bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
REDUCTION BUDGETING HITS HOME: THE DALLAS STORY
Authors: O'Brien Patrick
Published: January 2008

What was previously only second‐hand knowledge, gleaned from accounts in the professional literature, became a fact of life for the Dallas Public Library when we were thrust, full speed, into reduction budgeting. The library, whose budget had increased from $15 million in FY 1984–85 to $16.5 in 1985–86, with one‐third of that increase going into materials, was forced to adapt its philosophy to a totally new and unexpected set of circumstances. Our response combined participative review and adjustment of library service priorities with political action into, what we believe, was a rational plan for reductions.
IN THE NEWS
Authors: Margolis Bernard
Published: January 2008

Public Library Trusteeship Fee Schedule Set. The fee schedule for participating in the Public library Trusteeship has been established. Charges from Marshall and Isley Trust Company, which provides all administrative and reporting services for fund members, are based on the market value of all portfolios participating in the program. The fees to individual libraries are determined as a ratio of the fund total. Earnings on money market funds will be netted to reflect a 3/10 of 1 percent charge. The schedule is all‐inclusive with the exception of wire transfer costs.
THE FISCAL IMPACT OF PAY EQUITY
Authors: Josephine Helen
Published: January 2008

For most working women, being in the job market doesn't pay. Women earn the most in professions where men predominate—operations research, law, engineering, medicine—but they earn less than their male colleagues. Women predominate in the low‐paid occupations—clerical, retail sales, health services—and yet, even in these lower‐paid occupations, they still earn less than men.
AT WHAT COST BOOK SECURITY?
Authors: Saulmon Sharon A.
Published: January 2008

Oklahoma's Metropolitan Library System was recently faced with deciding whether or not to purchase a security system for its 11 libraries. Since existing studies on the effectiveness of security systems in deterring theft and vandalism are contradictory and inconclusive, members of the library staff and Board of Trustees, of which I was a member, gathered local data to determine whether the savings gained by installing a system would justify the investment. Our appraisal left no hope that the results would be worth the expenditure.
INCREASING THE VALUE OF USER TIME
Authors: Getz Malcolm
Published: January 2008

The time that library users spend in the library may be the most important element in the production of information services. If all library users were salaried library employees, the “user payroll” in a typical library would exceed any other library expenditure; at Vanderbilt, such a payroll would be more than twice that of the library staff's payroll. Because the way users spend their time is so crucial in library service, library managers may want to help manage users' time as they do staff time; that is, by recognizing how library users value their time, library managers can introduce innovations to make user time more efficient, more productive, and more enjoyable.
ANNUITIES—THE IRA ALTERNATIVE
Authors: Butterworth Virginia
Published: January 2008

Have you ever wondered how Agatha Christie's Miss Marple managed to live her quaint life in the quiet little village of St. Mary Mead without visible means of support? The source of her “small fixed income” was a financial resource which has kept many a fictional British character in “tolerable circumstances”—the annuity. While literature often mentions annuities in passing, they have only recently received attention from the financial press. The 1986 Tax Reform Act has left annuities and life insurance among the few untouched tax shelters, and the insurance industry is responding to this opportunity by expanding its product lines, and by emphasizing the tax benefits of single‐premium and whole‐life policies and annuities.
KEEPING TRACK
Authors: Clark Philip M.
Published: January 2008

Here's a problem that a number of managers may face: How to keep track of expenditures for personnel by different locations or departments when certain staff members work in more than one location or department? This problem arises when a reference librarian spends four days of the work week in the main library and one day at the branch library. Or, when a cataloger is assigned to public service duty half‐time.
COST FINDING:
Authors: Richmond Elizabeth
Published: January 2008

Costing is more than just a buzz word for librarians working in either the public or private sector. We are all concerned with program efficiency, cost containment, and financial management. But, cost studies are a lot of work and not universally popular. In fact, actual cost studies are not common. Those produced are frequently uneven in method and quality and often focus on specific areas such as acquisitions or circulation. As a result, the methodology for arriving at the cost conclusions is at best unique to the specific case; at worst it is incomplete or only inferred.
THE JOY OF STAGING SPECIAL EVENTS
Authors: Reidell Mark
Published: January 2008

For those of us who have served on the special events front‐line to raise money for our libraries; for those of us who have shown the willingness to battle and overcome frustration, rejection, and last‐minute crises; for those of us who remain undaunted and resilient, even when our net take from an event is $37.50—the belief that we are supporting a vital institution keeps us from retreating.
WHEN DO DOLLARS FOR INFORMATION SERVICE MAKE SENSE?
Authors: Wood Frances K.
Published: January 2008

If you were asked to envision some information services in your library that could feasibly be offered for a fee, what would you choose? A list of such services probably would include many that are currently being offered for free and others that could be offered under the right circumstances.
DEPOSIT ACCOUNTS FOR MONOGRAPH ACQUISITIONS: A BUDGET‐STRETCHING TECHNIQUE
Authors: Hayes Sherman
Published: January 2008

