Over the past year, the budget ax has hit many of North America’s special, corporate, foundation, professional and government agency libraries hard. While many of these libraries are seeing funding stabilize, they are still challenged with providing their constituents with information in a range of formats, from print to ebook to online. Many libraries are just starting to contemplate the shift from print to digital. At special, corporate, foundation, professional, and government libraries, print still consumes a larger share of annual budgets, but an increasing portion is going to digital materials. At government agency libraries, print is still the predominant mode of information delivery. These are the findings of a new study, conducted by the Library Resource Guide (LRG)—in conjunction with Unisphere Research, the market research division of Information Today, Inc. (ITI). The survey, conducted in December 2011 among libraries listed in ITI’s American Library Directory, reveals current spending patterns for special, corporate, foundation and professional libraries—defined as facilities serving law firms, medical facilities, museums, companies, and associations—and provides projections for budgets and spending trends for 2012. As part of this report, we also report on government agency libraries—which include entities that are part of federal, state, or provincial agencies, departments, or service units. In total, 106 special, corporate, foundation and professional libraries and 34 government agency library managers or librarians responded to this year’s survey. In separate reports in the LRG series, budget and digital migration trends are explored within public community and academic libraries. Among the participants in the survey are directors, administrators, managers, department heads, and librarians from the complete range of library settings. The largest segment within the special, corporate, foundation, and professional sector, 26%, are directors and administrators, and 26% are librarians across various categories. (For detailed demographic breakdowns, see Figures 58–61 at the end of this report.) • About a third of the respondents from government agency libraries are directors and administrators, and 23% are librarians. • Libraries covered in the survey represent a range of structures, sizes, and segments. Most of the special, corporate, foundation, professional libraries, 72%, serve populations of fewer than 10,000 constituents. • A majority of the government agency libraries, 53%, also fall into this size category. • More than half of the special, corporate, foundation, professional libraries, 51%, are single, independent or standalone libraries, while another 19% represent library systems. • Forty-two percent of the government agency libraries are standalone, and 23% are a multi-location system. • Geographically, among the special, corporate, foundation, and professional libraries, the largest segment, 28%, came from the South/Southeast United States (including Puerto Rico), and 23% are based in Northeastern states. Another 18% are in Canadian provinces, primarily Ontario. • The largest segment of government agency libraries, 27%, are based in the Southern United States. Key findings from the survey include the following: Overall, funding for special, corporate, foundation, and professional libraries has improved modestly over the past year, but respondents see tight or stagnant budgets as the new normal. Much of this funding is helping to maintain staffing levels, but there is an increasing amount of resources going to digitization. While print still consumes a larger share of special, corporate, foundation, and professional libraries libraries’ budgets, an increasing share is going to digital materials. Government agency libraries are seeing accelerating declines in funding, but are slow to make the change from print to digital. Among special, corporate, foundation, and professional libraries, the shift to the digital library has accelerated noticeably since the last survey just a year ago. Close to threefourths of respondents report that demand for their libraries’ electronic offerings has increased over the past year, and more libraries are seeing demand for technology-based services and ebooks. Accordingly, plans for IT spending are up. Cloud computing is still nascent at most special, corporate, foundation, and professional libraries, but interest is growing. Many government agency libraries still work with print-based materials, and are struggling with lean IT budget plans. For the most part, government agency libraries are not contemplating cloud at this time. Improvement of customer service and outreach to constituencies dominates the agendas of most special, corporate, foundation, and professional libraries this year. Budgets remain tight, and many institutions are exploring new sources of funding. Larger special, corporate, foundation and professional libraries—as well as government facilities—have strategic plans that map out short-term and long-term missions for their institutions. Government agency libraries are focusing on providing greater support for digital services and offerings.

SPECIAL/CORPORATE/FOUNDATION/PROFESSIONAL/GOVERNMENT AGENCY LIBRARIES EDITION The Digital Squeeze: Libraries at the Crossroads —The Library Resource Guide Benchmark Study on 2012 Library Spending Plans was produced by Unisphere Research and sponsored by ProQuest. Unisphere Research is the market research unit of Unisphere Media, a division of Information Today, Inc., publishers of Database Trends and Applications magazine and the 5 Minute Briefing newsletters. To review abstracts of our past reports, visit www.dbta.com/DBTA_Downloads/ResearchReports. Unisphere Media, 630 Central Avenue, Murray Hill, New Providence, NJ 07974; 908-795-3701, Email: twilson@infotoday.com, Web: www.dbta.com. Data collection and analysis performed with SurveyMethods. © Copyright 2012, Information Today, Inc. All rights reserved.