FY 2002-2003:
Reducing Costs and Expanding Services

In FY 2002-2003, funding for libraries continued to stagnate throughout most of the BCR region. In acknowledgment of this, BCR's programs focused on reducing costs for our member libraries. BCR trimmed its own general and administrative expenses, pressed database vendors to maintain or reduce their prices and successfully negotiated increased discounts for several large-scale database access purchases.

The number of libraries using BCR services continued to grow in spite of, or perhaps because of, the difficult economic climate. Ninety libraries joined as new members, about an 8.5 percent growth over last year. The growth was spread fairly evenly between the original member states in the Rocky Mountains and Midwest and our new member states on the West Coast. About 81 percent of BCR member libraries are located in BCR member states, although we have member libraries in 39 states and three Canadian provinces.

While all types of libraries use BCR services, 65 of our 90 new members are school districts or individual school libraries. This continues a trend we have seen for several years. We know that several thousand additional libraries use BCR services through the large scale group purchases organized in partnership with state library agencies, consortia and local service cooperatives.

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February 26, 2008
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