In today's age of budget pressures and ever‐increasing costs for monographs and continuations, we all look for methods to improve our purchasing power. Perhaps a deposit prepayment account with a book vendor would help meet your needs.
THE INSIDE TRACK: WHAT THE EXPERTS SAY ABOUT SEEKING ALTERNATIVE FUNDING
Authors: McGovern Gail
Published: January 2008

I read a number of magazines devoted to fund raising, grantsmanship, nonprofit management, and philanthropy. And lately, I've been impressed by the number of both philosophical and practical hints the experts have shared about the basic approach to these activities. Combined with what has been hammered home to me over the years by colleagues from a variety of government agencies, corporations, and foundations, I have compiled a list of what I consider are the best of them.
DEPOSITORY LIBRARIES AND THE ECONOMICS OF ELECTRONIC INFORMATION: PART 2
Authors: Getz Malcolm
Published: January 2008

The Federal Depository Library Program has assured broad public access to important government publications. When print media were the norm for access to convenient and reliable information, deposit of print publications met the public need well. However, as the norm for convenient and reliable access shifts toward electronic information products, the print depository may become inadequate as an information resource: fewer people will be willing to use the print items, seeking instead the power and speed of electronic access. If print deposits decline, the public purpose in supporting widespread access to a range of information of value to our democratic processes may suffer.
IN THE NEWS
Authors: Margolis Bernard
Published: January 2008

Update: Privatization. According to Carol Henderson, of the ALA Washington Office, NTIS met with potential bidders interested in the proposed privatization of NTIS in late January. As a result, the Commerce Department was expected to issue an RFP in February with a 30 to 45 day turnaround. At the same time, Congressional hearings were to take place in response to these maneuverings.
THE BALANCE SHEET: How to Read It and How to Use It
Authors: Steinberg Erica
Published: January 2008

Librarians and corporate information center managers operate in worlds where speaking the language of finance is one of the requisites for the key to the executive washroom. But too few of us know how the basic documents of financial decision making are assembled or how to interpret them to determine the operating health of our organizations. This is not a failure we alone experience; most managers begin in nonfinancial positions. Much of the bewilderment of the world of fiscal nuances can be dispensed with when we understand some fiscal basics, like how to read a balance sheet.
OVERCOMING SOFTWARE SPECIALIZATION
Authors: Clark Philip M.
Published: January 2008

In these heady days of spreadsheet programs, word processors, and database management software, we are confronted with a simple problem of software specialization: how to get that nice 10‐column chart of next year's book budget from the Lotus 1–2–3 program into the budget report being written on Microsoft Word?
THE BUY DECISION
Authors: Butterworth Virginia
Published: January 2008

We've all heard the standard simplistic advice about stock market success: “Buy low, and sell high.” The opportunity to take this advice once again presented itself to investors when the market dropped more than 500 points in October 1987.
REDUCTION REDUX: THE DALLAS BUDGET STORY, PART 2
Authors: O'Brien Patrick M.
Published: January 2008

Return with me now to those halcyon days of FY1985–86 in Dallas, Texas, Sunbelt, U.S.A. The public library's budget had been increased by $1.5 million to $16.5 million and was targeted for $17.2 million for FY1986–87. Three new branches were on the drawing board and bond issues had passed for two more. As related a year ago in “Reduction Budgeting Hits Home: the Dallas Story” in The Bottom Line (Volume 1, Number 2, 1987), our library never came close to the target and ended up with a $15.2 million budget for FY1986–87 including a staff reduction of 30 positions. At the time of that last writing mid‐year cuts loomed. Did they happen? Indeed, they did—and more!
IN THE NEWS
Authors: Margolis Bernard
Published: January 2008

Milwaukee Public Is Studying Fees for Services. When the Milwaukee Public Library (MPL) realized that it was facing a shrinking tax base that could no longer provide sufficient funds for its books and materials budget, the Board of Trustees took action. In a recent conversation with Assistant City Librarian Kate Raab and Financial Development Officer Patty Peterson, The Bottom Line learned how, at the urging of its board, the MPL hired Growth Design—a local consulting firm — to investigate other public and possible private sources of funding.
RESPONDING TO THE LABOR MARKET: Matching Salaries and Paying for Training
Authors: Getz Malcolm
Published: January 2008

The library manager is faced with innumerable personnel policy issues. Two questions that are impacted by labor market considerations are: If a valued professional receives an attractive offer from a competing institution should you match the offer? To what extent should training and professional development activities be paid for by the library, and to what extent should the employee bear the cost?
IN THE NEWS
Authors: Margolis Bernard
Published: January 2008

Budgetary Standards for University Libraries. Hearings were held during the ALA Annual Conference on a proposed draft for “Standards for University Libraries.” Of particular interest are the standards set forth for budgetary support and “sources.” Included is the provision that university libraries make “appropriate budgetary provision… for repair, replacement, renovation, and investment in new and improved means of information acces and delivery.”
DEFINING A FEDERAL ROLE FOR LIBRARIES:
Authors: Preston Ronald
Published: January 2008

