CARL Stats are out

I’m sure this will be more easily ordered by non-members on the CARL website soon.
Stephen
CANADIAN ASSOCIATION OF RESEARCH LIBRARIES /
ASSOCIATION DES BIBLIOTHÈQUES DE RECHERCHE DU CANADA
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
OTTAWA (October 22, 2007) –BORROWING OF LAPTOP COMPUTERS A POPULAR TREND IN CANADIAN RESEARCH LIBRARIES
According to the newly-released CARL Statistiques 2005-2006 Statistics, more than half of CARL member libraries (16) reported the lending of laptops as a service to users. A number of libraries also provide wireless Ethernet cards. These are two of the many ways in which today’s research library supports students, teachers and researchers.
Demand for electronic resources continues to grow by leaps and bounds. Electronic journal titles available at CARL libraries totalled 865,154 in 2005-2006 – an increase of over 42% over the previous year. Canadian research libraries benefited from the strengthening of the Canadian dollar, spending slightly less than $105 million dollars to acquire these titles; only an 11% increase over last year. Twenty-five CARL libraries are digitizing selected collections to provide easier access to patrons.
In other developments, electronic reference services increased significantly: email reference services are now offered in 28 libraries and 20 offer ‘chat’ reference services.
“Canadian research libraries have changed enormously over the last decade.” stated Richard Ellis, former University Librarian, Memorial University of Newfoundland and the author of the accompanying Commentary on the Statistics. “We are providing increased electronic resources, more group study space, longer hours of service and increased remote access to serve our users better.
The 29 reporting CARL member libraries spent $250 232 472 on materials in 2005–2006. They hold over 83 million volumes and subscribe to almost 924,000 journals.
“Access to the best, most complete and most up-to-date information resources is critically important for the Canadian research community” stated Mme. Sylvie Belzile, Directrice, Service des bibliothèques, Université de Sherbrooke, and Chair of the CARL Committee on Effectiveness Measures and Statistics. “The 2005-2006 edition of the CARL Statistics provides full and timely information on the steps we are taking to reach this goal.
CARL is the leadership organization for the Canadian research library community. The Association’s members are the 27 major academic research libraries across Canada plus Library and Archives Canada, the Canada Institute for Scientific and Technical Information (CISTI) and the Library of Parliament.
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FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Mme Sylvie Belzile
Chair, CARL Committee on Effectiveness Measures and Statistics
[email protected]
819.821.8000 x 3556
Ms. Katherine McColgan
Project Coordinator, CARL
[email protected]
613.562.5800 x 2768
ORDERING INFORMATION
[email protected]
or consult the website at www.carl-abrc.ca