Allocation of Funds to Subjects/Departments/Faculties

1. Introduction

The Library, as a cost centre within the University, receives a single figure budget each year. This figure is opaque in the sense that there is no indication of which income streams have contributed to the total, with the single exception that an earmarked figure is provided within the total to meet research needs.

The University Librarian provides the Directorate with a budget breakdown based on the total available, indicating how the total figure will be distributed and the implications of the total on the services to be provided. The total budget figure will include estimated figures for income from sources such as fines, photocopying and external fees. Indicative figures for a three-year budget plan are also provided at this stage.

2. Budget Breakdown

In preparing this budget, the Librarian will be guided by the breakdown in the previous year. This usually follows the pattern below:

Staffing costs may vary according to such factors as the provision of increased opening hours, early retirements, savings through closure of site libraries etc, as well as through standard factors such as pay increases, annual increments etc.

3. Needs Assessment

The allocation of funds for information provision is based on an assessment of need and not by the use of a formula. See Appendix 1 for a list of the factors that are considered.

4. Sub Allocations

The total fund available is divided among some 26 subject funds, 5 Faculty funds and a general fund. Each allocation is expected to provide the following:

4.1. The subject fund should purchase:

• Basics texts for undergraduate use
• Monographs for undergraduate, postgraduate and staff use
• Primary journals, in both print and electronic form
• Videos, both commercially produced and recorded off-air
• Cost of repair and rebinding of texts
• License costs for materials to be made available across campus networks

4.2. The Faculty fund should purchase:

• Secondary journals in all physical formats, including electronic databases, including any additional charges made by publishers to allow access off-campus for specific groups of users
• Costs of providing loans from other libraries and document delivery costs [In some cases the Faculty may chose to distribute these costs to a subject/department level]
• Reference materials in various physical formats

4.3. The General fund should purchase:

• Primary and secondary materials of a general nature, which should be available for the user community, but which do not fall into any Faculty or subject area

5. Methodology

Allocations will be made for each subject area and each Faculty. The factors taken into account are listed in Appendix 1. While some of these factors can be measured easily [eg. 2.1, 2.2, 3.2, all of 4] other factors are subjective in nature. Each factor can be weighted in relation to others, but the exact weightings are also subjective.

6. Monitoring and Review

Expenditure against each fund is monitored by the Librarian responsible for Acquisitions and Cataloguing, with input from the Librarian responsible for the monitoring the budget allocation for inter library loans.

Statements of expenditure against the budget are issued regularly and statements of the current position on any fund are available on demand for Faculty Librarians and/or Library Liaison Officers.

Funds not spent at the end of the financial year are carried forward into the next year.

7. Faculty Library Committees

In some faculties the Faculty Library Committee has taken responsibility for re-mapping the allocations to meet particular needs. In the case of the Science Faculty, for example, funds are aggregated and a formula is used to determine allocations for undergraduate texts, having budgeted for a single journals fund.

8. New courses

Detailed guidance on the course approval process is available on the Academic Registry web pages.

A statement should also have a Commentary which should explain what Library expenditure is envisaged and whether this has been agreed with the Library.

It is therefore advisable that proposers of new courses make early contact with the appropriate Faculty Librarian to assess the needs of the proposed course and to establish a budget and a source of funding.

Appendix 1

Factors to be Considered in Determining Subject Allocations

1. Factors relating to courses

1.1 Range and number of courses - HEFCE and self-financed

1.2 New courses

2. Factors relating to users

2.1 Student numbers

2.2 Teaching staff numbers

2.3 Extent of research and research staff numbers

3. Factors relating to publications

3.1 Rate of publication and obsolescence of books and journals

3.2 Average cost of books and journals and inflation rates

3.3 Balance of expenditure between books and journals

3.4 Balance of expenditure between purchase for stock and for access

4. Factors relating to use and adequacy of existing collections

4.1 Loans

4.2 Reservations

4.3 Interlibrary loans

5. Political Factors

5.1 Communications from Heads of Departments, Deans

5.2 Reports of external visits, quality reports

5.3 Survey results (ISB, NSS, local surveys)

5.4 Allocation in previous year

6. Subjective Factors

6.1 Changes in extent to which subject is Library orientated
6.2 Adequacy of existing collections and needs of the subject as expressed in any submission from Head of Department and discussion with Faculty Librarian

Appendix 2

Of the above factors, five are measured on an annual basis and are presented in the Excel spreadsheet below.