Academic Library funding and collections decision-making:Who, when, how, what, and why?

Will WakelingNortheastern UniversitySSP Annual Meeting, San FranciscoJune 2, 2004

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Topics to be covered:

n Sources of collections fundingn Key decision makersn Fund allocation methodsn How the money gets spentn Some cancellation truthsn Some key issues for libraries

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Where does the collections money come from?

n Operational budget allocationn Endowments and giftsn Other special funding

– Accreditation uplifts– Dowries for new faculty– Seed funding for new programs– Cost sharing with departments

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Where does the collections money come from? (cont.)

n Endowments and gifts:

vAnnual giving v. endowmentsvRestricted v. unrestricted giftsvSponsored projects and cyberplaquingvCapital campaigning: the master list

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Where does the collections money come from? (cont.)

n Operational funding

vState grant or vote to public institutions (eventually)vTop-sliced funding for state purchasing

agencies or consortia acquiring databases or aggregations state-wide

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Where does the collections money come from? (cont.)n For Private institutions: an elaborate ritualv Budget request preparation August/Sept 2004v Budget bid application October 2004v Budget priorities review Nov-Feb 2005v Budget allocation FY06 May 2005

n Key components:v Inflation coverage for journals and subsv Proposals for levels of monograph coveragev Flagging expensive e-product desiderata

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Who are the key collections decision-makers?n The Provost/Provost’s Officen The Library Directorn The Facultyv Departmental liaisonsv Faculty Senatev Library Advisory Committee

n AD for Collections/Resources, CDO, etc.n Selectors/Bibliographers/Collection Managersn Electronic Resources Committeen Head of Acquisitions/Serialsn Consortial representative

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How do the funds get allocated?

Historical Plus

Allocation formulae

Subject-based Format-based

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How do the funds get allocated? (cont.)

Allocation formulae: not e=mc2 but SLm+SNn+0.75 PDTq

Elements may include:v Students numbersv Faculty numbersv Volume of publicationv Average prices (Bowker, YBP, Ebsco)v Ratio of monograph/journal use dependencev Special (fudge) factors (e.g. accreditations, collection

development policies and academic initiatives)

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How do the funds get allocated? (cont.)

n Formula-based budgeting may be applied to all of collections budget, or to a subsetv e.g. monograph firm orders/approval plans/standing

ordersn Advent of high volume of electronic materials altering

balances: 70:30 rule for journals:books now has to accommodate 12-15% for electronic resources

n The difficulty, of course, is in preventing subscription inflation consuming all…

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How does the money get spent? Or “how many $50 decisions did you make today…?”

n Subscriptionsn Approval plansvProfilingvSlipsvQuality control and return rates

n Standing orders and continuationsn Firm orders

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Why do journals or standing orders get cancelled?n Because it’s budget crunch or Serials Review time again (beginning

December, concluding September)v Quality reviewv Faculty consultationv Usage datav Price–hike, twigging or mutating datav ILL datav New competing requestsv Changing academic prioritiesv Potential SPARC/Open Access options

n Because one or more of the elements above come independently into play (reasons to avoid the Big Deal)

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What are the key budgeting and selections issues for libraries?

n Recurring v. one time costs n Flexible pricingn Timing

– Local spending deadlines– Expensive purchases and EOY money– E-resource decision-making - Trials

n Bundling; the good, the bad and the painfuln Licensingn Digital Archiving

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The only way to settle questions of controversial issues among the people is by the democratic method, the method of discussion, of criticism, of persuasion and education, and not by the method of coercion or repression. Mao Zedong