the 1980s caused a reduction in the number of monographic printed materials acquired by academic research libraries in the United States. This study employed descriptive methodology to analyze changes in collecting patterns between 1985 and 1989 in the aggregated resources base of seventy-two Association of Research Libraries (ARL) libraries. Data for the study were extracted from the 1991 edition of the OCLC/AMIGOS Collection Analysis CD (CACD) system, which contains a database of nonserial imprints for the ten-year period 1979-1989. The study establishes that the rate of acquisitions for new imprints in the collective resources base declined 27.76 percent from 1985 to 1989. Further findings were a steep decline in foreign language acquisitions, a decrease in the percentage of unique titles in many subject areas, and an increased concentration on core materials. These findings point to less diversity and more homogeneity in the collective resources base of the seventy-two ARL libraries, which could indicate the unavailability of research materials for resource sharing in the future.