Librarians can be very creative in their efforts to save money while trying to maintain their current service levels. This involves skill, practice in money management, current needs assessments, and the ability to communicate effectively with the people the library serves. Maintaining a robust collection of resources is essential to supporting the educational needs of library users. But what happens, and what can librarians do during tough times, when the library’s budget isn’t as healthy as in previous years?

RESOURCES

Cutting back on public services may not seem like a viable option for a library. However, cutting back on online and physical resources might not seem so drastic for some library users. I’m not so much talking about a loss of resources as I am about becoming savvier concerning the costs of library materials and budget management. For example, would it be more cost effective to purchase an online resource that is updated annually or purchase a bound book that needs to be updated regularly with costly supplements?

Ask yourself this question: Which resources are being most highly used at your library, and which ones are not used at all? An annual inventory may help you as a librarian to determine what kinds of resources are being used and the frequency by which those resources are circulated. If a particular book is highly popular, perhaps purchasing an ebook for the library would be a good move, since physical books tend to break down over time.

DATABASES

Has your library looked into the cost of subscribing to online databases like HeinOnline, EBSCO, Gale, LexisNexis, or Westlaw? These databases can often be costly, but you may be able to partner with a law firm or another local library to share the cost of such services. 

Are you ready to challenge yourself? Start by looking at the costs of online databases. Make sure that the content covered in them is valuable for your library’s users. What kinds of services are important to your community? In what ways can your library support your community? These questions will help librarians establish needed programs and develop healthy collections.

When purchasing hard-bound volumes, search for sales, look in used bookstores, etc. If you work in a law library, perhaps an attorney would be willing to split the cost of a resource if they needed it. Once the attorney finishes with it, he or she could donate it back to the library for others to reference.

Sometimes, vendors will distribute books for free, hoping you will provide them with a review. Granted, not everyone has the time to write a book review, but this trade-off might be worth it for an important resource.

SHARING

One man’s trash is another man’s treasure. Libraries tend to discard items that are not highly circulated. However, this doesn’t necessarily mean the resource isn’t valuable to another library. Sometimes, libraries distribute lists of materials they are planning to discard. You may be able to contact other local libraries and ask if they have a list of books they intend to pull off their shelves.

COMMUNICATION

Finally, I can’t say enough about the importance of communication. Talk to your library users to find out what their information needs are. Your collection should support the information needs of those who use your facility. These mini-interviews should take place frequently, as it is important to stay abreast of the evolving information needs of your users. Your physical and online resources may change over time, so it is important to be aware of the many ways libraries can help reduce their book budget.

STRATEGIES

Strategies to save on collection development efforts include the following:

• Compare vendors by the services they provide and their charges for those services.
• Share the cost of online resources with users of that resource if possible.
• Request lists of discards from local libraries.
• Offer to provide book reviews in exchange for free materials.
• Request donations of specific information resources.