Highlights of Library Journal's ninth annual budget report

Citation

(1999), "Highlights of Library Journal's ninth annual budget report", The Bottom Line, Vol. 12 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/bl.1999.17012bab.002

Highlights of Library Journal's ninth annual budget report

Highlights of Library Journal's ninth annual budget report

Keywords: Finance, Libraries, USA

LJ received the highest response rate ever ­ 533 libraries ­ in this survey, and the picture is rosy. Total library budgets increased by 4.4 percent, materials budgets increased by 6.5 percent, and salaries by 4.5 percent. The FY99 projections show that over the last five years total budgets have risen by 28 percent, materials' budgets by 31 percentand salary/personnel by 27 percent. Another indicator of a trend toward increasing library support is the per capita spending, which rose from $26.08 to $26.99.

Access/telecommunications expenses are the largest portion of the Internet costs to libraries ­ 44 percent of their Internet budgets. New hardware accounts for 22 percent of the Internet budget, upgrades and maintenance for 13 percent, and staffing for 10 percent; software accounted for 6 percent, and Web site design and management for 5 percent. Internet-related expenditures for 1999 are expected to take 3.7 percent of library budgets, up 2.9 percent from FY98. The increase since 1995 is even more dramatic: Internet costs have increased more than fivefold. Internet filters are not only controversial, they are costly. The 18 percent of respondents who filter spend more than $1,000 annually to do so.

How do libraries pay for the Internet? Of those who responded, 16 percent pay for the Internet out of their materials budget, 9 percent used special grants, and 3 percent had federal money.

Not surprisingly, fundraising has grown; it is now seen as a basic function of the library. Fundraising has jumped by 228 percent since 1993, and over two-thirds of the respondents have a fundraising program, up 62 percent from FY98. Average fundraising grew by almost 10 percent, from $137,000 in FY97 to $151,000 in FY98. In addition, six out of ten libraries receive an average of $110,000 in grant money, using it for everything from technology to staffing.

Public support for libraries continues to be strong; over 75 percent of this year's referenda were approved.