Purdue libraries rank low on list

By Rachael Conley
Assistant Campus Editor

The libraries of Purdue do not compare well to the libraries of the other universities in the Big Ten.

"I can say we do not, if you look across the Big Ten, stack up well," said Emily Mobley, dean of libraries. "That fact is all laid out there."

By "there" Mobley means the list of holdings of university research libraries in the United States and Canada found in the 2000/2001 Almanac Issue of the Chronicle of Higher Education. On this list, Purdue's research libraries are listed as number 75 out of 111.

"There's a set of complex (qualifying) variables that has to do with size, budget and numbers of university (doctoral) programs," said Mobley. "The statistics that we provide are for the combination of the 15 libraries (at Purdue)."

The ranked categories are volumes in library, volumes added, current serials, permanent staff and total expenditures.

Every one of the Big Ten libraries is listed, said Mobley.

Mobley said there are a few reasons Purdue doesn’t relate well to the other universities in the Big Ten.

For one, some universities include more than just the libraries on the main campus.

"Indiana Unversity has all the branch libraries and medical and all," said Mobley. "We have a very small collection in relationship, if we had 8 million volumes in our collection, we'd be way up there in the top."

Due to Purdue's scientific base, much of the library funds go toward buying serials, or journals, instead of books.

"We have never had the large humanities collection that other universities have; we also spend more of our money in serials," said Mobley.

Mobley said the index of Purdue has more to do with the past than the present.

"It's not a function of what is happening now, it’s a function of the history of what was not done," she said. "Back in the 60s and 70s when other libraries were growing, this one stood still."

Mobley said the other libraries spent earlier years collecting whole sets of materials from private individuals.

"That's how the great libraries started building their collections; we did very little of that here," said Mobley. "You do as much as you can, but they got so far ahead of us it becomes unfeasible for us to move that far up."

Alissa DeMyer, a senior in the School of Education and transfer student from Indiana University, said Purdue's libraries do not compare well.

"I think IU's were a lot better," she said. "They were a lot easier to use and a lot more organized."

Laura Zagrocki, a junior in the Schools of Engineering who also transferred from IU, said, "at IU, it was nice because there was one huge library and that's where you found everything, kind of like (Hicks Undergraduate Library) but bigger."

Zagrocki said Purdue's libraries were more conducive to studying.

"I feel like Purdue's is a little more comfortable," she said. "I didn't think IU's were a good place to study."

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Campus editor: Kelsey VanArsdall

Assistant Campus editors: Rachael Conley, Matt Lindner

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