Impacto de la crisis económica en las bibliotecas universitarias españolas

The scope of this study is to examine the impact of the financial crisis on the libraries of Spanish public universities. For this purpose, data from staff, finances, and services provided by the 47 public university libraries during 2008-2014 have been analyzed. Overall, the analysis of the data leads us to assert the following observations: these libraries have experienced a reduction in staff and expenditures for the purchase of information resources, whereas the volume of library lending has matched the evolution of student enrollment. Both interlibrary lending and the number of days that libraries were open during this period have decreased. Expenditures on electronic resources made by libraries and library consortia have increased in the period under study to the detriment of expenditures on monographs and printed journals. In this new economic environment, we consider that library managers should design actions for establishing strategies to ensure efficient and high-quality services to users.