More Information
Undertaking research is a universal experience for UCLA students and faculty—from the process of formulating a research question to finding the appropriate resources that can lead to breakthrough discoveries. In 2023, the UCLA Library’s electronic resources, which are increasingly fundamental to this research, were accessed over 1.5 million times by the campus community.
“I’ve been blown away by the amount of information available through UCLA Library,” said Elizabeth Kohout, UCLA School of Nursing Ph.D. candidate. “Through the databases, I have access to an almost infinite amount of information. Although I’m only a first-year, I’ve already read hundreds of articles on my area of interest. Thanks to the help of Antonia Osuna-Garcia, health and life sciences librarian, I know how to search for them and find what I’m looking for.”
While the Library is focused on keeping academic resources free and accessible for students and faculty, these resources are not free for UCLA Library, and unfortunately, inflation and other factors are pushing up costs, outpacing the Library’s budget. In fiscal year 2022, the Library spent nearly $6.5 million on electronic resources—that’s up 23 percent since 2015. And during the pandemic years of 2020 and 2021, the Library had to spend even more on these resources to support remote teaching and learning. Over the past decade, the Library has purchased access to millions of journals, books and other resources. Online books published last year alone account for more than 18,500 new titles accessible to Library users.
“The Library subscribes to databases that provide essential access to the scholarly record as it is being built, with everything from the latest analyses via journal articles to digitized primary sources that will feed future research,” said Megan Rosenbloom, collection strategies librarian.
Students use these electronic resources to access specialized content as well as primary sources like newspapers, government documents and technical reports. The vast amount of information available via licensed databases also allows researchers to use methods like text and data mining to find patterns in large pools of content. Non-textual materials include statistical data, maps, images, music or videos.
Rosenbloom said, “The costs of databases rise every year while library budgets stay flat or face cuts, which could cause us to have to make tough decisions in the near future.”
To support electronic resources initiatives at UCLA Library, please contact UCLA Library Development at 310.206.8526 or giving@library.ucla.edu(opens in a new tab).