UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State University Libraries has been listed 10th in the recently released 2023 Association of Research Libraries (ARL) Investment Index among 120 data-reporting ARL members in the United States and Canada.
The University Libraries, “one Libraries, geographically dispersed” at all Penn State library locations on Penn State’s campuses, has been listed among the top 10 consistently for the past 15 years on this index. Its index peers include North America’s most prestigious research institutions and Ivy League university libraries. Verified data collected for the 2023 ARL Statistics Survey, from which the Investment Index is derived, was reported during spring 2024.
“While this ranking describes some important aspects of what constitutes a great library, what I’d emphasize the most are the incredibly talented people working throughout the University Libraries and the Penn State University Press,” said Faye A. Chadwell, dean of University Libraries and Scholarly Communications. “Our faculty and staff have set and maintained high standards of engagement to enable success for the various communities with whom we work.”
“This is an incredible and fitting recognition of the excellence of Penn State University Libraries,” Interim Provost Tracy Langkilde noted.
A variety of data submitted for the ARL Statistics Survey contributes to the ARL Investment Index. Main categories include collections and collections expenditures, salary expenditures, personnel and public services, and overall expenditures, which incorporates utilities, network costs and external expenditures.
Data subsections include topics such as total titles held, total volumes in the library — which accounts for duplicate copies of items that may be found at multiple locations — electronic books, and total library materials, which encompasses all formats of library materials, both physical and digital. “Titles” in this index refers to all physical and digital content for which the library provides sustained stewardship and maintenance.
ARL’s annual statistical analysis also compares percentages and ratios of professional staff, support staff and student staff as percentages of total staff; ratios of items loaned to items borrowed; total materials expenditures and operating expenditures as percentages of total overall expenditures; expenditures per institution’s faculty, per full-time undergraduate and graduate student, and per library user (including surrounding community members); expenditures per institutional doctoral degree awarded; and more.
The University Libraries lists its annual data reported to ARL on its Libraries Statistics and Data webpage. Also linked on that page are charts and a spreadsheet of historical benchmarking data among Big Ten Academic Alliance peer libraries. The data on this page is reported to ARL and maintained by the Library Assessment Programs team.
The University Libraries’ highest placement on the ARL Investment Index during the past two decades was in 2005, when it placed No. 6.