North American Library Pricing Tiers

For the purposes of pricing, we categorize North American academic libraries into tiers based upon their placement in The Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education (2005 edition). This criterion was chosen because it represents, in essence, the level of research activity at an institution and its relation to the institution's mission. Carnegie Classification is a commonly-agreed upon typology, is determined by a respected third-party organization, and had widespread acceptance among our customers as an acceptable categorization tool during pricing research. Because Canadian institutions are not classified by the Carnegie Foundation, these institutions have been "mapped" into the five pricing tiers based upon similar criteria related to research activity and educational mission.

Tier 1 (Specifically Carnegie Classifications 1-14 and 24-33)

Associates
Special Focus
Tribal Colleges
Canadian institutions with only 2-year programs

Tier 2 (Specifically Carnegie Classifications 22-23)

Baccalaureate General institutions
Baccalaureate/Associates institutions
Canadian institutions with Baccalaureate programs, no graduate programs

Tier 3 (Specifically Carnegie Classifications 20-21)

Master's Colleges and Universities (smaller programs)
Baccalaureate Colleges--Arts & Sciences
Canadian institutions with 3 or less Masters programs and no doctoral programs

Tier 4 (Specifically Carnegie Classifications 17-19)

Doctoral/Research Universities
Master's Colleges and Universities (medium and larger programs)
Canadian institutions with graduate (Doctoral/Masters) programs (not ARL members)

Tier 5 (Specifically Carnegie Classifications 15-16)

Research Universities (high and very high research activity)
Canadian ARL members