Do not live under the illusion that the council considers the library such an essential part of community life that it has first claim on scarce resources. This is what makes the preparation and effective presentation of a credible budget so important. A few libraries will be in towns where the population and needs do not change much from year to year and where the existing library service is adequate. In these circumstances the preparation of a budget will be relatively simple but such circumstances are uncommon. More often the situation is not static and the board will have a plan for improving and expanding library services.
Any significant expansion is likely to take longer than a year because of various restraints.
The board must therefore decide how much of the plan can be reasonably achieved in the year ahead and propose a budget that will accomplish this. Such financial planning is necessarily a lengthy and complex task for which a board may wish to set up a budget subcommittee. Whether the budget is prepared by the entire board or by a subcommittee does not alter the general procedure. A list of all expenditures, whether proposed by the board or the head librarian, must be made. Most items on the list will not be connected with plans for any expansion.