In the history of federal programs for libraries — from their conception in the 1930s through their inception in the '50s until now — the consistency of issues and controversies has been striking, especially in the last 20 years. Everything significant being said now about federal programs for libraries was being said a decade ago. Everything librarians are seeking they've sought before. Everything being proposed in the administration's new library initiative has been adumbrated. The lines have been long drawn, the arguments mustered.
COST FINDING: A Step‐by‐Step Guide
Authors: Vinson Michael
Published: January 2008

How much does it actually cost to order a book? What impact, if any, would a vendor plan have on library expenses? And what difference would it make to budget planning to have specific figures instead of the guesstimates on which many libraries rely?
TAPPING INTO LOCAL GRANTS
Authors: McGovern Gail
Published: January 2008

Many grant proposals requesting federal or state dollars would fare better by targeting local sources. Why? Local funding sources have more commitment to the success of a local project than do regional, state, or federal sources; fewer bureaucratic procedures/reporting requirements are involved in designing and implementing a locally funded project; and no strings are attached to its continuation once the outside funding cycle has ended.
SERIALS FUNDS: A SURPLUS IS PREDICTED
Authors: Carey Tess
Published: January 2008

Managing the serials budget presents an ongoing challenge to librarians. Today, no other budget item is scrutinized as carefully as serials expenditures. Information carries an ever‐escalating price tag; the process of turning information into a published format is an expensive one. There are people costs, editing costs, printing costs, paper costs, binding costs, packaging costs and fulfillment costs. While our society recognizes access to information as a fundamental right of each individual, librarians today find themselves faced with the loaded problem of deciding what serial tides to cancel or what important new ones to simply not purchase.
SEVEN STRATEGIES FOR EFFECTIVE FUND RAISING
Authors: Bradbury Daniel J.
Published: January 2008

A FABLE: Once upon a time, a library decided to launch a direct‐mail campaign at Christmastime for a new endowment fund. The library had made meager attempts at fund raising for several years. A mock Christmas card was developed, inviting the recipient to “celebrate with a gift that lasts forever,” i.e., a gift to the library's new Book Endowment Fund. Design help was engaged, copy was written, a slick brochure was developed, and 20,000 pieces were prepared and readied for mailing between Thanksgiving and December 1. As visions of dollar signs danced in their heads, the library administrators settled down to await the returns. Responses began trickling in, along with legitimate Christmas cards, publisher's catalogs, bills for books, and seasonal solicitations from other organizations.
ARE LIBRARIES HOSTAGE TO RISING SERIALS COSTS?
Authors: Dougherty Richard M.
Published: January 2008

The serials pricing crisis—and its underlying causes—is now being recognized. The alarm was sounded several years ago when librarians discovered that some British publishers were adding hefty differential subscription charges to their North American customers. Almost immediately serials librarians at a few libraries began to analyze the problem. The libraries at the Universities of Michigan and Louisiana State constructed databases from which valuable information could be gleaned. This information was used to explain the full dimensions and implications of a problem that was already well on the way to becoming a full‐blown crisis.
HOW TO TURN A LIBRARY INTO A PROFIT CENTER:The Law Library Example
Authors: Doherty Walter E.
Published: January 2008

Can a library sell a bibliography the way Ivory sells soap? The answer used to be no, but today the answer is somewhere between maybe and yes and involves marketing the library, along with any products the library may wish to sell.
SHOULD THERE BE A C.P.A. IN YOUR LIFE?
Authors: Hayes Sherman , Wiggins William P.
Published: January 2008

Over the course of your career as a librarian, there may be times when you need to hire, consult, or direct an accountant. What can you expect from the services of an accountant? This column presents a synopsis of accounting, including what accountants can and cannot do for you and offering a few useful pointers and tips along the way.
USING SAMPLING TECHNIQUES
Authors: Eisner Joseph
Published: January 2008

Libraries are labor‐intensive operations. And that labor is often in short supply due to budgetary restrictions or other influences beyond the immediate control of the library administration. When this happens, carrying out day‐to‐day activities may involve such an overwhelming portion of available staff time that planning and assessing the effectiveness of library activities may seem impossible.
IN THE NEWS
Authors: Margolis Bernard
Published: January 2008

THE WASHINGTON SCENE. LSCA or LSIA — the Debate Continues. With the fate of federal funding for libraries still at stake, debate continues on re‐authorization of the Library Services and Construction Act (LSCA) vs. the enactment of the Library Services Improvement Act (LSIA), which was proposed to replace both LSCA and HEA funding for libraries.
FUND ACCOUNTING BASICS
Authors: Hayes Sherman , Brown Clifford D.
Published: January 2008

It is a real challenge to summarize a major theoretical system such as fund accounting in two thousand words or less. We accept the challenge and hope to show why library managers should become more familiar with useful accounting practices and terminology, and why they should make the effort to understand fund accounting at all.
ENCUMBERING FUNDS
Authors: Clark Philip M.
Published: January 2008

