CDL: Library Materials Price Index - ALCTS Publications

From: John P. Abbott <abbottjp_at_appstate.edu>
Date: Thu, 09 Apr 2015 13:24:01 -0400
To: COLLDV-L_at_USC.EDU
ALCTS Publications Spotlight: Library Materials Price Index
From:
ALCTS-pubs Announce <alcts.pubs.announce_at_gmail.com>


***Cross-posted to multiple lists; please excuse duplication.***


    ALCTS Publications Spotlight

*
Library Materials Price Index (LMPI)
*The annual index tracking the prices of print and electronic monographs 
and serials. http://www.ala.org/alcts/mgrps/cmtes/ats-lmpi

Have you ever found yourself in a new position where you had to develop 
a materials budget and didn't know where to look to get a sense of 
prices and trends?  Since its inception in 1959, the Library Materials 
Price Index (LMPI) has been providing librarians with valuable, reliable 
sources of data to assist them in the creation and development of 
library materials budgets. A service of ALCTS Publications, the LMPI is 
published as an article in /The/ /Library and Book Trade Almanac/ under 
the title: "Prices of U.S. and Foreign Published Materials."

The price indices are essential tools in these days of extremely 
strapped budgets.  They provide the data needed to justify budget 
increases and requests for supplemental funds.  Each year's article 
discusses changes in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) and trends in the 
various fields of publication.

The current article is a rich source of data, broken down by U.S. and 
foreign published materials as well as by the material types, including 
but not limited to:

U.S. Periodicals
U.S. Hardcover Books
North American Academic Books
North American Academic E-Books
British Academic Books
U.S. Mass Market Paperback Books
U.S. Paperbacks (Excluding Mass Market)
U.S. Audiobooks
U.S. E-Books
Average Prices of Serials
Average Prices of Online Serials

Of particular note is the first table, newly reestablished as U.S. 
Periodicals: Average Prices and Price Indexes, 2010-2014 (USPPI).  This 
index, compiled by Stephen Bosch (University of Arizona) with the 
assistance of Kittie Henderson (EBSCO Information Services), contains a 
mix of both online and print serials prices with a title list of more 
than 5,500 titles.

Articles are available electronically after a one year embargo, 
beginning with 1999.  As an added benefit, the LMPI editorial board has 
released the 2014 data in spreadsheet form.  The past articles and the 
2014 spreadsheets are available via the ALA Institutional Repository 
(ALAIR) at https://alair.ala.org/handle/11213/514.


Association for Library Collections & Technical Services
a division of the American Library Association
www.ala.org/alcts <http://www.ala.org/alcts>
Received on Thu Apr 09 2015 - 14:34:24 EDT