A Regression-based Approach to Library Fund Allocation
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5860/lrts.51n4.263Abstract
While nearly half of all academic libraries use formulas to allocate firm order funds on behalf of particular departments or subject areas, few have adopted systematic methods of selecting or weighting the variables. This paper reviews the literature on library fund allocation, then presents a statistically informed method of weighting and combining the variables in a fund allocation formula. The regression-based method of fund allocation uses current, historical, or hypothetical allocations to generate a formula that excludes the influence of non-relevant variables as well as the influence of arbitrary or non-systematic variations in funding. The resulting fund allocations are based on the principle of equity—the idea that departments with the same characteristics should receive the same allocations.
References
William M. Randall, '“The College-Library Book Budget,”' Library Quarterly 1 4 (Oct. 1931): 421-35n The Allocation of Materials Funds in Academic Libraries (Washington, D.C.: Association of Research Libraries 1977) SPEC Kit 36nJane H. Tuten Ed., Beverly Jones Ed., Allocation Formulas in Academic Libraries (Chicago: Association of College & Research Libraries 1995) CLIP Note 22nEdward Shreeves Ed., Guide to Budget Allocation for Information Resources (Chicago: ALA 1991) Collection Management and Development Guides, no. 4 Tuten and Jones, Allocation Formulas in Academic LibrariesnMollie Niemeyer, '“Balancing Act for Library Materials Budgets: Use of a Formula Allocation,”' Technical Services Quarterly 11 1 (1993): 43-60nCharles M. Baker, '“Apportioning of College and University Library Book Funds,”' Library Journal 57 4 (Feb. 15, 1932): 166-67 Randall, “The College-Library Book Budget.”nFloyd W. Reeves, John Dale Russell, '“The Administration of the Library Budget,”' Library Quarterly 2 3 (July 1932): 268-78n8.Baker, “Apportioning of College and University Library Book Funds”; John M. Budd, “Allocation Formulas in the Literature: A Review,”
Library Acquisitions: Practice & Theory
, no. 1 (Spring 1991): 95–107; F. Landon Greaves Jr.,
The Allocation Formula As a Form of Book Fund Management in Selected State-Supported Academic Libraries
(Ph.D. dissertation, Florida State Univ., 1974)nBette Dillehay, '“Book Budget Allocation: Subjective or Objective Approach,”' Special Libraries 62 12 (Dec. 1971): 509-14 David C. Genaway, “PBA: Percentage Based Allocation for Acquisitions: A Simplified Method for the Allocation of the Library Materials Budget,”
Library Acquisitions: Practice & Theory
, no. 4 (Winter 1986): 287–92nJohn M. Budd, Kay Adams, '“Allocation Formulas in Practice,”' Library Acquisitions: Practice & Theory 13 4 (Winter 1989): 381-90 Geoffrey Ford, “Finance and Budgeting,” in
Collection Management in Academic Libraries
, ed. Clare Jenkins and Mary Morley, 21–56 (Brookfield, Vt.: Gower, 1991); Tuten and Jones,
Allocation Formulas
in Academic LibrariesnAssociation of Research Libraries,
The Allocation of Materials FundsnDonna Packer, '“Acquisitions Allocations: Fairness, Equity, and Bundled Pricing,”' portal: Libraries and the Academy 1 3 (July 2001): 209-24nDavid C. Genaway, '“The Q Formula: The Flexible Formula for Library Acquisitions in Relation to the FTE Driven Formula,”' Library Acquisitions: Practice & Theory 10 4 (Winter 1986): 293-306 James H. Richards Jr., “Allocation of Book Funds in College Libraries,”
College & Research Libraries
, no. 4 (Oct. 1953): 379–80; Mary C. Scudder, “Using
Choice
in an Allocation Formula in a Small Academic Library,”
Choice