A financial reporting system tends to follow its own laws of evolution. First, a basic line item expenditure system is created with only major categories reported. Typical examples are: Salaries & Wages, Benefits, Books, Periodicals, AV/Nonprint Materials, Online Services, Programs, Administrative/Professional Services, Supplies, Equipment, Building Maintenance, Equipment Maintenance, Vehicle Operation, Utilities, and Automation.
CHOOSING A BROKER
Authors: Butterworth Virginia
Published: January 2008

Two of the most frequently asked questions in my “Introduction to Investments” classes at Brown University's adult education division are: How do I find a broker and how much money do I need to start investing? Two other questions which are not asked but should be are: How do you work with a broker and how can you evaluate a broker? The first two items are central concerns for a new investor, and the latter two are also relevant to the more experienced investor who may be dissatisfied with, or at least confused about, the nature of a new brokerage relationship.
IN THE NEWS
Authors: Margolis Bernard
Published: January 2008

The Library Literacy Program, authorized by Title VI of the Library Services and Construction Act, provides financial assistance “to state and local public libraries for the purposes of supporting literacy programs.” The program was funded for the first time in fiscal year 1986 at $4,785,000.
STAGNANT BUDGETS: Their Effects on Academic Libraries
Authors: Martin Murray S.
Published: January 2008

For many years, academic librarians worked in a fiscal environment of rapidly increasing budgets. Management of growth was the major problem. Today, though, most academic librarians face “steady‐state”—or stagnant—budgets. This situation, more pronounced in recent years, has been with us for more than a decade, a fact most librarians and university administrators have been slow to recognize. These budgets require new fiscal management techniques whose key words are cost containment, substitution, choice, and priorities.
NAMING RANGES AND WRITING MACROS
Authors: Clark Phil
Published: January 2008

I recently developed a spreadsheet template that would summarize the year‐to‐date expenditures and encumbrances of a library and calculate the balance left in the budget. One of the design objectives was to minimize the number of instructions for clerical workers who would be using the template. Macros, or programmed sequences of key‐strokes, had to be developed—and when using macros, it is best to do a lot of range naming in order to keep things understandable.
THE PRICE OF SERIALS IS EVERYBODY'S BUSINESS
Authors: Chung Wilson Myoung
Published: January 2008

In the library community no issue in recent years has been so contentious as the rising price of serials. Managing a serials collection in libraries has always been a difficult task—challenging in terms of definition, and in terms of tracking and keeping records. Lately, however, justifying increasing costs has become even more difficult. The publication of journal articles with titles such as “The Journal That Ate the Library” and “Periodical Price Escalation: A Library Response” dramatize the cost crisis that librarians face.
MANAGERIAL ACCOUNTING IN LIBRARIES
Authors: Buser Robin A.
Published: January 2008

When librarians think of accounting, they generally think of budgets. However, accounting includes planning and control activities broader than creating budgets. Managerial accounting concentrates on internal decision‐making processes. In many libraries, external budgetary reports have mandated techniques that the library is expected to use. Internal reports and operational budgets are designed by the librarian. The question is: How can internal reporting and operational budgets be used advantageously in the library? Using managerial accounting is one answer.
TIME AND MONEY: TIME AS AN ACCOUNTING CONCEPT
Authors: Hayes Sherman , Volkert James F.
Published: January 2008

Money! When you think of accounting and finance, you think of money. Even in today's world of electronic money, you might still harbor a mind's eye view of an accountant wearing a green eye shade and counting all that money.
THE PLEASURES OF THE MIND: NEH FUNDING FOR LIBRARIES
Authors: Goldberg Susan
Published: January 2008

Many libraries—public, academic, special—have taken the opportunity provided by the National Endowment for the Humanities to offer programming in the humanities to their communities. These libraries have realized the benefits of NEH funding to their institution, their constituency, and their image and role in the community. Other libraries, especially small and medium‐sized libraries, have not yet taken the plunge and applied for NEH funding. In a conversation with Tom Phelps of the office of Humanities Projects in Libraries and Archives at NEH, we discussed how and why libraries should develop humanities programs to bring to their users “the pleasures of the mind.”
BUILDING TOWARDS WEALTH
Authors: Cleary Patricia M.
Published: January 2008

Today's financial marketplace is becoming increasingly volatile. Investors are becoming very aware that safety through a diversified portfolio and a strategy of building wealth conservatively is necessary to protect financial assets for the future.
ME AND MY SHADOW:
Authors: Newpol Joseph J. , Hayes Sherman
Published: January 2008

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and various state tax agencies are likely to touch your life as a library administrator either directly or indirectly. “Wait a minute!” you say. “We're a not‐for‐profit library and do not have to pay income taxes!” Read on. By the end of this article, you may be surprised to find that some not‐for‐profit libraries should, and do, pay income taxes. In any case, there are many tax areas that you or others in your parent organization must consider when working with these government agencies.
STORAGE TECHNOLOGIES
Authors: Getz Malcolm
Published: January 2008

