Allocation Formula Considerations

SupplyDemand

Cost

Common allocation Factors

• Number of students (grad/undergrad)• Number of courses (grad/undergrad)• Or Number of credits (grad/undergrad)• Number of faculty• Cost of acquiring materials• Use (issue: not discipline specific)Factors may be weighted to reflect institutional values

Other Factors

• Accreditation requirement• New programs• Increased or changing emphases• How well previous year’s allocation met needs• Formats• LC classes shared by multiple departments (collection development profiles)

Other Factors

• Ability to modify formula as needed• % of University budget/institutional priority

(PBA)can be on department or program level• Some institutions allocation by subject areas:

humanities, sciences, social science, technology, professional programs

• Some assign interdisciplinary formats----databases or journals to the library general fund

Test Effectiveness

• Minor changes can make unexpected results• Impact on reduced allocation could go below

level needed to sustain subscriptions or packages

• Things not adequately covered by departmental allocation(for example, allocation would not cover journals in Library’s budget)

Additional Considerations

• Document decision process– Source of data– Any special allocations for new programs, (one

time or recurring) etc– Factors that are weighted—(Cross says that

weighting factors replaces objectivity with subjectivity)

Cross, R. L (2011). Budget allocation formulas: magic or illusion? The Bottom Line: Managing Library Finances. 24 (1), 63-67

Additional Considerations

• Big ticket items• Special buying opportunities• PBA keeps reflects changing priorities in a

single factor• Interlibrary loan costs• Inflation

Subcommittee Meetings

• Established factors that will be weighted (with input from the library faculty)• Assigned weights to the factors• Considered weighting graduate students by

credit hours and/or by FTES• Experimented with hypothetical data to see

impact of the weighted factors