In 2017 SCONUL shared statistical return data with ADBU - the French association of directors and senior staff in university and research libraries. ADBU undertook a European comparative study on key performance indicators in academic libraries between 2013-2016 in thirteen European countries. The study explored: potential library users (staff and students); Library use (gate counts, loans, downloads and information literacy teaching); Library space (meterage, study spaces and computers); Library staff; Electronic resources; and Finance (income and expenditure).

The study highlights that the UK is:

• middle for expenditure per FTE
• lowest for total library expenditure as a percentage of institutional expenditure
• fourth lowest for staff expenditure per FTE (staff and student)
• third highest for material expenditure per FTE (staff and student) with 41% of expenditure on average being on information resources
• third highest for visits to the library
• third highest for the number of loans for print materials and
• top for the number of eJournals and eBooks consulted.

The data indicates that the UK higher education sector is value for money and is engaging with its customers through the provision of varied learning spaces and information resources to support study and research.

The report is available at Academic libraries - Key and Performance indicators, an ADBU comparative study (2013-2016)