The costs of alternative methods of storing data have changed significantly as electronic systems have evolved. Moreover, we expect the average level of costs to continue falling over the next decade as technical change continues. Electronic systems are becoming closer substitutes for traditional ways of storing information in libraries. This issue's column examines the storage capacity of a wide array of representative storage devices in terms of the number of billions of characters or bytes of information—that is, gigabytes of storage—and each system's costs. The cost per gigabyte (GB) of storage varies by several orders of magnitude in ways that have important implications for the evolution of libraries over the next decade.
FEDERAL FUNDS FOR NETWORKING
Authors: Loeb Linda
Published: January 2008

Whenever new money is appropriated for libraries, it's cause for celebration. That was particularly rare in the early 1980s, but recently Congress has recognized the need for added dollars to support technological implementation. In the latter half of the decade over $3 million was added yearly to grant competitions available to the nation's college and university libraries.
TIMING IT RIGHT
Authors: Pavlovsky Lilia
Published: January 2008

On March 15, President Bush signed HR 2742 into law, officially putting the five‐year reauthorization of the Library Services and Construction Act (LSCA) into place. The House of Representatives had approved the Conference report (H.Rept. 101–407) by a vote of 401–4 on February 27. The Senate approved it by voice vote on March 1.
LIBRARIES AND SUBSCRIPTION AGENTS: Evaluating Fees for Services
Authors: Bernard Buzzy Basch N. , McQueen Judy
Published: January 2008

Most libraries use a combination of three methods for acquiring serials: purchase through subscription agencies and other vendors, purchase direct from publishers, and the exchange of materials with other institutions. Subscription agencies and vendors dominate serial acquisitions, handling between half and two‐thirds of the annual serial expenditures of U.S. libraries. Subscription agents can avail themselves of economies of scale, discounts from publishers, and sophisticated automated systems, to provide basic subscription services — order placement and renewal, publisher prepayment, and support for the claiming of missing issues. Beyond these basics, agents offer a variety of ad‐ditional services ranging from printed catalogs and customized invoices to online files of serial pricing data, and electronic messaging systems. Although some agencies offer discounts on certain types of publications and services, they usually levy service or handling fees to cover the cost of service provision.
COSTING QUESTION HANDLING AND ILL/PHOTOCOPYING: A Study of Two State Contract Libraries
Authors: Robinson Barbara M.
Published: January 2008

Few studies are available that attempt to determine how much it costs to provide supplemental question handling and interlibrary loan (ILL) and photocopying services to local libraries from their State Library Agencies. Recently I had that opportunity when I completed a consulting study to develop an appropriate cost funding model for the New Jersey State Library (NJSL). The study focused on costs alone, and did not attempt to evaluate the quality or efficacy of the service provided by the two libraries in which it was conducted.
COSTING, CHARGING, AND PRICING:Related But Different Decisions
Authors: Herman Larry
Published: January 2008

The decision about whether to charge for library services is part political and part programmatic. In librarianship this is the subject of considerable debate. As an accountant, I know that whatever librarians decide, it is important that they know how much the services they provide cost. That's the bottom line issue. Before looking at how to set charges, let's first try to determine how much services cost by using a simple methodology—one that does not consume more time than the organization can afford to spend on recordkeeping, and does not require a sophisticated accounting system and staff. This approach provides a substantial amount of organizational benefit, regardless of whether or not actual service charges are assessed to users.
Community Foundations: Giving In and For the Local Community
Authors: Goldberg Susan
Published: January 2008

Community Foundations are becoming an increasingly popular avenue for philanthropy in the United States. They may serve a particular city, as do the Pittsburgh Foundation and the Colorado Springs Community Trust, or an entire state, as do the Oregon Community Foundation and Hawaiian Foundation. They may be decades old or in the first stages of development. In an interview with Donna Grant, Executive Director of the Tucson (Arizona) Community Foundation, the many facets of this type of charitable institution are explored.
Scanners Save Time and Dollars
Authors: Clark Philip M.
Published: January 2008

For some time I have been intrigued by the idea of using a device to scan a printed report and save the image to a file that could be manipulated by a word processor or a spreadsheet program. But each time I inquired at a store or read a review of a scanner, my idea was abruptly scotched by the information that the scanned and saved image was only a “graphic image” and not a manipulatable series of letters and numbers (i.e., a character image commonly referred to as an ASCII file). To do what I wanted to do would require Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software, and that was very expensive.
GOING IT ALONE! FUNDRAISING WITHOUT A CONSULTANT
Authors: Clark Charlene K.
Published: January 2008

Consultants can be a welcome sight to beleaguered libraries seeking an outside expert opinion in matters from management to construction. However, it is the wise library staff that exercises discrimination about when to use the services of a consultant and how to select the right consultant for the job. Fundraising is an area where consultants can perform a vital service for the library with limited experience, staff, and resources.
Is Your Endowment Campaign To Be or Not To Be?
Authors: Ritter Gregory H.
Published: January 2008

