***Cross-posted to multiple lists; please excuse duplication.***

ALCTS Publications Spotlight

Library Materials Price Index (LMPI)
The annual index tracking the prices of print and electronic monographs and serials. http://www.ala.org/alcts/mgrps/cmtes/ats-lmpi

Have you ever found yourself in a new position where you had to develop a materials budget and didn't know where to look to get a sense of prices and trends?  Since its inception in 1959, the Library Materials Price Index (LMPI) has been providing librarians with valuable, reliable sources of data to assist them in the creation and development of library materials budgets.  A service of ALCTS Publications, the LMPI is published as an article in The Library and Book Trade Almanac under the title: "Prices of U.S. and Foreign Published Materials."

The price indices are essential tools in these days of extremely strapped budgets.  They provide the data needed to justify budget increases and requests for supplemental funds.  Each year's article discusses changes in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) and trends in the various fields of publication. 

The current article is a rich source of data, broken down by U.S. and foreign published materials as well as by the material types, including but not limited to:

U.S. Periodicals
U.S. Hardcover Books
North American Academic Books
North American Academic E-Books
British Academic Books
U.S. Mass Market Paperback Books
U.S. Paperbacks (Excluding Mass Market)
U.S. Audiobooks
U.S. E-Books
Average Prices of Serials
Average Prices of Online Serials

Of particular note is the first table, newly reestablished as U.S. Periodicals: Average Prices and Price Indexes, 2010-2014 (USPPI).  This index, compiled by Stephen Bosch (University of Arizona) with the assistance of Kittie Henderson (EBSCO Information Services), contains a mix of both online and print serials prices with a title list of more than 5,500 titles.

Articles are available electronically after a one year embargo, beginning with 1999.  As an added benefit, the LMPI editorial board has released the 2014 data in spreadsheet form.  The past articles and the 2014 spreadsheets are available via the ALA Institutional Repository (ALAIR) at https://alair.ala.org/handle/11213/514.   

Association for Library Collections & Technical Services
a division of the American Library Association
www.ala.org/alcts