Putting Method to Madness: Resources for Projecting E-resources Budgets

Though our library collections are rapidly becoming more sophisticated, embracing the latest in e-resources and technologies, the same cannot always be said for our budget models. Yet, relying on outdated budgets and guess-work often leads to cost predictions that do not meet realities, resulting in collection cuts that could have been avoided. Moreover, librarians often do not receive adequate training in school or in work on creating collections budgets. With all types of e-resources, including online serials, databases, and e-books, showing vastly different inflationary rates across type and subject matter, many librarians find themselves struggling when the time comes to crunch numbers. Though lack of knowledge and seemingly unpredictable rates of e-resource inflation have put a strain on planning collection expenditures, this poster seeks to end the budget madness. Clear visuals of the current state of e-resource inflation and an overview of popular sources available for determining inflation rates of library resources will be discussed. Additionally, an overview of training available, as well as information about harnessing the power of common technologies for tracking and predicting budgets, will provide the tools needed to create meaningful budget predictions and implement an e-resource budget fit for the next-gen library collectio