There are some ways our library makes budget projections based on potential demand from looking at output measures. This, however, is only one small part of the decision making on how to spend the budget. Up to date resources that link to curriculum content, reading for pleasure – eg. patron driven acquisition, employing qualified TL staff, and also maintaining a quality, contemporary and modern library space are just some other factors we consider when allocating budget expenditure.

Wheelers – Patron Driven Wish List: The Wheelers ePlatform library allows students to request titles that they want to read. The Teacher librarians, through the eplatform, can approve and purchase requests through the ‘Patrons Wish List’, which is a useful feature.

High Demand Reserves – We also like to check how many times the resource has been reserved. The high demand may be based on how many copies we have loaned of the resource in the past and how many copies we actually keep in our school library collection.

We also like the feature in ‘Borrowbox’ for ‘Expiring Titles’ – We can check how many times expiring titles have been loaned out in the past, which can be worthwhile data for us to decide whether to renew a title or not.