Most academic libraries are facing funding challenges that necessitate improved budget planning, monitoring, and communication. Moreover, electronic resources have led to substantial growth in the complexity of the content that libraries acquire as well as the variety of means of acquiring them. The simultaneous intensification of these two trends has taxed the traditional two-dimensional budget structure to the point that it has become inadequate. In the electronic era, libraries are in need of an expanded budget structure that accounts for the four critical aspects of the acquisitions process and is able to provide transparency and visibility, support long-term planning and ongoing spending control, as well as facilitate reporting and advocacy. This presentation describes the shortcomings of the current academic library acquisitions budget structure, identifies the components of the optimal acquisitions budget, and describes a generalized process that any library can use to update and tailor its budget structure for the electronic resources environment. The case study we present provides a detailed example of the effectively restructured budget at the Claremont Colleges Library and the advantages it provides in practice. We expect that it will be of practical use to anyone involved in acquisitions and collection management in an academic library.

1. Maria Savova, Director of Information Resources and Systems, Claremont Colleges Library
Jason Price, Ph.D., Director of Licensing Operations, SCELC Consortium
May 19, 2015
www.money2spare.com

2. The budget document
simultaneously serves a
multiplicity of functions,
including planning,
monitoring, and
communication”
Shreeves, Edward, Association for Library Collections &
Technical Services, Collection Management and Development
Committee, and Subcommittee on Budget Allocation. 1991.
Guide to Budget Allocation for Information Resources. Chicago, Ill.:
American Library Association.
http://blog.intohigher.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Budget-
jar-of-money.jpg

3. 1.Capture the present
2.Predict the future
3.Support funding advocacy
http://goo.gl/U8DX7H

4.  What (exactly) is the money being spent on?
 How much money is left to spend this year?
 How much money will be needed in future years?
 What exact funding increase is needed to maintain
purchasing power?
 When we need to cut, what will be the longer-
term financial impact of the final decision?

5. How should acquisitions
budgets be designed to best
address these questions?

6.  Demonstrating the power of an effectively restructured budget
 Shortcomings of a typical acquisitions budget structure
 Structure and components of an optimized budget
 (a process that any library can use to tailor its budget structure for the
electronic resources environment)

8. Fund Discipline
Material
type
Acquisition
mode
Format AppropriationX
1ahbap Arts & Humanities Book Autoship Print $182,718
1ahbde Arts & Humanities Book Demand Electronic $17,000
1ahbdp Arts & Humanities Book Demand Print $53,142
1ahbfe Arts & Humanities Book Firm Electronic $17,000
1ahbfp Arts & Humanities Book Firm Print $32,898
1ahjfe Arts & Humanities Journal/JDB Firm Electronic $17,685
1ahnfe Arts & Humanities NonJourDB Firm Electronic $94,894
1ahboe Arts & Humanities Book Ongoing Electronic $23,123
1ahjoe Arts & Humanities Journal/JDB Ongoing Electronic $347,662
1ahjop Arts & Humanities Journal/JDB Ongoing Print $32,924
1ahnoe Arts & Humanities NonJourDB Ongoing Electronic $126,189
1ahbse Arts & Humanities Book Standing Electronic $0
1ahbsp Arts & Humanities Book Standing Print $80,181

15. Print
E
l
e
c
t
r
o
n
i
c
Autoship
Demand
Firm
Standing
E-standing
E-ongoing
E-firm
E-demand

16. Books (autoship)
Books (standing orders)
Books
Serials
Microform
A/V
Electronic resources
acquisition mode
acquisition mode
material type
material type
material type
material type
material format
http://www.flickr.com/photos/86530412@N02/7932571974/
Subject area:

17.  Firm/outright purchases
 Demand driven (mediated)
 Demand driven (unmediated)
 Standing orders
 Ongoing (subscriptions)
 Approval Plan autoship
LEVELOFDISCRETION
STAFFINVOLVMENT

18. Books (autoship)
Books (standing orders)
Books
Serials
Microform
A/V
Electronic resources
acquisition mode
acquisition mode
material type
material type
material type
material type
material format
print books autoship
print books standing orders
print one-time
print ongoing
physical one-time
physical one-time
mixture of material types
and acquisition modes

