College and Research Libraries


Price Tag on a University Library 
By R O B E R T B. D O W N S and R O B E R T F. DELZELL 

T > U B L I S H E D ESTIMATES and guesses on the 
cost of developing a university library 

a n d its resources are, by and large, at 
such wide variance that one can only 
conclude the figures have little factual 
basis. 

Five years ago, Donald Coney of the 
University of California (Berkeley) as-
serted, "Twenty-five million dollars is 
the kind of money it takes to create a 
passably good university library. A num-
ber of universities, with the h e l p of a 
host of private benefactors, b u t often 
mainly with tax funds, have p u t into 
their libraries amounts of this order of 
m a g n i t u d e or g r e a t e r . " 1 

Mr. Coney did not reveal the method 
by which he arrived at this nice r o u n d 
sum. His judgement appears moderate 
and sober, however, when placed oppo-
site a feature story on the Library of 
Congress appearing in the Chicago Daily 
News. Based on a collection of about 
eleven million volumes, plus millions of 
manuscripts and other types of material, 
the reporter noted, " T h e cost of replac-
ing the items that could be replaced has 
been estimated at more than $2,250,000,-
000." Correctly, he added, "Many of the 
items are priceless because they are ir-
replaceable." 2 Again, details are lacking 
on the foundation for the astronomical 
valuation of two-and-a-quarter billion 
dollars. 

A down-to-earth, solidly factual study, 
for insurance purposes, was m a d e by 
Charles W. Mixer of the Columbia Uni-
versity Libraries, though his figures are 
now a decade old and do not reflect the 
inflationary values of the nineteen fifties. 

1 " A Librarian's View of Library Finance." In 
E. E. Williams, ed., Problems and Prospects of the 
Research Library (New Brunswick, N. J.: The Scare-
crow Press, 1955), p. 136. 

a William McGaffin, "Did You Know You Owned 
This?" Chicago Daily News, February 1, 1958, p. 26. 

Dr. Downs is Dean of Library Administra-
tion, and Mr. Delzell, Administrative Assist-
ant, University of Illinois Library. 

T a k i n g into account varying prices of 
books in different fields, the value of 
rare books, non-book materials, and 
other factors, Mixer came to the conclu-
sion that Columbia's collections, then 
numbering 2,793,605 volumes, should be 
evaluated at $12,237,808.3 

A more recent estimate for Columbia 
was made by Maurice F. T a u b e r and his 
associates in their survey of the library. 
"Columbia's collections have been ac-
quired at great expense," they stated, 
"and the insurance value on them in 
1956 was placed at almost $20,000,000— 
probably a conservative estimate of ac-
tual worth. T h e collections contain ma-
terials that are highly specialized, and, 
in some instances, are among the best in 
the world." 4 

I n his 1955 report on Harvard, the 
largest of American university libraries, 
Keyes Metcalf, using a somewhat differ-
ent approach, essayed an appraisal of 
the H a r v a r d Library in terms of cost: 

" T h e University's investment in the 
Library is greater t h a n is generally real-
ized. T h e following items, appraised on 
the basis of prices prevailing today, 
might be listed: 

Building plant, 12,000,000 
cubic feet $25,000,000 

Book collection, 6,000,000 
volumes ( T h e rare book 
and manuscript collec-
tions alone may have a 

3 "Insurance Evaluation of a University Library's 
Collections," CRL, X I I I (1952) 18-23, 29. 

4 Maurice F. Tauber, C. Donald Cook, and Richard 
H. Logsdon. The Columbia University Libraries (New 
York: Columbia University Press, 1958), p. 40. 

S E P T E M B E R 1 9 6 0 359 



c o m m e r c i a l v a l u e of 
$50,000,000, so this fig-
ure is undoubtedly con-
servative.) $60,000,000 

Processing of 6,000,000 vol-
umes $25,000,000 

A n n u a l expenditures of 
nearly $2,500,000 repre-
senting the income of 
an endowment of $50,000,000 

T o t a l investment in the 
Library $160,000,000" 5 

T h e figures cited by Mr. Metcalf are 
comparable only in part to those pre-
viously mentioned, since they include 
building plant, processing costs, and the 
value of the library's endowment. Never-
theless, all are legitimate considerations 
in determining an institution's actual 
investment in its library. More debata-
ble, perhaps, is the well-rounded esti-
m a t e of $60,000,000 for the value of the 
book collection. As Metcalf insists, the 
figure may err on the conservative side, 
b u t in the n a t u r e of things, it can hardly 
be more than an educated guess, lack-
ing detailed analyses. 

Such an analysis has lately been at-
tempted for the University of Illinois 
Library and its collections. T h e primary 
sources of information were the Library's 
own a n n u a l reports, which are reason-
ably complete back to the beginning of 
the present century, when the Library's 
development had barely started; and the 
transactions of the University's board of 
trustees, which include detailed a n n u a l 
budgets for all divisions. 

