Jeff Bailey, Interim Dean Linda Creibaum, Acquisitions Librarian Dean B. Ellis Library Arkansas State University November 2, 2011 Copyright Jeff Bailey and Linda Creibaum, 2011 Developing a Weighted Library Allocation Formula

Ground Rules Questions are welcome at any time, but we do reserve the option of deferring a question until later in the workshop Interactive discussions are welcome We will do some brainstorming later There are no bad ideas or wrong answers No critiquing of ideas or suggestions while brainstorming Ideas and suggestions will be grouped and sorted after brainstorming There will be a break about halfway through

Background and History In 1997 the Arkansas State University library had no equitable means of making allocations One department accounted for nearly 20% of all collection development expenditures Funds had not been reallocated/redistributed in many years We had no means to support new programs

Background and History - continued We searched literature to discover methods of making allocations, including the use of a formula (this was before much of this type of information was available online) We chose to use a formula based on one used by Colorado State University (SPEC Kit #36)

Getting Started Now is the time to pay attention!

First Steps: Gathering Data (1) Do these before selecting formula factors List data that may be relevant Doing this is much like a brainstorming session

Some of Our Ideas Cost of materials Degrees awarded per department or program Faculty per department or program Number of course sections offered Number of courses in catalog Number of degree programs Number of majors in each program Semester credit hour production (actual enrollment) Use of materials

First Steps: Gathering Data (2) Evaluate and refine the list Eliminate duplicates and non-viable suggestions

Some of Our Ideas - continued What we used Cost of materials (from the Library and Book Trade Almanac) Degrees awarded per department or program Faculty per department or program (FTE faculty) Number of course sections offered Number of courses in catalog Number of degree programs Number of majors in each program Semester credit hour production (actual enrollment) Use of materials

First Steps: Gathering Data (3) Determine what data is available or could be gathered Both internal (within your library and within the field) and external (campus, community, company, etc.) Eliminate possible factors for which data cannot be obtained Gather samples of available data

Next Step: Selecting Factors These will not be easy decisions!

The Formula Weights The assigned weight values are inserted into the Excel spreadsheet and are used in formula calculations Weighting is the assigning of values to indicate the importance or impact of each factor in the formula relative to the other formula factors

The Formula Assigning weights to each factor These should be determined based upon each institution’s priorities and culture Library Committee Faculty Senate Institutional Administration Something else? We subdivided some factors before assigning weights We chose not to vary weights within a factor, but it can be done Do test runs and adjust weights if needed

(by non-mathematicians) How the Formula Works

Screen shot of a previous formula run

Running the Formula You can do separate formula runs for… Books Journals Print Online resources (databases/ejournals/eBooks) Any other budgets your library may have Or any combination of these We chose to run a single formula for all allocations

Additional thoughts… Before running the formula, determine how much of your budget to allocate and how much to keep back for library use (if any) You may choose to make adjustments to individual allocations after running the formula Do no harm Nonparticipation Special entities or sacred cows Your formula will probably need to be modified at some point in the future

In Conclusion… Document, document, document! Make the decisions and modify the formula to fit your library’s needs Feel free to contact either of us with any questions you may think of later

To download an interactive copy of the demo spreadsheet

Contact Information Jeff Bailey Interim Dean Dean B. Ellis Library Arkansas State University Jonesboro P.O. Box 2040 State University, AR Linda Creibaum Acquisitions Librarian Dean B. Ellis Library Arkansas State University Jonesboro P.O. Box 2040 State University, AR

Thank you!!!