, no. 10 (June 1987): 1506–11; Tuten and Jones,
Allocation Formulas in Academic LibrariesnTuten and Jones,
Allocation Formulas in Academic LibrariesnBudd and Adams, “Allocation Formulas in Practice.”nCharles W. Brownson, '“Modeling Library Materials Expenditure: Initial Experiments at Arizona State University,”' Library Resources & Technical Services 35 1 (Jan. 1991): 88nMichael S. Freeman, Joanne Schneider Hill Ed., William E. Hannaford Ed., Ronald H. Epp Ed., '“Allocation Formulas As Management Tools in College Libraries: Useful or Misapplied?”' Collection Development in College Libraries (Chicago: ALA 1991): 75- 71–77nBudd and Adams, “Allocation Formulas in Practice.”n19.Baker, “Apportioning of College and University Library Book Funds”; Donald Coney, “An Experimental Index for Apportioning Departmental Book Funds for a University Library,”
Library Quarterly
, no. 3 (July 1942): 422–28; Ralph E. Ellsworth, “Some Aspects of the Problem of Allocating Book Funds among Departments in Universities,”
Library Quarterly
, no. 3 (July 1942): 486–94; Genaway, “The Q Formula”; William E. McGrath, Ralph C. Huntsinger, and Gary R. Barber, “An Allocation Formula Derived From a Factor Analysis of Academic Departments,”
College & Research Libraries
, no. 1 (Jan. 1969): 51–62; Jasper G. Schad, “Allocating Materials Budgets in Institutions of Higher Education,”
Journal of Academic Librarianship
, no. 6 (Jan. 1978): 328–32; Reeves and Russell, “The Administration of the Library Budget”; Shreeves,
Guide to Budget Allocation
; Norman E. Tanis, “The Departmental Allocation of Library Book Funds in the Junior College: Developing Criteria,”
Library Resources & Technical Services
, no. 4 (Fall 1961): 321–27nGreaves,
The Allocation FormulanConey, “An Experimental Index”; McGrath et al., “An Allocation Formula”; Schad, “Allocating Materials Budgets”; Peter Sweetman and Paul Wiedemann, “Developing a Library Book-Fund Allocation Formula,”
Journal of Academic Librarianship
, no. 5 (Nov. 1980): 268–76; Tanis, “The Departmental Allocation.”nSweetman and Wiedemann, “Developing a Library Book-Fund Allocation Formula.”nAnish Arora, Diego Klabjan, '“A Model for Budget Allocation in Multi-Unit Libraries,”' Library Collections, Acquisitions & Technical Services 26 4 (Winter 2002): 423-38 Dennis P. Carrigan, “Improving Return on Investment: A Proposal for Allocating the Book Budget,”
Journal of Academic Librarianship
, no. 5 (Nov. 1992): 292–97; Neale S. Grunstra,
The Development of Library Resource Allocation Procedures in Higher Education Based on the Analysis of Materials Utilization
(Ph.D. dissertation, Univ. of Pittsburgh, 1976); Andrea C. Hoffman,
An Investigation of a Predicted Use Approach to Resource Allocation
, D.A. field study, Simmons College, 1978; William E. McGrath, “A Pragmatic Book Allocation Formula for Academic and Public Libraries With a Test for Its Effectiveness,”
Library Resources & Technical Services
, no. 4 (Fall 1975): 356–69nCarrigan, “Improving Return on Investment,” 293nHans-Jörg Blöchliger, Hans-Jörg Blöchliger Ed., '“Exploratory Framework”' The Contribution of Amenities to Rural Development (Paris: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development 1994): 7-21 Douglas B. Diamond Jr. and George S. Tolley, “The Economic Roles of Urban Amenities,” in
The Economics of Urban Amenities
, ed. Douglas B. Diamond Jr. and George S. Tolley, 3–54 (New York: Academic Pr., 1982)nMcGrath et al., “An Allocation Formula.”nDennis Child, The Essentials of Factor Analysis (New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston 1970) Jae-On Kim and Charles W. Mueller,
Factor Analysis: Statistical Methods and Practical Issues
