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Publishers and library suppliers say the UK academic library market is faring better than anticipated this year, despite the tough financial constraints within the sector. However, there is increasing pressure on publishers to offer value for money to hard-pressed librarians keen to strike good deals, suppliers pointed out.
In its latest set of results (12 months to end August 2012), Bertrams described academic library sales as "flat", saying they "do not appear to have been affected by changes to student funding". M.d. Graeme Underhill commented: "Changes to funding have meant institutions have had to work out how to spend their money, but the impact on us has been less than we thought it would be. The academic sector has been more resilient than the public sector; they have continued to spend on books, and in some libsraries we have taken business from others because Dawsonera [Bertrams' e-book platform] offers a good service for good prices."
Bob Jackson, commercial director at Gardners, said sales to library suppliers remained "strong" and were "good overall", although varying from customer to customer. Andy Holland, sales director at Askews and Holts, confirmed that sales to academic institutions remained "steady despite the undoubted financial pressures they are experiencing", attributing it to the company's commitment to offering quality and innovation in a "competitive" package.
Clive Parry, global marketing director at Sage, said that based on feedback from customers, the publisher had expected this year to be "more challenging" than it turned out to be for UK academic library sales. However, he added: "From our discussions with our library partners it is clear that library budgets remain tight. Librarians continue to have to make tough choices, and there is an increasing emphasis on needing to provide value for money and demonstrate the value of library services."
Parry said Sage was working with its library customers "to ensure that we can continue to provide them with the high-quality content they require". As well as individual conversations with librarian partners, Sage has active librarian advisory boards which it consults with on product development and to hear feedback on issues affecting it, he added.
Phil Prestianni, Bloomsbury academic key accounts manager, said sales were "holding up very well at the moment", with "great take-up" on all formats including the major reference works, monographs and Bloomsbury Academic collections.