Those charged with planning a library endowment campaign would proceed with more confidence and enthusiasm if they had greater assurance of success. Although a crystal ball is not available to the hearty souls who accept (or are assigned) the campaign task, the emerging fundraising profession is making regular use of a special precampaign study process which results in fairly accurate projections.
HIDING THE COST OF INFORMATION
Authors: White Herbert S.
Published: January 2008

As a profession we argue endlessly about the quality of our activities in providing information. From my background as an educator, practicing librarian, and corporate official, I have concluded that while obviously the quality of the service we provide varies with the abilities of the specific librarian, on balance what we do is cost effective. This must be evaluated with the recognition that there is much in the recent literature, both business and general, to suggest that the availability of information is important, both for decision making and for quality of life. Protagonists such as Daniel Bell and international corporations like AT&T and IBM have convinced all citizens that information is vital. Just to make the point obvious, there is no visible group that champions ignorance as a desired way of life, or as a desirable mechanism for making decisions. The importance of information, and its value in providing for its disseminators a greater level of prestige and remuneration, is now clearly understood both by MBA and computer science education graduates, who have concluded that they are, after all this time, suddenly “information professionals.” Those of us who have observed the development of these people do know better, but that knowledge will not serve us if we are the only ones who posses it.
BUDGETING: The Major Task of the Financial Manager
Authors: Bausch Donna , Bausch Nancy
Published: January 2008

The task of the financial manager of a library is a formidable one. Wacht defines a financial manager as a person who manages the resources of an economic entity for the purposes of influencing the future outcome of its operations. The financial manager plays the major role in planning and measuring the organization's needs for funds, raising the necessary funds, and making certain that the funds acquired are properly employed. A financial manager must also estimate the future cash flow associated with individual projects, in addition to the funds necessary for the total operation of a library. Other duties include the evaluation of prospective new investments and programs on the organization's operations.
CORPORATE FUNDING: FINDING NEW PARTNERS
Authors: Goldberg Susan
Published: January 2008

Corporate funding is an alternate source of financial support for libraries not to be overlooked. Corporations give grants through corporate foundations, through advertising and marketing budgets, and directly through the corporation's charitable contributions budget. James P. Shannon, former Vice President and Executive Director of the General Mills Foundation, is a leading expert in the area of corporate funding. His book, The Corporate Grant Making Handbook, is scheduled for publication by Jossey‐Bass in April 1991.
THE BUDGET: AN IMPRECISE DOCUMENT FOR COST ANALYSIS
Authors: Eisner Joseph
Published: January 2008

In times of fiscal stringency, administrators and managers are pressured to reduce costs, to find more innovative and more efficient methods of providing services. The largest portion of library expenditures is allocated for personnel (usually 65 percent or more of the budget), followed by 12 percent to 15 percent for materials. Thus these two areas are generally the first places where reductions are sought.
UPGRADING: THAT IS THE QUESTION
Authors: Clark Phil
Published: January 2008

Upgrading, moving to a new edition of a software program, is usually a decision based on how intensely you use a program. If you use a program a lot, you will probably upgrade unless you decide to move to a competing product. If you don't use a program often, you probably shouldn't and won't upgrade unless it is a major revision of the product and that revision has features that might make you use the program more than you now do.
THE HIGH COST OF LOW SALARIES
Authors: Kirkland Janice J.
Published: January 2008

Low salaries have both direct and indirect fiscal impact on libraries as well as on librarians. Low pay leads to high turnover which in turn leads to the extra costs of frequently recruiting and training new staff and revitalizing interrupted programs. To this must be added the cost of stress on low‐paid librarians which can increase absences and lower productivity. The profession as a whole loses revenue when librarians cannot afford to join professional organizations or attend conferences; their libraries bear the cost of Jess efficient services when librarians lack such valuable contacts with new ideas. A pay equity campaign to raise salaries can help mitigate these problems. Eliminating unnecessary costs makes good business sense.
BREAKING THROUGH FOR LITERACY
Authors: Goldberg Susan
Published: January 2008

Bette Fenton, Communications, Public Relations, and Minneapolis Sales Development Director for the Star Tribune, a Cowles Media newspaper, has been instrumental in providing leadership for the private sector's involvement in funding literacy projects in libraries. Her commitment to literacy and the literacy arts is reflected in the grant‐making of her employers, formerly B. Dalton Books and now Cowles Media. Her work with the Cowles Media Foundation involves meeting with grantseekers, working with community agencies, and leveraging foundation funding by building partnerships with other private funders and governmental agencies.
FUNDRAISING WITH A CONSULTANT: The Case of the Davenport Public Library
Authors: Runge Kay K.
Published: January 2008

Small libraries that do not have a development officer on staff to conduct fundraising efforts may decide to engage the help of a consultant. Based on the experiences of the Davenport Public Library, local consultants who are familiar with the power base in the library's community may have an advantage over library fundraising experts who do not. The article discusses feasibility studies, organizational plans, and solicitation methods used in waging a successful campaign.
FINANCIAL PLANNING FOR A STABLE FISCAL FUTURE
Authors: Turock Betty J. , Pedolsky Andrea
Published: January 2008

