Cost Accounting Procedures for Public Libraries: A Model

Abstract

There was a time when local public service agencies could justify their annual expenses simply because of the ostensible necessity or desirability of their services. Public libraries, public parks, and public schools, while they have rarely been inundated with an excess of revenues, could usually depend on a reasonable level of funding simply because the citizens believed these institutions were accomplishing something for the public benefit. That time of unquestioned acceptance has passed, and the time for public service accountability has arrived.