T o have meaning, a cost study spread 
over a term of years must use an index 
dollar. For that purpose, the U n i t e d 
States Office of Business Economics' Pur-
chasing Poiuer of the Dollar w a s a d o p t e d . 
T h e average monthly figure for each 
year was used to measure the purchasing 
power of the dollar in terms of consumer 

5 Report on the Harvard University Library; A 
Study of Present and Prospective Problems (Cambridge, 
Mass.: Harvard University Library, 1955) p. 62. 

prices. T h i s figure ranged from 233.1 to 
80.3, with 1947-1949 equalling 100. 

T h e Library's cataloged holdings as of 
J u n e 30, 1959, were 3,209,404 volumes. 
Of the total, 2,676,281 volumes were ac-
q u i r e d by purchase, a n d 533,123 bound 
volumes were received by gift and ex-
change. 

T h e Library's a n n u a l budgets are 
available for the period 1897 to 1959. 
For each of these years, the total ex-
penditures for books, periodicals, and 
b i n d i n g was multiplied by the purchas-
ing power of the dollar, as determined 
by the tables of the U n i t e d States Office 
of Business Economics. T h e actual ex-
penditures for 1897-1959 amounted to 
$9,574,830, which was increased in value, 
by application of the index, to $11,510,-
648. 

Statistics of expenditures prior to 1897 
are not available, b u t using the best 
available guides to book prices for the pe-
riod 1868, when the University opened, 
to 1896, an arbitrary average of $3.50 per 
volume was decided u p o n . Applying the 
average to 31,646 volumes then held by 
the Library increased the total cost by 
$90,661, or in terms of purchasing power 
to $211,330. 

I n trying to determine a total valua-
tion of the collections, an imponderable 
of considerable proportions is gifts and 
exchanges. It is customary for a sizeable 
n u m b e r of any university library's rare 
and costly books to be received by way 
of gifts, and therefore the u n i t value of 
much material in this category may ex-
ceed that of purchased works. O n the 
other h a n d , it is realistic to recognize 
that a fair percentage of gifts are of rela-
tively low quality. T h e average is prob-
ably on a par with purchased materials. 
T h e count of 533,123 volumes at Illinois 
received by gift a n d exchange represents, 
it should be emphasized, fully cataloged 
b o u n d volumes only, excluding paper-
bound, uncataloged publications, which 
would greatly increase the figure on 
holdings. 

360 C O L L E G E A N D R E S E A R C H L I B R A R I E S 



I n any case, it appears reasonable in 
this instance to apply the same average 
value to gifts and exchanges as to pur-
chased items. Following the u n i t cost of 
approximately $4.30 ($11,510,648 di-
vided by 2,676,281 volumes) produces a 
total valuation of $2,292,429 for the 533,-
123 volumes of gifts and exchanges. 

Another type of expense involved in 
the growth of a university library collec-
tion, equally valid, is technical process-
ing, the cost of acquisition, classification, 
and cataloging, without which the ex-
penditures for materials would serve lit-
tle purpose. Reliable figures for salaries 
and wages for the University of Illinois 
Library are available since 1907, b u t not 
for the earlier period. T h e first forty 
years, however, were comparatively in-
consequential. Expenditures for salaries 
and wages for acquisitions, cataloging, 
serials, and b i n d i n g from 1907 to 1959 
totaled $6,887,213. Correcting that figure 
in terms of the index changes it to $7,-
727,489. 

In sumary, the value of the University 
of Illinois Library collections, based 
upon actual expenditures, except for 
gifts and exchanges and pre-1897 acquisi-
tions, as of J u n e 30, 1959, was as follows: 

Expenditures for books, pe-
riodicals, and b i n d i n g (2,-
676,281 volumes) $11,510,648 

Estimated value of 533,123 
volumes received by gift 
and exchange 2,292,429 

Estimated value of 31,646 vol-
umes received before 1897. 211,330 

T o t a l salaries and wages for 
the technical departments, 
1907-1959 7,727,489 

T o t a l $21,741,896 

Could the University of Illinois Li-
brary's present holdings, or any com-
parable research collection, be dupli-
cated today for $21,598,053? Certainly 
not, if one were to attempt to assemble 
original materials. T h e preceding figures 

give no recognition to tremendous in-
creases in prices for rare books—with 
which the Illinois Library is richly en-
dowed—many of which have trebled and 
q u a d r u p l e d in value, or for thousands of 
complete files of scarce learned journals, 
or for hundreds of thousands of out-of-
print volumes, or for manuscripts, and 
all the other types of material which go 
to form a m a j o r research library. In 
many cases these materials are unpro-
curable at any price because they have 
simply disappeared from the market. 
Neither do the figures take into account 
the considerably higher salary and wage 
scales now prevailing. 

An intangible factor also of first sig-
nificance is the contribution that a com-
munity of scholars has made year after 
year in guiding the development of 
the Library's resources. T h e specialized 
knowledge, the intimate acquaintance 
with the literature of their fields, the 
understanding of bibliographical prob-
lems, familiarity with the current book 
market, and whole-hearted devotion to 
library interests of Harris F. Fletcher, 
T h o m a s W. Baldwin, George W. White, 
Gordon N. Ray, William Spence Robert-
son, William A. Oldfather, N a t h a n A. 
Weston, J o h n VanHorne, Phineas L. 
Windsor, and a host of other Illinois fac-
ulty members and librarians are without 
price. 