It is imperative that every library have a financial plan. The library cannot be managed properly without one, especially if values, not expedience, are to determine priorities. The authors review the basics and then carefully outline how best to create a financial plan that will involve staff, internal and external stakeholders, and maintain or improve services.
OPTIONS IN OFFERING A PHOTOCOPY SERVICE
Authors: Finet Scott
Published: January 2008

Although the process of selecting and managing a self‐service library photocopy operation is complicated and challenging, it often presents the astute library manager with the opportunity to offer users higher levels of service while enhancing the library's budget. The library manager can choose one of two general approaches. The minimalist approach can work well for libraries whose patrons have low‐to‐moderate service expectations and who wish to minimize their involvement in photocopier operations. The “hands‐on” approach offers the potential to provide a high level of service while maximizing net income.
ANALYZING PRODUCTIVITY IN THE ERA OF ACCOUNTABILITY
Authors: Jamison Senkevitch Judith
Published: January 2008

Librarians are becoming more accustomed to using output and performance measures to assess library services. However, in an era of limited funds and increasing accountability, we also need to turn our attention to analyzing library productivity in terms of staff performance and dollars expended. We can benefit from sharing that information with other librarians in order to provide a basis for interpreting our findings. Useful data on productivity can be derived from current, published library statistics.
OUT‐OF‐PRINT BUT NOT OUT OF MIND
Authors: Miller Heather S.
Published: January 2008

In the past, librarians have often viewed antiquarian booksellers somewhat negatively—making money from those precious tomes that belong in rare book collections. In fact, librarians have often deliberately kept deaccessioned materials from these book dealers, so as not to support this once thought dubious business.
FOUR WORTHWHILE SOFTWARE PRODUCTS
Authors: Clark Philip M.
Published: January 2008

There are several new or revised software products that I want to talk about in this column. I've found them to be worth the time and expense and think you might, too. The first is Ami Pro Version 2.0 which is a graphical word processor that permits you to do sophisticated desktop publishing. The second is Quattro Pro 4.0 the latest upgrade to the now venerable Quattro spreadsheet series. The third product is Stacker, a data compression utility that can more than double your hard disk storage space. Finally, there is Windows 3 Secrets which is a book with two disks of software. (As an aside, what kind of “ware” is a book—paperware?)
THE FUNDRAISING ASSESSMENT: THE BASIS FOR A CAMPAIGN
Authors: Goldberg Susan
Published: January 2008

As librarians begin to contemplate a fundraising program for their institution, they first must determine whether or not they are positioned correctly to undertake such an effort. Do they have all the key elements in place? Are there needs to be met? Do the library's users understand these needs? Are the board and staff committed to the leadership effort that such a campaign requires? This is where a fundraising assessment comes into the picture.
TIME IS MONEY: Suggestions for More Effective Fundraising in the 1990s
Authors: Sirota Michael
Published: January 2008

Successful fundraising is an ongoing, proactive process that requires a clear focus on donors' interests and aspirations. Key measures for timely goal attainment include researching prospective donors carefully, using volunteers effectively, and specifying requests when asking for gifts. Personal solicitations together with conscientious acknowledgments of donor gifts and volunteer efforts help expedite and sustain a fundraising campaign.
AUDITING THE CUSTOMER SERVICE RELATIONSHIP AND ENCOUNTER
Authors: Congram Carole , Hayes Sherman
Published: January 2008

It is always risky to use the word auditing in the title of an article. People start to get goose bumps and look over their shoulder for the auditor's presence. No matter how many articles are written on the “friendly auditor,” no one really believes them. This article is not about being audited or even befriending auditors. It is about taking key concepts from the auditing field and using them to your advantage.
IN THE NEWS
Authors: MARTIN MURRAY S.
Published: January 2008

The Productivity Oversight Committee of Norfolk, Va., recognizes a good idea when it sees one. An award was given to the Norfolk Public Library, where the children's department had proposed saving $18,000 by buying a rotating collection of story hour books, sending the kits to the library's 11 neighborhood branches, instead of purchasing multiple copies. In recognition, the library was given a ten percent bonus of $1,800 to help implement the idea.
DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEMS IN THE '90s
Authors: CLARK PHILIP M.
Published: January 2008

Back in 1986 I wrote a chapter titled “Designing a Spreadsheet Decision Support System in a Library” for a book edited by Peter Hernon and Chuck McClure, Micro‐computers for Library Decision Making (Norwood, NJ: Ablex Publishing Corp., 1986, pp. 100–117). I illustrated the different types of data that were necessary for decision making (financial, personnel, physical resource, and use) and examined the ways that a spreadsheet could be used to collect, analyze, and report the data. The illustrations showed various formulas that could be used to distribute financial information to various departments. Examples were shown of various charts and graphs that could be made to assist in the analysis of the data. I even plotted a regression line.
IN THE NEWS
Authors: Martin Murray S.
Published: January 2008