, Quantitative Applications in the Social Sciences 14 (Beverly Hills, Calif.: Sage Publ., 1978); Jae-On Kim and Charles W. Mueller,
Introduction to Factor Analysis: What It Is and How to Do It
, Quantitative Applications in the Social Sciences 13 (Beverly Hills, Calif.: Sage Publ., 1978); Paul Kline,
An Easy Guide to Factor Analysis
(New York: Routledge, 1994)nTuten and Jones,
Allocation Formulas in Academic LibrariesnIan R. Young, '“A Quantitative Comparison of Acquisitions Budget Allocation Formulas Using a Single Institutional Setting,”' Library Acquisitions: Practice & Theory 16 3 (Autumn 1992): 229-42nAssociation of Research Libraries,
The Allocation of Materials Funds
, 9nEugene Bourgeois, '“Faculty-Determined Allocation Formula at Southwest Texas State University,”' Collection Management 23 1/2 (1998): 113-23 Brownson, “Modeling Library Materials Expenditure”; Lisa B. German and Karen A. Schmidt, “Finding the Right Balance: Campus Involvement in the Collections Allocation Process,”
Library Collections, Acquisitions & Technical Services
, no. 4(Winter 2001): 421–33nGenaway, “The Q Formula”; Charles B. Lowry, “Reconciling Pragmatism, Equity, and Need in the Formula Allocation of Book and Serial Funds,”
College & Research Libraries
, no. 2 (March 1992): 121–38nLowry, “Reconciling Pragmatism,” 126nS. K. Goyal, '“Allocation of Library Funds to Different Departments of a University: An Operational Research Approach,”' College & Research Libraries 34 3 (May 1973): 219-22nIbid., 220nSteven D. Gold, '“Allocating the Book Budget: An Economic Model,”' College & Research Libraries 36 5 (Sept. 1975): 397-402nJoseph J. Kohut, '“Allocating the Book Budget: A Model,”' College & Research Libraries 35 3 (May 1974): 192-99 Joseph J. Kohut and John F. Walker, “Allocating the Book Budget: Equity and Economic Efficiency,”
College & Research Libraries
, no. 5(Sept. 1975): 403–10nKenneth Wise, D. E. Perushek, '“Goal Programming As a Solution Technique for the Acquisitions Allocation Problem,”' Library & Information Science Research 22 2 (June 2000): 165-83 Kenneth Wise and D.E. Perushek, “Linear Goal Programming for Academic Library Acquisitions Allocations,”
Library Acquisitions: Practice & Theory
, no. 3(Autumn 1996): 311–27nThomas John Pierce,
The Economics of Library Acquisitions: A Book Budget Allocation Model for University Libraries
(Ph.D. dissertation, Univ. of Notre Dame, 1976)nBrownson, “Modeling Library Materials Expenditure.”nBudd and Adams, “Allocation Formulas in Practice.”nIbid., 388nMcGrath et al., “An Allocation Formula,” 60nShreeves,
Guide to Budget AllocationnSweetman and Wiedemann, “Developing a Library Book-Fund Allocation Formula.”nChristopher H. Achen,
Interpreting and Using Regression
, Quantitative Applications in the Social Sciences 29 (Beverly Hills, Calif.: Sage Publ., 1982); William D. Berry,
Understanding Regression Assumptions
, Quantitative Applications in the Social Sciences 92 (Newbury Park, Calif.: Sage Publ., 1993); Leo H. Kahane,
Regression Basics
(Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage Publ., 2001); Michael S. Lewis-Beck,
Applied Regression: An Introduction
, Quantitative Applications in the Social Sciences 22 (Beverly Hills, Calif.: Sage Publ., 1980)nIbidnKent Mulliner, '“The Acquisition Allocation Formula at Ohio University,”' Library Acquisitions: Practice & Theory 10 4 (Winter 1986): 315-27n
Published
Issue
Section
License
Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC-BY-NC 4.0) that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) after it has been accepted for publication. Sharing can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work.
