Comparing Academic Library Spending with Public Libraries, Public K-12 Schools, Higher Education Public Institutions, and Public Hospitals Between 1998–2008 by John J. Regazzi Available online 26 May 2012 This study compares the overall spending trends and patterns of growth of Academic Libraries with Public Libraries, K-12 schools, higher education institutions, and hospitals in the period of 1998 to 2008. Academic Libraries, while showing a growth of 13% over inflation for the period, far underperformed the growth of the other public institutions in the study. Academic Libraries lost nearly 25% of their share of higher education total spending, suggesting a shift in higher education priorities. Academic and Public Libraries are shown to have very different investment and spending priorities with Academic Libraries as a group reducing staff and investing in their collections, while Public Libraries have expanded their staff and services significantly, but not collections. Patterns of spending and investment differ markedly for Academic Libraries by size of institution, while size of library or community is not a differentiating determinant for staff or services growth. John J. Regazzi, Long Island University, Palmer School of Library & Information Science, and Department of Computer Science and Management Engineering, 520 Northern Blvd., Brookville, NY 11552, USA <john.regazzi@liu.edu>. Keywords: Academic Libraries; Academic Library spending; Academic Library staffing trends; Academic Library utilization OVERVIEW AND BACKGROUND In attempting to understand recent spending and investments of Academic Libraries, the study analyzes two specific areas: 1) financial and overall spending trends of public educational and service organiza- tions, specifically: libraries, K-12 schools, institutions of higher education, and hospitals; and 2) the comparative investment strategies and spending trends between Academic Libraries and (non-academic) Public Libraries. This work builds on previous research conducted on Academic Libraries [1] and an analysis of changes in expenditures, staffing, and utilization from 1998 to 2008 and perceptions of economic constraint. In a recent work [2], Public Libraries are shown to have significant growth and diversification in their use over an extended period. Data from Academic Libraries described in this previous work is now compared to expenditure, staffing and utilization data from Public Libraries, as well as expenditures among a number of other public institutions, including education (both elementary/secondary and higher) and hospitals. Though there are landmark studies analyzing the recent financial trends of Academic Libraries [3–5] none of these have focused on the relationship of academic library fiscal trends in the context of other publicly funded institutions. The goal of this research specifically is to place in context the changing state and relative economic growth of both Academic and Public Libraries. The tables and accompanying narrative provide a basis for answering a few key research questions: What are the comparative positions of the above mentioned selected institutions which receive public funding? What is the relationship of funding and investment activities for publicly funded libraries and other public educational and service institutions, i.e., K-12 schools, institutions of higher education, and hospitals? Has funding increased or decreased for these institutions between 1998 and 2008, taking into account inflation? Are the spending and investment trends documented previously [6] with regard to Academic Libraries similar to those observed among non-academic, Public Libraries? How has the utilization of Public Libraries declined or grown relative to Academic Libraries? How are Public Libraries being utilized currently and what are the usage trend-lines for the physical use of the library? DATA SOURCES This report combines data from a number of separate sources to provide indications of changes in direct expenditures among a variety The Journal of Academic Librarianship, Volume 38, Number 4, pages 205–216 July 2012 205