Cost Analysis of Public Services in Academic Libraries

Abstract

ABSTRACT Academic libraries are struggling to maintain their role and function while experiencing extreme financial pressures. There is a need to analyze and understand the costs of operation in libraries. There exists a paucity of detailed, analytical information that can guide this type of analytical effort. If libraries are to intentionally address these problems with the purpose of planning and implementing changes in library public services to better fulfill the mission, librarians need to understand just what the current costs are. Program evaluation, service changes, organizational restructuring, and the reallocation of resources to address changing needs all require an understanding of the existing costs before meaningful changes can be made. This research investigated the operational costs of public services in academic libraries to identify the resource allocation patterns and establish an improved basis for understanding the library's service costs. A stratified survey of 101 academic libraries was conducted inquiring about 120 budget and performance values in an ex post facto descriptive study of the fiscal year 1986–87. A useable response rate of 38% was achieved. The research study examined: (1) the library budget and its allocation for salaries, resources, and operating expenses; (2) the allocation of that budget to public services, especially the targeted departments of Reference, Circulation, Government Documents, Interlibrary Loan, and Computer Database Search Services; (3) the level of direct user service; (4) operational costs for these departments; (5) performance measures of public services; (6) service transaction costs; (7) operational costs for library automation; (8) attitudes of administrators toward cost studies; and (9) problems with providing requested cost and performance data.