[ETL503 Module 3 – Accession and Acquisition]

• Should teacher librarians have the responsibility of submitting a budget proposal to fund the library collection to the school’s senior management and/or the school community? Or should such proposals come from a wider group such as a school library committee?

Submitting budget proposals should absolutely be the responsibility of Teacher Librarians – but many schools do not have one. Sometimes another teacher is given the role of Library Manager, in which case the responsibility is best handled by them.

This is because the school library staff are in the best position to have oversight of resources and to coordinate between departments. TLs are ‘collaborators’, ‘thinkers’ and ‘stewards’ (Lamb, 2012): they are not lone operators but need to consider the needs of the whole school in managing the library budget. As Lamb et al say, the school is a community, made up of a diverse mix of stakeholders, from students to maintenance staff, and the library is there for all of them.

As collaborators, the TL or Library Manager prepares a budget proposal that considers the input from senior staff (through senior staff meetings); the whole school focus (pedagogical frameworks such as ‘retention and attainment’, or ‘wellbeing’); input from Learning Area Leaders (ASTs), who represent teaching staff in various departments; and students themselves – their needs both in terms of structured learning and recreational reading/viewing.

Being a successful ‘steward’ of the budget, the TL/s work closely with the Library Technicians to keep track of purchases and where money is being spent through Excel spreadsheets that can keep running totals. This is extremely important because the data acquired from this helps the TL in writing their budget proposal for the next year. For example, if the school library spent $3000 on eResource subscriptions, and has the data to show the resources were used well, this data can be used to ask for a budget increase in order to cover a validated expense, or if the subscription cost increased.

‘Thinking’ of the whole school is key: the TL is a service provider, not a dragon hoarding gold that it won’t share with anyone, and the library is no out-of-touch place where there are no useful resources available to meet the needs of staff and students.

Submitting a budget proposal is just one element of this whole process; without the TL’s involvement, other staff lack the control necessary to make good decisions, and have no real incentive to collaborate or acquire resources wisely (expanded on below). Being accountable for the money is evidence of a respectful, trusting relationship between the TL and senior staff.

Outsourcing it to a library committee may be necessary if there is no TL, or the teacher in charge is new and/or inexperienced – having colleagues to bounce ideas off and discuss budgeting issues is very confidence-boosting.

• Is it preferable that the funding for the school library collection be distributed to teachers and departments so they have the power to determine what will be added to the library collection?

In short: no.

As mentioned above, it creates a situation where the money isn’t spent wisely; duplications occur; and inefficient and poor quality purchasing decisions are made.

The school library is ideal for centralising whole school acquisitions, via the library management system (e.g. Symphony/Workflows) or “Integrated Library System” (National Library of New Zealand, n.d.), so that the school can accurately track exactly what resources have been acquired (this is especially the case for AV and ITC equipment, and those needed for the Art and Media departments, such as cameras and lighting gear).

What is more important is for the TL to collaborate with teachers and departments so that the library is adequately resourced with current, good quality resources. Staff should always feel able to request a text, and it is the TLs role to accommodate and make it happen. This, also, is justification for the TL or library manager having control and oversight of the library budget – with an annual report covering expenses and usage.

So in a way, they do have that ‘power’, already – but it is the library staff who can check whether the school already has the resource (which happens quite often), find a good edition or version of the resource at a good price, and catalogue it so it can be tracked and accounted for.

References

Lamb, A. & Johnson, H.L. (2012). Program administration: Budget management. The School Library Media Specialist.  http://eduscapes.com/sms/administration/budget.html.

National Library of New Zealand. (n.d.). Services to schools. Assessing your school library collection. https://natlib.govt.nz/schools/school-libraries/collections-and-resources/assessing-your-school-library-collection