Copyright Matters. The proposed Copyright Reform Act of 1993 (HR 847, and S 373) incorporates several procedural changes. Notably, it makes the Register of Copyright a Presidential appointment rather than an appointee of the Librarian of Congress. While this may seem inconsequential, it is simply part of a process that would split the Copyright Office away from the Library of Congress. Among the other proposed changes are elimination of the need to apply for registration before filing a copyright infringement claim, and the abolishment of the preregistration requirement for statutory damages. Among other effects, it would remove from depository status a very high proportion of the books, films, and recordings currently received by the Library of Congress. This would mean that the library would have to purchase these materials at a cost of several million dollars each year, and it would also reduce the materials available for foreign exchange, often the only means of acquiring foreign materials.
THE TEN PRINCIPLES FOR SUCCESSFUL FUNDRAISING
Authors: Hunt Gary A. , Lee Hwa‐Wei
Published: January 2008

The topic of private fundraising has generated considerable interest among academic librarians in recent years, and there are reasons to believe that the climate of the next decade will enhance this trend. Colleges and universities expect tight budgets through most of the nineties. There are remarkably few conventional sources of support for higher education: tax revenues, student tuition, and externally funded research. All are coming under increasing pressure. For those of us in the state‐support sector, state and local taxes are the most important revenue source. But many states are in fiscal crisis. In 1991, for the first time in thirty years, the amount allocated by states to higher education actually decreased from the previous year: a drop of $80 million nationally. Measured as a percentage of state budgets, higher education support has been shrinking since 1982.
LITERACY PROJECTS: TEN TIPS FOR RAISING THE MONEY
Authors: Sumerford Steve
Published: January 2008

Any professional fundraiser will tell you that literacy, particularly family literacy, is “a sexy issue” these days. During the past few years, foundations, corporations, and civic organizations generously have distributed funds to any literacy project that appears to be effective in solving one of the nation's most debilitating problems, illiteracy. Across the nation, schools, community groups, daycare centers, and myriad other agencies all have obtained funds to develop these literacy programs.
TEN TRENDS IN COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT
Authors: Cassell Kay Ann
Published: January 2008

Changes in the economy, technology, the book industry, and new ideas about library collections themselves are shaping collection development policies in the 1990s. These changes are producing more careful decision making about the acquisitions process, with an emphasis on quality rather than quantity. I have identified ten trends in collection development which reflect the new thinking in this area.
Outsourcing — A Dirty Word or a Lifeline?
Authors: Weaver Barbara F.
Published: January 2008

State libraries in Rhode Island and New Jersey have found ways to cut costs by outsourcing delivery services and, in Rhode Island, the operation of the Regional Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped.
Library Staff Recognition Awards
Authors: Pastine Maureen , Searles Judy
Published: January 2008

In an attempt to recognize staff excellence and retain staff during a pay equity phase‐in period, Southern Methodist University Libraries has created five “Library Staff Recognition Awards:” Continuing Excellence, Outstanding Achievement, Employee of the Year, Student Assistant of the Year, and one unnamed award that can be for any of the previous four categories.
Improving the Utility of Public Library Budgets: Information Used in Public Libraries in the Commonwealth of Virginia
Authors: Wooldridge Blue , Rose Cherry Virginia
Published: January 2008

A public library budget can serve varied purposes: a contract, a management tool, a communication mechanism, a financial control mechanism, a motivator, a plan, a major policy‐making tool and as an instrument of democracy. This paper presents a methodology that public library directors can use to determine if the budget contains the information they need in order to make decisions.
Accounting For Your Time!
Authors: Hayes Sherman , Brown Don
Published: January 2008

Where does our time go? Can we be more efficient with our own time? How come we never have enough time to get the things done that we want to do? Why do our lives seem so hectic and fractured in time? Are we doing the things that are most important to us and our work in our time?
Kids First:
Authors: Scheppke Jim
Published: January 2008

Trends in computer and telecommunications technol‐ogy are likely to push the public library out of its traditional markets — providing recreational reading and information for adults — sometime in the next century. If the public library is not to become marginalized, it needs to begin to move aggressively to develop services which address the educational needs of children and youth. Historical indifference to the needs of children and youth must be overcome, and public libraries must make kids their highest priority.
Family Literacy Makes Sense: Families That Read Together Succeed Together
Authors: Talan Carole S.
Published: January 2008

Family Literacy Specialist, Carole Talan gives us her own impressions on how the home environment affects the young reader; both positively and negatively. Drawing from her Californian perspective, Talan outlines the role libraries can play in establishing a positive, literate atmosphere for children who do not enjoy that luxury at home.
For More Than Children: Viewing Children's Library Services as a Vehicle for Public Goodwill
Authors: Trotta Marcia
Published: January 2008

Trotta describes what a strong and consistent infusion of intensive care to children's service can do for the library's standing in a small Connecticut city. The author's hands‐on experience as a director enable her to offer real‐life examples and solutions to common hurdles encountered by budget conscious librarians.