Of similar worth are the activities of 
a n u m b e r of noted private book collec-
tors, whose lifetime accumulations now 
enrich the Illinois l i b r a r y , notably: 
Wilhelm Dittenberger and Johannes 
Vahlen in classical philology, Count An-
tonio Cavagna Sangiuliani de Gualdana 
on Italian history and literature, Jacob 
Hollander on the history of economics, 
William Spence Robertson on Latin-
American history, George Sherburn on 
eighteenth-century English literature, 
H a r l a n H. H o r n e r and Carl Sandburg 
on Abraham Lincoln, Franklin J. Meine 
on American h u m o r and folklore, Ar-

(Continued on page 404) 

S E P T E M B E R 1 9 6 0 361 



grants for that purpose. T h e n u m b e r of 
grants in this area will be adjusted to the 
need exhibited by worthwhile applications. 
Grants may be requested for work in any 
area of librarianship or bibliography. T h e y 
will not be made, however, for any project 
which is part of work toward an academic 
degree. Grants will be made in amounts u p 
to $1,000. 

Research grants have been made in several 
of the previous a n n u a l programs, but they 
will be emphasized more strongly than ever 
before this year. At least two grants of ap-
proximately $1,000 each will be made as 
bibliographical fellowships. It has been the 
special request of the Microcard F o u n d a t i o n 
that such fellowships be established with 
its contribution to the A C R L Grants Pro-
gram. 

I n presenting the check of the Microcard 
F o u n d a t i o n to President W y m a n W. Parker 
at Montreal, A. L. Baptie, treasurer of the 
F o u n d a t i o n , commented: "Originally a li-
brarian conceived the idea of Microcards as 
a solution to certain library problems. In the 
years following the Microcard F o u n d a t i o n 
has h a d the privilege of working closely with 
many libraries and librarians and is pleased 
to express its appreciation in a tangible way. 
W e sincerely h o p e that o u r contribution to 
the A C R L Grants Program will allow the 
u n d e r t a k i n g of some of the tremendous 
a m o u n t of bibliographic work which needs 
to be d o n e . " 

T h e r e are n o professional or associational 
qualifications on the eligibility of individ-
uals to apply for a research g r a n t from 
A C R L . An application form is not necessary. 
T h e committee invites application by letter. 
Letters of application should be addressed 
to R i c h a r d Harwell, Executive Secretary, 
ACRL, 50 East H u r o n Street, Chicago 11, 
Illinois. An applicant's letter should state 

succinctly the n a t u r e a n d purpose of the 
project, a budget for the a m o u n t of the 
g r a n t requested, the project's present state 
of development (if already begun), its pro-
posed date of completion, a n d the reasons 
why f u n d s f r o m outside the applicant's own 
institution are sought. T h e deadline for ap-
plications is the same as for institutional re-
quests. T h e y will be considered in the same 
fashion a n d grants will be a n n o u n c e d at the 
same time as are those to libraries. 

R o b e r t W. Orr, director of the library of 
Iowa State University, is chairman of the 
A C R L Grants Committee. O t h e r members 
of the committee are Lois Engleman, Ed-
ward C. Heintz, E d m o n S. Low, Flora B. 
L u d i n g t o n , R i c h a r d Morin, a n d Giles Shep-
herd. H u m p h r e y G. Bousfield has been desig-
nated as a consultant to the committee, and 
the executive secretary of A C R L works with 
it as an ex-officio member. 

F O R M S M A I L E D 

Forms on which applications in the Grants 
Program for 1960/61 should be submitted 
have been mailed f r o m the A C R L office to 
well over a thousand libraries presumed to 
be eligible for grants. T h e librarian of any 
institution which has not received forms 
a n d which is believed to be eligible in the 
program should request forms f r o m the 
A C R L office immediately. Concerning eligi-
bility in the program the introductory note 
to the application form comments: " T h e 
Committee has authority to make sub-grants 
for any projects which present extraordinary 
needs or possibilities. An institution which 
feels that the limitations on eligibility cre-
ate an injustice in its case is urged to submit 
an application anyway. Each request will 
be considered on its merit. Accreditation is 
not a prerequisite for the award of an A C R L 
sub-grant." 

Price Tag on a University Library 
(Continued from page 361) 

nold Muirhead on William Cobbett, 
T o m T u r n e r on modern English litera-
ture, Harry G. Oberholser on ornithol-
ogy, and Henry B. W a r d on parasi-
tology. These are the kinds of collections 

that bring distinction to an institution, 
and mark the difference between merely 
a good library and a great library. T o 
p u t a price tag on them is doubtless 
meaningless. 

404 C O L L E G E A N D R E S E A R C H L I B R A R I E S