no.1970-REALLOCATING THE BOOK BUDGET (FORMULAS?)

From: "Janis Bandelin" <Janis.Bandelin_at_furman.edu>

Colleagues,

For the past five months, I have been working with our Library Committee to
develop an allocation formula.  For the past ten years, library allocations
to departments have been based on previous years' allocations and have not
taken into account the change in majors, number of classes taught, number
of faculty, etc.   For the past three years, increases to our materials
budget have been spent on sustaining our journals and electronic resources.
Thus funds available for other materials (books and audio-visual) have been
stagnant.   This system has rewarded those departments who are very journal
dependent (even with increases of 9-10%, all journals have been sustained)
and has penalized those disciplines that are more book dependent
(departments have received the same money for non-journal expenditures for
the past three years and have purchased fewer books).  In my visits to our
academic departments last year, many departments expressed concern about
the fairness of the library allocations.

I am interested in hearing from those of you who have gone through this
reallocation process and have developed a formula or a system for providing
allocations to departments (or disciplines) which reflect more current
changes in the academic program.  I am also interested in hearing from
those of you who are "in the thick of it" --- who, like me, are trying to
work through this very challenging and politically-charged process.  If you
could include a brief description of your situation and your phone number,
I would be happy to call you.

If you can suggest articles or books that have been helpful to you in the
process, please pass that information on.  ( ALA's Clip Note #22,
Allocation Formulas in Academic Libraries, has been very helpful.)

Thanks in advance for your help.

-Janis


Janis M. Bandelin, Ph.D.      E-Mail:  janis.bandelin_at_furman.edu
Director of Libraries              Voice:  864-294-2191
Furman University             Fax:  864-294-3004
3300 Poinsett Hwy
Greenville, SC   29613