20. Color = Format
Shape = Material Type
Pattern = Acq. Mode

21.  Excessively large
 Unpredictable catch-all
 Unclear where certain resources belong
 Ebook “standing orders”
 Streaming media
 *Mixes acquisitions with different levels
of discretion

22. https://www.cloudset.net/hc/en-us/articles/420212-Faceted-Knowledge-Base

23. Facets - the four core aspects of information
resources acquisitions:
(1) administrative unit/subject/discipline
(2) material type (book v journal v primary source, etc.)
(3) acquisition mode (purchase vs subscription, etc.)
(4) material format (print vs electronic)
http://www.dreamstime.com

24.  b - Books
 j - Journals and journal
databases
 m - Media
 n - Non-journal
databases
 p - Print / physical
 e - Electronic

25.  Firm/outright purchases
 Demand driven
 Standing orders
 Ongoing (subscriptions)
 Approval Plan autoship

26.  Large administrative library unit: branch,
discipline group, large subject area, etc.
 CCL’s Admin units:
 AH – Arts and Humanities discipline group
 SS – Social Sciences discipline group
 ST – STEM discipline group
 MD – Multidisciplinary
 SC – Special Collections
 AS – Asian Library

28. Administrative Material Acquisition Material
unit type mode format
(ah) (book) (autoship) (print)

29. 6 X 4 X 5 X 2 = 240

31.  Print
 Electronic
 Firm orders
 Autoship
 Standing orders
 DDA
 Firm orders
 Standing orders
 Ongoing
subscriptions
 DDA
http://www.canstockphoto.com
www.fernandobiz.com

32.  Print
 Electronic
 Ongoing
subscriptions
 Ongoing
subscriptions
 Firm orders
http://www.flickr.com/photos/thefirebottle/122895549/

33.  Electronic
 Ongoing subscriptions
 Firm orders
 Physical
 Firm orders
 DDA
 Electronic
 Ongoing
 Firm orders
 DDA
http://www.flickr.
com/photos/elgran
dee/3217549652/

35. AH
SC
AS
MD
SS
ST

36. • These 60 funds disambiguate resources
across:
• Discipline / Administrative unit
• Material type
• Acquisition mode / Level of Discretion
• Material Format
• One example of why this matters:
• Accurate Prediction and Advocacy

38. Effective Purchasing Power
$2,000,000
$2,500,000
$3,000,000
$3,500,000
$4,000,000
$4,500,000
$5,000,000
FY02/03 FY03/04 FY04/05 FY05/06 FY06/07 FY07/08 FY08/09 FY09/10 FY10/11
Library Budget
Purchase Index
Purchasing
Power Gap, -
27.5% over 8
years
Budget Portion FY02/03 FY03/04 FY04/05 FY05/06 FY06/07 FY07/08 FY08/09 FY09/10 FY10/11
Library Budget $2,709,771 $2,833,271 $3,035,814 $3,268,814 $3,432,255 $3,603,855 $3,611,855 $3,431,262 $3,283,853
Purchase Index $2,709,771 $2,908,777 $3,072,473 $3,387,275 $3,566,978 $3,804,940 $4,068,805 $4,310,181 $4,527,143
Journals Inflation 58.36% 7.20% 7.10% 15.21% 7.73% 8.27% 8.80% 7.70% 6.00%
Book Inflation 28.29% 8.70% 3.50% 3.00% 0.40% 5.20% 4.00% 4.00% 4.00%
Other Inflation 13.35% 5.10% 3.70% 3.90% 5.10% 2.80% 5.00% 2.30% 3.00%
Total Inflation 6.84% 5.33% 9.29% 5.04% 6.25% 6.49% 5.60% 4.79%
Library Budget Change 4.36% 6.67% 7.13% 4.76% 4.76% 0.22% -5.26% -4.49%
Purchasing Power Change -2.60% -1.19% -3.50% -3.78% -5.28% -11.23% -20.39% -27.46%
*2010/11 includes a facilities assessment for the Records Center ($147,409)

39.  Your questions

40.  Discussed in more detail in the
manuscript – e-mail us for a copy
 “Giving up” on subjects
 Implementing the faceted structure
 Allocation principles and procedure
 Predictability within each budget
Maria Savova, Director of Information Resources and Systems, Claremont Colleges
Library – maria_savova@cuc.claremont.edu
Jason Price, Ph.D., Director of Licensing Operations, SCELC Consortium - jason@scelc.org