Primary Research Group has published The Survey of Academic Library Subject Specialists: Political Science & Public/International Affairs, ISBN 1-57440-188-2.

This report examines academic library purchasing policies in public affairs and political science/government with data based on a sample of 60 academic libraries in the United States and abroad. Comprehensive data details the budgetary allocations over the past two years as well as projected budgets for the coming year, including itemized spending on print books, ebooks, databases, and scholarly journals and special allocations from endowments and grants. The report investigates the library's relationship with its patrons and how patrons affect decision-making concerning acquisitions and library technologies. What are the most popular databases in political science utilized by college libraries today? What areas of knowledge, authors, or publishers have become "must-haves" over the years, and how are collection needs and deficits assessed?

Just a few of the many findings from this 78-page report are:

• Libraries in the sample spent a mean of $11,882 on print books in political science in 2011
• Open access journals account for about 12.46% of total library journal use in political science
• 27.42% of libraries have an endowment, grant, or other special allocation that falls outside the normal library budget that supplements purchases in political science
• Subject specialists at community and 4-year colleges received a mean of 40.33 specific suggestions from library patrons to purchase particular monographs, books, or other journals and resources in the past year
• Specialized databases that largely serve political science and related subject areas cost libraries a mean of $26,574 in 2011

This study is available in print and PDF format for $98.00. Site licenses are offered at $225.00. To view a table of contents and sample data, or to order a copy of the report, please visit the publication's page here.