Ulrich's International Periodical Directory lists 60,000 more periodicals available in 1996 than in 1985. The past decade has been an era of relatively static budgets for research libraries. David Schulenburger, the Provost of the University of Kansas, devoted his convocation speech for KU last fall to the topic. Even the richest institutions have found it impossible to maintain that level of financial support for library materials. Complicating the effect of these trends is the growth of electronic resources.
Library continues to strive for the right balance between digital and traditional collections.
However, as this area of publication grows, the demands on the budget will increase. The Library employed a variety of strategies during the past few years to minimize the impact of this situation. However, these strategies are not keeping pace with costs. As long as prices and production levels for published scholarship continue their steep annual rise, only an infusion of funds to the library's acquisitions budget will make it possible to sustain even the core research collections.