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12 Newsl. 1 (1985-1986)

handle is hein.lbr/alsclnws0012 and id is 1 raw text is: I *Ib ion ,.,tate, Court, and County Law Libraries Sectio' 'flume 12, No. 1 December 1985 America 111 n Association of Law Ubraries COST EFFECTIVE ACQUISITIONS: A State Law Library Perspective By Kendall F. Svengalis, Rhode Is land State Law) ,ibrar1y Anyone who has been involved in the acquisitions end of law librarianship or who has taken the time to examine publishers invoices or observe the trends in law book prices in recent years can't help but feel a growing sense of frustration. Those of us in governmental law libraries have confronted this prob- lem for years-because our budgets have rarely kept, pace with the rate of inflation for law books. Those in academic flaw libraries, while somewhat less vulnerable, have nonetheless had to respond to a variety of budget crises. And, according to an article in the May issue of the ABA Journal, the current trend towards declining law school enrollments is likely to have a significant effect on those with enrollment- drive n budgets. Law firm libraries are probably the least vulnerable of all. However, even here there are limits to what a firm is willing to pay to support its library. The maintenance alone of the serial publications which make uip 80-90% of our collections is a serious source of concern. Over the past six years, the cost of all serials has risen 720k, or at an average annual rate of nearly 11%. This compares with an average annual increase in the consumer price index of 8.75% over the same period. And while the rate of inflation fell to 6.1 % in 1982, the cost of these serial publica- tions was on the rise, reaching 17.28% during the 1982/83 fiscal year- the highest increase since AALL began compiling its price index in 1973/74. However, as Jon Schultz points out in an article in Law Librar-y .Journal, law books are not subject to as much price inflation as are books in many other speciality areas. The critical factor which makes the law library different from other libraries is that law libraries, in addition to containing the basic kinds of materials found in, other types of libraries, contain statutes, court reports and other primary sources which are not subject to the selective processes that limit publica- tion in most, disciplines. A poorly reasoned and written appellate opinion is published just as easily as a good one. The growth in the National Reporter Systemn is a case in point. In 1977, 44 volumnes of federal cases were published. In 1981, this rose to 64 volumes-an increase of 45% in five years. Moreover, this increase in the volume of citable primary authority inevitably affects the volume of secondary authori- ty which synthesizes, digests, and analyzes it. There is another factor which affects the cost of legal materials -the greed of certain publishers for more than a fair profit. This factor is reflected most, clearly among those publishers who oversupple- ment their publications and charge excessive prices for those supplements. It is clear that law book Prices will continue to rise faster than the overall rate of inflation and that the growth of citable authority will compound the problem. We, as law librarians, must be even more conscious of cost-saving measures as a means of getting the greatest return for our dollar. (Continued on p, 16) Jd_

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