The Art of Collections Budgeting

SUNYLA 2015Marianne HebertSUNY POTSDAMhttp://www.slideshare.net/hebertm3308/sunyla2015

Formula Based Budget SORT OF

Budget Allocation from Library Director

(a piece of the OTPS library budget pie) Database renewals - 1st

Not formula based Periodical renewals - 2nd

Not formula based Monographs get remainder - 3rd

Ridiculously complex formula

PAST Monographic Formulas Student FTE Weighted credit hours (grad/undergrad) Average circulation by FTE Circulation percentages by budget code Industry book prices Average cost per item (ALEPH)

Sample Monograph Formula 2011-2012

Our Budget Process Didn’t Work Arbitrary (historical) allocations for databases &

periodicals, and a strict formula for monographs wasn’t “equitable” or “fair” across material types

Our guts told us the mono formula wasn’t what was needed: “Well, er, um, I think…”

Equitable distribution of funds ≠ what resources are needed or how they are actually used

Sciences vs. Humanities (Journals vs. Books) Allocations ≠ Expenditures Goal was to SPEND the money by end of FY not

necessarily to BUILD collections wisely Gathering formula data was very time consuming

Tweaking the FormulaWhat We Tried but Failed

Design a formula for Databases & Periodicals Database allocations by discipline?

Which databases are subject specific vs. interdisciplinary? What % of Interdisciplinary databases are Anthropology,

Art, Biology, etc.? Project Muse Academic Source Complete

SUNYConnect, NOVEL and NY3Rs Periodical allocations by discipline

Not all disciplines rely on periodicals

More Failures Information Literacy classes taught

Not all departments and classes use or need IL LibGuide Subject page hits

Not a good measure considering other discovery options (webopac and web links)

% ILL borrowing requests by discipline Self declared major ≠ subject of requests

Undeclared majors

What Sort of Worked Librarian’s subjectivity scale

1. Given the databases we currently provide, is the program well served (1=badly served, 5= very well served)

2. Your subjective impression of how much research is done by students in the department (1=almost no research, 5 = tons of research)

3. Does this program rely on books? (1= doesn't need books at all, 5 = incredibly book oriented)

4. Does this program rely on articles? (1= doesn't need articles at all, 5 = incredibly article oriented)

5. Does this program rely on other types of resources? (1= doesn't need many other resources at all, 5 = incredibly dependent on other resources)

6. Ideally, what other resources should be provided to this department and what priority would you assign to each one? (1= low priority, 2= it would be a nice addition, 3 = we should get this if we can afford it, 4 = pretty darn important, 5 = we are total losers for not supplying this already)

7. Which (if any) resources that we pay for should stop providing?

Library Landscape: Things are Changing The Library is not the only game in town Students only use library resources when directed

to by faculty and their research assignments REQUIRE use of library resources

Students need “something” but not usually a specific thing

Discovery and Metadata are improving Resources Sharing is better Budgets are shrinking E-resources & periodical costs increase annually

What We Know ~40-50 % of the books we buy NEVER

circulate Circulation of academic print books has been

declining for years Books have shelf lives:

Older books get used less Older books appear lower on the results lists Content gets stale for many discipline

How much does it cost to keep a book on the shelf?

$4.26 annually"On the Cost of Keeping a Book"by Paul N. Courant and Matthew Nielsen (2009)http://www.clir.org/pubs/reports/pub147/pub147.pdf

(hint, skip to page 91 to get to the easy-to-read storage costs estimates chart)

“New Budget Model” Rather than building a collection of

GOOD STUFF that doesn’t get used, we now focus on what is ACTUALLY NEEDED for assignments

Not about budget allocations - More about purposeful collection building

Jan 2014: Library Luncheon for Faculty Liaisons Discussions

Less prescriptive budgets across content types

Connect learning objectives to collection building

Focus on purchasing “essential” vs. “valuable or wanted” materials

Consider how ILL and Doc Delivery systems fit in with user’s needs

Pilot projects with Four Departments (Spring 2014)

