Budget Report 2007: Keeping Pace
Budgets continue moving up, but challenges await
By Norman Oder -- Library Journal, 1/15/2007
From the budget numbers, libraries are doing better. A year ago we reported modest growth in library budgets (“Ripple Effects,” LJ 1/06, p. 59–61), though a number of librarians cautioned that rising energy costs could be a complication.
Libraries seem to be coping. Those surveyed this year reported a solid performance last year, from FY05 to FY06, with budget growth of 4.7%. For the next fiscal year, they predict an even better figure, 5.5%, which represents an improvement over a slow-go era a few years ago.
The 5.5% figure exceeds inflation—at least for most costs not related to energy. Indeed, some 74% of libraries reported that they have been budgeting to cover the increase in energy costs. Fourteen percent had to divert funds from other revenue streams, notably materials, staff budgets, technical resources, and programming.
Still, we’re not out of the woods. For example, the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) in December reported the state budget outlook as “mostly solid,” though a survey of state officials suggested that they were somewhat less positive than they were a year earlier. Given that Congress has shifted more than $75 billion worth of costs to states in the past three years, states face continued stresses, according to NCSL.
Meanwhile, libraries are getting busier. Circulation continues to rise. Our sample reported per capita circulation of 9.25 in FY06, over 3% higher than FY05.
Struggles and wishes
This year, we asked librarians two open-ended questions: What have you done to cope with budget pressures? What would you do with an unexpected budget boost of 10%?
Some libraries are doing just fine, riding a rise in property values and thus tax revenues—even in communities with tax caps. But others, even some with increasing budgets, have had to juggle. They’ve shifted staff around, relied more on part-timers, and deployed software instead of people to regulate public access computing sessions. They’re starting Friends groups or ramping up existing fundraising. They’re increasing fines and fees. They’re pursuing energy efficiency or turning down the heat. Some respondents were grimly amusing, telling us “praying a lot,” “watching every penny,” and “one is tempted to say drinking more.”
And every librarian—well, nearly every, since a few found the notion unbelievable—has a wish list. Those wish lists show a collective understanding of what it takes to run a good library and how to achieve an even better one.
The first-level wishes are obvious: money for more hours and materials. But librarians want so much more: upgraded equipment, more bandwidth, funds for programs, and better salaries. They want to offer world languages and downloadable audio. They seek to institute more patron self-service (often via RFID, for larger libraries), and they want to merchandise their collections better in a nation where book chains set a consumer standard.
Many of them, however, still face hard choices. And with cost-of-living increases, the growth in salaries inevitably outpaces the budget for materials: 30% growth over five years for salaries compared to 20% growth for materials.
Computers still key
Libraries continue, as in past years, to spend about 2% of their budgets on sustaining or improving public access computing. Yet they also reported a 21% increase in Internet usage. For the second year, we asked librarians to report on public access computing challenges, and the statistics remained consistent—and troubling. Nearly half of the respondents said that, on a daily basis, they have an inadequate number of workstations or face troubleshooting issues. Some three-quarters of libraries deal with those issues on a weekly basis.
Several librarians reported they felt a need to increase bandwidth. This reinforces findings by researchers at Florida State University that libraries have had to shoulder ever more responsibility in helping citizens who either lack computer access or sufficient expertise to navigate government forms that are only available online (see “Drafted: I Want You To Deliver E-Government,” LJ 8/06, p. 34).
Local/regional trends
Our sample reported an uptick in their reliance on local taxes, to 82% from 79% in the two previous years. Commensurately, the support from state and federal government declined slightly to 10%, from 13% and 12% in previous years.
That may reflect changes in Ohio, where libraries, long reliant on state support, have tried harder to raise funds locally. The trend goes both ways; Maryland recently bolstered state support (see “Librarian of the Year,” p. 44–46). Libraries in the West and Southwest reported a significantly greater reliance on local taxes than those in other regions.
Grant money continues to be crucial. Some 50% of libraries spent grants or additional funding on programming. For children’s services, the figure was 49%, while for technology/automation, the figure was 31%. About 38% of libraries reported spending additional funds on materials, an apparent decline from 51% two years ago and 41% last year.
Libraries rustled up extra money for other technology, too. Some 20% spent funds on Internet access, up from 15% last year but the same percent reported two years ago. About 55% of libraries applied for E-rate telecomm discounts, with the largest libraries most likely to apply.
Libraries continue to be challenged to adapt to a changing population. Nearly two-thirds of those reporting said their population was growing, especially in the Southeast and the Pacific/Southwest regions. Nearly half described changes in the ethnic composition of the population, notably an increasing number of Latino residents. Nearly one-third said that the population was changing in terms of age, often growing younger.
| Population Served | Total Budget 2007 | Change in Total Budget | Materials Budget 2007 | Change In Budget 2007 | Salary Budget 2007 | Change in Salary Budget |
| Total Sample | $7,423,000 | +5.5% | $914,000 | +4.6% | $4,448,000 | +4.9% |
| Under 10,000 | 157,000 | +6.8% | 27,000 | +8.0% | 107,000 | +8.1% |
| 10,000–24,999 | 707,000 | +4.0% | 102,000 | +3.3% | 410,000 | +4.2% |
| 25,000–49,999 | 1,573,000 | +3.2% | 215,000 | +4.4% | 1,002,000 | +4.6% |
| 50,000–99,999 | 2,645,000 | +4.9% | 338,000 | +3.4% | 1,714,000 | +5.5% |
| 100,000–249,000 | 6,383,000 | +6.2% | 894,000 | +7.3% | 3,828,000 | +5.0% |
| 250,000–499,000 | 13,484,000 | +5.3% | 1,667,000 | +0.8% | 8,399,000 | +6.4% |
| 500,000–999,999 | 30,331,000 | +7.1% | 4,103,000 | +5.1% | 19,051,000 | +3.4% |
| 1 million or more | 75,138,000 | +3.9% | 7,735,000 | +4.1% | 37,745,000 | +5.3% |
| SOURCE: LJ BUDGET SURVEY 2007 | ||||||
| Problem | % of respondents |
| Inadequate number of workstations | 74 |
| Troubleshooting | 72 |
| Insufficient staffing | 50 |
| Updating software | 18 |
| Virus/Malware problems | 14 |
| Updating hardware | 8 |
| SOURCE: LJ BUDGET SURVEY 2007 | |
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| Author Information |
| Norman Oder is Editor, News, LJ |
