Libraries

By Andrew Grabois - Sep 10 , 2007

In spite of chronic financial worries, and the struggle to remain relevant in the face of competing information gateways like Google and Wikipedia, libraries are reporting some of the highest budget and circulation increases in years. And no one is more surprised by this turn of events than the American Library Association. In a recent press release announcing the publication of ALA’s 2007 State of America’s Libraries report, the headline read “Predicted demise due to Internet fails to materialize.”

According to Library Journal’s 2007 Book Buying Survey, more than half of respondents reported an increase in circulation and 44% reported increased budgets–only 10% reported decreases. Respondents said that they are “buying smarter,” focusing their collections on bestsellers and other titles likely to increase browsing and circulation.

General adult fiction, everyone’s favorite category, now consumes half of the typical book-buying budget and requires little or no justification to purchase. Interestingly, the survey also found that circulation has been helped by widely available and easier to use web-based software that allows patrons to reserve books from home. When they go to the library to pick up their books, patrons are staying long enough to browse the collections and walk out with more than they originally intended to.

According to the Book Industry Study Group’s annual Book Industry Trends report, libraries bought more than $1.8 billion dollars worth of books in 2006, a 3.2% increase over 2005. BISG predicts a 2.6% increase for 2007 and increases of 2-3% from 2008 to 2011. Sales to libraries will exceed $2 billion by 2010. The rate of growth for units has been more modest. Libraries acquired 94.4 million books in 2006, an increase of less than 1 % over 2005. BISG projects the same 0.5% increase for 2007, and, except for 2010, zero growth in units through 2011. Libraries bought 72% of their books from domestic wholesalers and jobbers, spending an average of $18.90 per book last year.

The percentage breakdown of dollar and unit book purchases by type of library in 2006 was as follows:

Though libraries spend more of their book budgets on general adult fiction than anything else, they still buy a lot of nonfiction. When asked to list their top five nonfiction subject categories by expenditure and circulation, respondents to the Book Buying Survey mentioned the following categories most often (in descending order by frequency):

• Medicine/Health
• Cooking
• History
• How-to/Home Arts
• Arts/Crafts/Collectables
• Biographies
• Travel
• Current Events/Political
• Business/Finance/Careers
• Computers
• Religion/Philosophy
• Self-Help

Even though libraries are now buying almost 100 million books a year, and spending more per book, on average, than anybody else, they still have an uneasy, high-maintenance relationship with publishers. Unlike other English-speaking countries where there is a Public Lending Right that compensates authors for potential loss of sales from library lending, the U.S. recognizes a limitation on copyright called the first-sale doctrine, which allows copyrighted works to be sold or given away once they have been legally obtained. This means that after buying the first copy, libraries have the right to lend it to multiple borrowers without compensating the copyright holders. (Libraries can thank Macy’s for the first sale doctrine, because back in 1908, book publisher Bobbs-Merill sued the department store for selling a novel called The Castaway for less than its $1 “suggested retail price.” The courts ruled in Macy’s favor, saying that the “exclusive statutory right to vend applied only to the first sale of the copyrighted work.”)

Libraries are still an important sales channel for the book publishing industry, accounting for 5% of total book sales last year, and almost 15% of the trade and university press segments that publish most of the books acquired by libraries. According to the State of America’s Libraries report, 1.8 billion visitors to U.S. libraries borrowed more than 2 billion items in 2004 (the most recent fiscal year we have data for).

The report also suggests that the catalyst for overall growth in recent years has been children’s books. Circulation of children’s materials grew by 44% between 1994 and 2004, which means that libraries are helping to nurture a new generation of readers that will one day become book buyers. That can only be a good thing for everyone in the book trade.

The question for the future is whether our culture will benefit from libraries that reinvent themselves as Internet cafes with a smaller selection of high-traffic items indistinguishable from the book table at Costco.