Budgeting for Information Access : Managing the Resource Budget for Absolute Access

From The Critics

Reviewer: Leslie Wykoff, MLS(Washington State University)
Description: This book thoroughly examines current access and ownership issues as they relate to libraries' financial practices and suggests alternative budgeting methodologies.
Purpose: The purpose is to examine the various and contradictory ideas about collection development with a focus on the budgeting implications of different access and ownership strategies. Libraries are aware that they need to redesign collection and acquisition budgeting strategies based on an informed review of the information landscape. This book provides that review and provides justifications for using program-oriented transactional budgeting.
Audience: It is written for all librarians engaged in planning and budgeting for the full library program, especially in regard to acquisitions, resource sharing, collection development, systems, and reference services. It would also be an important book for library students to read.
Features: The authors are well known experts in the field of collection development and library administration. The book discusses the issues surrounding overlapping library functions created by new and alternative methods of providing access to information in libraries. The authors focus on transactional budgeting, which has been used for interlibrary loan costs, as a method that could integrate overlapping program expenses. They include an excellent current bibliography.
Assessment: This is an important book because of its attempt to summarize the variety of current issues relating to financing access to and ownership of information in libraries today. In a cost-benefit culture, the recommendations it makes regarding review of library programs in relationship to transactions are very sensible. I think it is an important contribution to the field of library administration.

Leslie Wykoff

This book thoroughly examines current access and ownership issues as they relate to libraries' financial practices and suggests alternative budgeting methodologies. The purpose is to examine the various and contradictory ideas about collection development with a focus on the budgeting implications of different access and ownership strategies. Libraries are aware that they need to redesign collection and acquisition budgeting strategies based on an informed review of the information landscape. This book provides that review and provides justifications for using program-oriented transactional budgeting. It is written for all librarians engaged in planning and budgeting for the full library program, especially in regard to acquisitions, resource sharing, collection development, systems, and reference services. It would also be an important book for library students to read. The authors are well known experts in the field of collection development and library administration. The book discusses the issues surrounding overlapping library functions created by new and alternative methods of providing access to information in libraries. The authors focus on transactional budgeting, which has been used for interlibrary loan costs, as a method that could integrate overlapping program expenses. They include an excellent current bibliography. This is an important book because of its attempt to summarize the variety of current issues relating to financing access to and ownership of information in libraries today. In a cost-benefit culture, the recommendations it makes regarding review of library programs in relationship to transactions are very sensible. I think it is an important contributionto the field of library administration.

Booknews

Wolf, founding editor of (as well as coeditor of and VP for Collections Programs, Center for Research Libraries), and Martin, financial columnist and retired Tufts University librarian, provide guidance on all phases of library materials purchase (e.g. resource sharing, and switching from purchase to contract and lease-based budgets) to ensure access to traditional and alternative information delivery sources. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

5 Stars! from Doody