Biology, Theatre/Dance, Geology & History Developed survey for teaching Faculty (23

responses) Librarian teams met with departments to

discuss the “new model” & survey results Librarian’s debrief meetings

Fall 2014 – Spring 2015 IRB approval to run survey campus-wide Tweaked the survey and sent to faculty 92 faculty responses (out of ~350) LibGuide about the “New Budget Model”

http://potsdam.libguides.com/budget Met with eight departments to discuss

the survey responses and the “New Budget Model” Total of 12 departments done (~50%)

The Message Students have changed Libraries have changed We can’t afford to buy books that don’t

get used

The Survey – Google form http://tinyurl.com/qzlfqpr

Note that this is a copy of the original for SUNYLA attendees. Feel free to answer questions to page through it…the 1st two are required.

Survey responses: http://tinyurl.com/p2yvlqk

A. What types of information resources are needed for your students' research assignment(s)?

B. What search tools (library databases or free web) do you expect students to use to find these resources?

“Those data bases specifically citing research in culture, language, education (e.g. Anthro source, ERIC)”

“BearCAT, WorldCat, Ebsco, JSTOR” “Academic Search whatever” “All of them! But especially AskMax &

PsycInfo” “Web of Science”

C. Students often tell us that they aren't allowed to use "the web" to complete their assignments. If you give assignments where you don't want students to use web resources (i.e. the free web), is it allowable for students to use library resources that are web-based?

Allowable66%

NOT Al-low-able6%

I don't care15%

Blank12%

Search engines

Allowable26%

NOT Al-lowable

52%

I don't care9%

Blank12%

Free Web Encyclopedia ar-ticles (e.g. Wikipedia)

Allowable83%

I don't care6%

Blank11%

Web based journal articles from library databases

Allowable80%

NOT Al-lowable

2%

I don't care9% Blank

9%

Open access journal ar-ticles

Allowable63%NOT Al-

lowable15%

I don't care8%

Blank14%

Web based encyclopedia ar-ticles from library databases

Allowable54%NOT Allowable

22%

I don't care9%

Blank15%

Content from websites

What types of information sources are students allowed to use to compete their assignments?

Allowable62%

NOT Al-lowable

5%

I don't care17%

Blank17%

Streaming videos from library databases

Allowable51%

NOT Al-lowable

25%

I don't care8%

Blank17%

Internet videos (e.g. YouTube)

Allowable52%

NOT Al-lowable

18%

I don't care12%

Blank17%

Streaming audio from the internet

Allowable57%

NOT Al-lowable

14%

I don't care11%

Blank18%

Streaming audio from library databases

Allowable75%

NOT Al-lowable

5%

I don't care9%

Blank11%

E-books

D. When selecting materials for the College Libraries, we try to make sure our collections have enough depth and currency to support the research interests of our students. What should the library keep in mind when building our collections? e.g. topics, authors, publishers, series. Please be as specific as possible.

Topics, Authors, etc. RESPONSES “Topics: genetics, molecular genetics, genetic diseases,

virology, viral infections, viral outbreaks, emerging infectious diseases”

“For my purposes the library should have databases that offer extensive access to peer reviewed, primary literature in life sciences.”

“Daily life in ancient cities (Rome, Greece and Pompeii)” “Access to current dance in video is important…” “Up-to-date Women's Health Issues” “Build a collection on Hispanics in the USA, all books

and collections by Junot Diaz, Sandra Cisneros, Martin Espada, Cherie Moraga,…”

E. Would you like to partner with library faculty to try a new assignment? What would you like to try? What types of resources would you need for your experimental assignment?

“Yes. Annotated bibliography.” “Our greatest difficulty in Arabic Studies, the

capstone course in Arabic Across the Curriculum is finding materials in Arabic on a great variety of topics/discipline…”

“I'm unfamiliar with materials in the college archives, but would like to learn more about them for possible integration into different courses…”

Faculty Subjectivity Scale

6. If the research assignments for your programs are dependent on other types of information resources, please list them in the box below: “Exhibition catalogues” “Correspondence and other primary sources” “Datasets related to politics (some publicly

available, others only through ICPSR).” “Take over their brains with software that gets

them to WANT to learn :-)”

7. Ideally, what other resources should the College Libraries provide to support student research in your department?

“Aluka” “Ideally? Readex Early American

Imprints online and Early English Books online -- you said "ideally" so I thought I would dream big.”

