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Library's Total Materials Expenditure (LME)

Portico uses the definition of LME provided by the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) in their Statistics Questionnaire, 2003-04.

A library's LME can be derived from the following expenditures (print and electronic), as described by the ARL:

Monographs: total number of volumes purchased; include monographs in series and continuation.
Current Serials: total number of subscriptions, not titles. Include duplicate subscriptions and, to extent possible, all government document serials even if housed in a separate collection.
Other library materials: include all expenditures not reported in Monographs or Current Serials, e.g., backfiles of serials, charts and maps, audiovisual materials, manuscripts, etc.
Miscellaneous: include any other materials funds expenditures not included above, e.g., expenditure for bibliographic utilities, literature searching, security devices, and memberships for the purpose of publication.

For further information, please contact us at participation@portico.org.

Last updated on March 30, 2007