• Journal of Korean Library and Information Science Society
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• v.51 no.3
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• pp.197-221
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• 2020

This study aims to compare the statistical indicators of libraries of 57 Korean universities and 116 North American universities using Rinfo and ARL statistics respectively. The authors compared twelve similar statistical indicators and found that North American academic libraries were superior in 'volumes in library', 'electronic books', 'total staff', 'total library materials expenditures', 'total items borrowed', 'total items loaned', 'library presentations to groups', and 'participants in group presentations', compared to Korean academic libraries. Although Korean academic libraries showed higher numbers in 'annual gate count', 'reference transactions', 'initial circulations', and 'full-text article requests', there exist some differences in definitions and scopes of these indicators between Rinfo and ARL, needing cautious interpretation of results. The findings of the study imply the needs of expanding support for academic libraries that play pivotal roles in increasing competitiveness of teaching and research of universities. It was also found that systematic management and improvement for statistical indicators of Rinfo are necessary.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Library and Information Science
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.151-174
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• 2006

To improve the international competitiveness of research and academic libraries in Korea, it is essential to review the total amount of domestic information resources in comparison with those of other advanced countries, and then to make their best use. In this study, an attempt is made to estimate the annual budget for collecting foreign knowledge information resources spent by academic and research libraries in Korea. This budget estimate could be used for a basis for setting up the appropriate collection size and the efficient channel for distributing and sharing information resources among academic and research libraries on the governmental level. The total budget for collecting foreign knowledge information resources, including foreign monographs and scholarly journals in print, and the budget for foreign electronic journals, and web databases were estimated for academic libraries and research libraries, respectively, while the budget for international document delivery services was estimated without distinction between the types of libraries.