Pie-in-the-sky would be for more of your online journals to not have a one-year embargo

8. Which (if any) resources should we stop providing?

“Thin out the oldest books. In genetics-related fields, older often implies out-dated and potentially incorrect information.”

“Popular books” “Annual reviews if any of these are still being

bought” “Print journals - my students and myself

work in digital.” “Trick question?”

9. What resource(s) are untouchable for your department's programs?

“The OED. MLA db.” “Project muse, monologue collections, new

plays, video of performances.” “I am not clear on what you mean by

"untouchable". Presuming this means "should not be taken away" I would say journal subscriptions.”

“I do not know what you mean by "untouchable." Older, outdated editions of works, I suppose, should not be touched.”

10. Do you have any comments about library collections and resources you would like to add? or any questions about library collections you'd like to ask? “Illiad has been wonderful. My most recent request was

fulfilled in about a day. Thanks!” “I have a list of about 20 environmental documentaries

that I wish the library had.” “How do you establish the value of particular resources

beyond simple search counts? How will you make sure to meet the needs of smaller departments?”

“I am unclear on the library's mission in terms of teaching. I would like to better understand this in terms of the library's ability to purchase items used in the classroom (such as videos), but not necessarily by students outside of class time.”

“The (subscription) rent is too damn high!”

Last Two Questions 11. Are you willing to have your survey

comments shared with department and campus colleagues?

12. Your name (optional).

Department Meetings Offer private meetings Changing library landscape Survey discussion and feedback Would you be willing to participate in an

assignment repository? Communication: Is the Liaison system is an

effective method of communication? Moving forward: Increased dialogue about

student research needs and library purchases

What We Learned… Lots of confusion about Interlibrary Loan

What it costs or doesn’t cost Who can use it Why it takes so long

Lots of confusion about “fair use”, e.g. uploading copies of articles into Moodle (even if it is legal Library doesn’t see database use counts)

Questions about e-books, how to download, why they disappear.

Lots of confusion about SUNY Rule-of-3

What We Learned Many faculty don’t read or understand our collection

development policies Some faculty don’t like librarians challenging their

purchase recommendations (SUNY Rule of 3, book selections, periodical and database purchases and cuts)

Faculty asked for more transparency (library use database statistics, and budgets)

Most faculty are willing to share their research assignments

It is extremely difficult to schedule meetings with departments

Some departments allocated 15 minutes. Other meetings took 1+ hours.

The Survey was awkward to compile and to share results

Practical Matters ALEPH Budgets Circ-stats-by-budget (p-manage-70) WebOPAC search strings (custom-62) ILLiad – Most requested Loans Follow the metadata

What LCSH are assigned to book requests?

Do other books with those SH circulate?

Moving Forward Message to all departmental

liaisons:“All spending should based on our new collections model, which is focused on assignments and projects done by students as a part of their coursework. Please focus any requests accordingly.”

“What is a Library?” conversations to continue for years

References Kurt, Will. The End of Academic Library Circulation? ACRL

TechConnect Blog Feb. 1, 2012 http://acrl.ala.org/techconnect/?p=233

Stewart C. METRICS: The Next Chapter: Measuring the Pace of Change for Print Monograph Collections. Journal Of Academic Librarianship [serial online]. July 2011;37(4):355-357 http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0099133311001121

Head, Alison. Project Information Literacy: What Can Be Learned about the Information-Seeking Behavior of Today’s College Students? ACRL 2013 Proceedings http://www.ala.org/acrl/sites/ala.org.acrl/files/content/conferences/confsandpreconfs/2013/papers/Head_Project.pdf

Questions? Slideshare: http://www.slideshare.net/hebertm3308/sunyla2015

Contact:Marianne Heberthebertm@potsdam.edu315 267-3308