CDL: Amount budgeted for ref. materials?

From:    Vaughan.Katherine_at_epamail.epa.gov

I am an intern at the Environmental Protection Agency library in North Carolina.
Our budget for books was recently canceled, and our administrator (not a
librarian) is trying to get us some money for new reference books.  He would
like to give the budget office some statistics regarding the money and
acquisitions needed to keep a collection current.  My questions to you all are:

1: what percent of your acquisitions budget do you spend on books?  What percent
on reference materials?  Is this the optimal level?

2: How much yearly turnover would you expect to see in a reference collection?
(again, a percent).

This library collects primarily in the pure and applied sciences (chemistry,
biology, toxicology, medicine, engineering) and in business and law materials.
We are relatively small, and our book collection is tiny compared to our
journals and documents collections.  The reference collection is approximately
500 titles.  I realize that the budgetary and acquisition information varies by
library, field, and year, but we are just trying to get ballpark figures to show
to the money people.

Any help you can give me would be wonderful!  Please respond off-list, unless
you feel like comparing notes with others -

K.T. Vaughan
"EPA Library, staffed by UNC"


-- 
John P. Abbott
  Coordinator, Collection Development		
  ASU Libraries                           
  Appalachian State University            
  Boone, NC  28608-2026                   

phone:  828-262-2821  
fax:    828-262-3001  
email:  abbottjp_at_appstate.edu