Developing a Weighted Collection Development

Allocation Formula

Jeff Bailey, Library DirectorLinda Creibaum, Acquisitions and Serials

LibrarianDean B. Ellis Library

Arkansas State UniversityNovember 6, 2014

Copyright Jeff Bailey and Linda Creibaum, 2014

Ground Rules• Questions are welcome at any time, but we

may defer answering a question until later in the session

• Interactive discussions are welcome

Background and History•In 1997 the Arkansas State University library had no equitable means of making allocations

•Funds had not been reallocated/redistributed in many years

•One department accounted for nearly 20% of all collection development expenditures

•There was no funding to support new programs

Background and History - continued

•We searched literature to discover methods of making allocations, including the use of a formula

•We chose to use a formula based on one used by Colorado State University and described in SPEC Kit #36

First Steps: Gathering Data

Do these steps before selecting formula factors

List Potentially Relevant Data

•Doing this is much like a brainstorming session• Cost of materials• Degrees awarded per department or program• Faculty per department or program• Number of course sections offered• Number of courses in catalog• Number of degree programs• Number of majors in each program• Semester credit hour production (actual

enrollment)• Use of materials

Gathering Data (continued)

•Evaluate and refine the list• Eliminate duplicates and non-viable suggestions• Identify the factors that are most relevant to your

campus

Some of Our Ideas•What we used

• Cost of materials (from the Library and Book Trade Almanac)

• Degrees awarded per department or program• Faculty per department or program (FTE faculty)• Number of course sections offered• Number of courses in catalog• Number of degree programs• Number of majors in each program• Semester credit hour production (actual

enrollment)• Use of materials

Gathering Data (continued)

•Determine what data is available or could be gathered

• Both internal (within your library and within the field) and external (campus, community, company, etc.)

• Eliminate possible factors for which data cannot be obtained

•Gather samples of available data

The Formula•The original factors we used

• Semester credit hour production (actual enrollment)• Number of classes offered• Degrees awarded• Faculty per department• Cost of materials from Library and Book Trade

Almanac•Other factors that could have been used

• Number of degree programs• Departmental external funding and/or research

productivity• Use of materials• Number of courses in catalog

The Formula

•Weights• Weighting is the assigning of values to indicate

the importance or impact of each factor in the formula relative to the other formula factors

• The assigned weight values are inserted into the Excel spreadsheet and are used in formula calculations

The Formula•Assigning weights to each factor

• These should be based upon each institution’s priorities and culture• Library Committee• Faculty Senate• Institutional Administration• Something else?

• We subdivided some factors before assigning weights

• Do test runs and adjust weights if needed

(by non-mathematicians)

How the Formula Works

Screen Shot of a Previous Formula Run

Running the Formula•You can do separate formula runs for…

• Books • Journals• Print• Online resources (databases/ejournals/eBooks)• Any other budgets your library may have• Or any combination of these

•We chose to run a single formula for all allocations

Additional Thoughts…

•Before running the formula, determine how much of your budget to allocate and how much to keep back for library use (if any)•You may want or need to make adjustments to individual allocations after running the formula

• Do no harm• Nonparticipation• Special entities or protected programs

Some Advice•Your formula will probably need to be modified at some point in the future

•We have changed our formula• Weights were adjusted• Added departmental external funding as a factor in

2012

In Conclusion…•Document, document, document!

•Make the decisions and modify the formula to fit your library’s needs

•Feel free to contact either of us with any questions you may think of later

To download an interactive copy of the demo spreadsheet

www.astate.edu/a/library/charleston

Contact InformationJeff BaileyLibrary DirectorDean B. Ellis LibraryArkansas State University JonesboroP.O. Box 2040State University, AR 72467870-972-2724jbailey@astate.edu

Linda CreibaumAcquisitions and Serials Librarian

Dean B. Ellis Library

Arkansas State University Jonesboro

P.O. Box 2040

State University, AR 72467

870-972-3354

lcreibaum@astate.edu