INDEXING PRICE TRENDS OF FRENCH ACADEMIC BOOKS IN THE HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL-SCIENCES

Information on the cost of academic books published abroad is importan t for American college and research libraries. These libraries expend considerable sums of money annually on foreign books, and reliable inf ormation on the cost of these books is essential for the budget planni ng process. In a recent article Frederick C. Lynden points out that Am erican research libraries purchase a substantial amount of foreign mat erials ''with particular emphasis on materials from France, Germany, a nd the Netherlands. Although these countries have a well-developed boo k trade, there is, unfortunately, very little published data available on the costs of academic materials from these countries....It would b e a significant contribution to library budgetary planning if there we re some standard and reliable sources of data on the costs of foreign materials.''1 The purpose of this paper is to fill that lacuna in part by providing data on recent price trends for French academic books in the humanities and social sciences.