I’m learning the local budgets at MPOW these days (as the guy wearing the Electronic Resources hat) and it is impressively squirrely. Without digging myself into a hole (since the library, university, state system, and state – let alone the country – are already impressively in the hole) of overly-transparent-ness: “Wow.”
Do you buy your electronic database subscriptions title by title? Do some come in a “package?” Do you get some via a consortium? Do you know what your list price is for each database? Do you know how much you pay for each database “item?” Which databases are “comes with” databases, which of these actually come free with your main subscription(s) and which have small surcharges attached?
How about your budget process? Do you get one lump sum budget with cost-centers? Do you get 2 or 3 (or more!) budgets with some things being bought wholly from one budget while others are bought with different amounts from multiple budgets? Are we ready for one of those budgetary pots of money to disappear with the new Chancellor? Are we ready for a possible 5% “give-back” to the State? *weep*
I was going to say “Actually it’s not as bad as all that…” but actually… well… it is. If not worse.
Fun task #1: Report (for University Library Committee meeting) [see previous post for adventures on this front]
- #sessions & searches (monthly, semesterly, academic yearly)
- price per search (monthly, semesterly, academic yearly)
- top 10 (heavily used) and bottom 10 (lightly used) databases
- Future: map databases to departments and # of students served
Fun task #2: Identify items purchased in past few years with Performance Funds that have renewals attached and move ongoing commitments from Performance Fund to Library Budget items
Fun task #3: Budget training
Alright, enough kvetching. I’m off to go make it happen, and I’m just the guy to do it.
Aaron the Librarian 