Library Materials Budget 2002-2003

SFU Library Materials Budget 2002-2003

Here is the 2002/2003 Library Materials Budget as supported by the Senate Library Committee at its meeting August 12, 2002.

Each year we attempt to strike a suitable balance in the Library Materials Budget among books, serials, periodicals, and electronic databases, while accommodating the different materials needs of the various disciplines. We also consider the fluctuating Canadian dollar, inflation and price increases. We continue to monitor the book purchases by each account and keep a close eye on the journal purchases. We also continue to provide the flexibility of moving discretionary funds to increase serials/periodical purchases, if so desired. To ensure that book purchases are not overlooked by any single fund, we reserve the right to allow up to only 90% of the total fund to cover serial and periodical purchases.

In establishing this year's Library Materials budget, the following principles have been applied:

1. Past experience has shown that scientific, medical and technical serial and periodical subscriptions have greater price increases than other subject areas. As a general rule, Science and Applied Science serial and periodical allocations are set based on a 9% increase over 2001/02 expenditures. All other subscriptions including databases have been increased by 8%. However, in departments and formats that experienced a lower rate of growth last year, the percentage increase has been adjusted down appropriately.
2. Where book funds - approvals, forms, or discretionary - were fully expended in 2001/02, they have been increased by 3.5%. Where they were not fully expended they have been left at the same value as 2001/02. Where they were not fully expended in 2001/02 and have not been for more than one year, in some cases, they have been decreased slightly.
3. Rarely used general library serial and periodical subscriptions will continue to be reviewed and cancelled. Newspaper subscriptions now available via the Internet will continue to be reviewed and cancelled.
4. Funds have been reallocated in several departments where the budgeting and spending did not reflect actual practice, or where the departments have agreed to move titles from one department's list to another (notably from Chemistry to MBB, and from Biology to MBB and Kinesiology).
5. Allocation adjustments resulting from the Collection Allocation Task Group Report are regularized in this budget for the following departments, schools or faculties: Education, Communications, Earth Sciences, Political Science.

The University Administration has continued to be very supportive of the Library's collection budget; nevertheless, the $400,000 lift we have received each of the past few years no longer completely covers the cost pressures on the Library's collections (particularly serial price increases and general inflation) because these factors are compounding. In addition, we will need to cover our share of costs of the Canadian National Site Licensing Project (CNSLP) following the end of external funding during 2003/04. This will be accomplished by canceling print subscriptions where suitable, stable electronic equivalents are available. Over the coming months, a process for prioritizing and identifying journals for cancellation will be undertaken with the full participation of liaison librarians, the Senate Library Committee and departmental library representatives.

This year, the Library has also received targeted funding for collection development to support Double the Opportunity activity on campus. This funding is not allocated in this budget. Consultation with the affected departments (Computing Science and Engineering Science) will be underway during the fall semester to discuss the best use of these dollars.

If you have any questions about the Library Materials Budget, please feel free to contact me at 778.782.3263 or gbird@sfu.ca.

Guide to headings used in this document
To make reading this budget easier, library fund codes have been replaced with more generic headings. Not all funds will have all the following headings:

Books - Approvals: purchases received in book form based on subject profiles set up with our major book vendor. Primary subjects are covered by these Approvals profiles. Approximately 65% of all book titles purchased come in on Approval.

Books - Forms: purchases from information forms received based on subject profiles set up with our major book vendor. Secondary subjects are covered by forms in the profiles.

Books- Discretionary: purchases from information provided by faculty and students. Depending on the subject area, mainly secondary subjects are covered by Discretionary purchases.

Periodicals cover the journals purchased by the Library.

Serials cover other regularly purchased items that are bought from year to year. These consist of yearbooks, annuals, handbooks, etc.

Databases cover electronic indexes that are purchased each year. Subject based databases are covered in the departmental budgets and more general databases are purchased out of the general funds.

Library Materials Budget 2002-2003