This report begins with a discussion of the rationale for examining the use of Cornell University Library’s print monograph collections, situating the study in the context of both the budget-related changes at Cornell and broader shifts in the nature of research library collections (e.g., the shift to electronic, demand-driven acquisitions, collaborative collection development, etc.). The task force then presents several assumptions about print collections and academic research that have guided the study and enumerates several factors that have complicated the analysis of the circulation data.

Data about Cornell University Library (CUL) acquisitions since 1990 is presented, showing the distribution of print monographs in the collection by subject, by language of publication, and by unit library. The task force then considers data from three types of usage reports: a cumulative tally of circulation, by publication year, of monographs in the CUL collection published 1990 to 2010; a count of the annual circulation of books acquired by CUL in 2001; and a “snapshot” of circulation on one day in April 2010.