Let’s not forget that Chemistry Departments are accredited, and in order to gain and keep this status, the parent institution’s library has to subscribe to a panoply of expensive chemistry journals (many of them in ACS, which is the accreditor: see https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/about/governance/committees/training/acsapproved.html). Then there are the large, broader journal packages that include chemistry titles, plus Science & Nature. Rough estimate: this is a least $100K per year for our small liberal arts college, and as we all know, increasing in cost every year.

Faculty are going to have a hard time getting grants, much less publishing and tenure, if they don’t have good access to research materials (by which I mean journals, databases, books, etc.) Students need a place to study and to do research for classes. We also support non-academic parts of the college: we subscribe to a couple career databases for the Career Center, a grants database for the grants administrator (with whom we split the cost), business databases that Advancement uses as well as the Econ & Business Dept. The Athletics Dept. has done research in the library.

Libraries are part of the bedrock of the academic enterprise. It does look like a big money pit from the outside but gather your usage statistics and any others you can find like IPEDS (https://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/), compare with peer and local institutions, pick out the good data and share it widely. Does the library get crowded at certain times? Take photos of the students parked on the floor between compact shelves because no chairs are available, post photos on social media. Do you have a higher gate count or book circulation rate than local XYZ university, or sister school ABC? Point that out.

One thing you want to do is emphasize that you’re being a good steward of financial resources. We look at Cost Per Use statistics all the time. We question big price increases. This is all recorded in a collection development agenda wiki that we could show to anybody who’s interested. Document everything! When we got some money to buy journal and gov docs backfiles in preparation for a renovation, I shopped around pretty hard to get the best bang for the buck, and people were aware of this (And I kept records in case there are ever questions!). Although we’re a small school, with our consortia memberships and customer service ethos, we provide really good research materials and services to our college. Our college admin is aware that the library goes through a lot of money, but (hopefully) they know we’re good at what we do and we’re not profligately throwing money away – we’re operating the best we can within our constraints.

Hope this helps,

Diane Westerfield, Electronic Resources & Serials Librarian

Tutt Library, Colorado College

diane.westerfield@coloradocollege.edu

(719) 389-6661

From: Serials in Libraries Discussion Forum [mailto:SERIALST@LISTSERV.NASIG.ORG] On Behalf Of Melissa Belvadi
Sent: Monday, May 01, 2017 6:56 AM
To: SERIALST@LISTSERV.NASIG.ORG
Subject: Re: [SERIALST] Revenue generating academic libraries

If you're a research-intensive university with graduate degrees in chemistry, I'll bet your admins do in fact expect the chem department (but not the writing center, a better choice for your point) to be a revenue generator. The STEM fields are expected to bring in, between tuition and external grants, a lot of money, perhaps even more than they cost the operating budget if you exclude infrastructure costs like heat and electricity to the dept offices/labs.

I agree with your and Scott's main point about it being a bad path to go down to set libraries up for having expectations of generating revenue, but the chem dept isn't a good analogy.

Melissa

On Sat, Apr 29, 2017 at 10:32 AM, Judith Koveleskie <kovelesk@setonhill.edu> wrote:

I agree with Scott. At one time we had a friends group at our library and when they came up with some fund-raising ideas we were told not to do it because they wanted all fund raising to be done by our Development Office for the benefit of the entire University. Occasionally we receive donations from estates where the donor had specified that fund were to go to the library,but that's about it. Would anyone expect the Chemistry Department or the Writing Center to generate income? We are part of the academic side of the University and provide services for the education of students.

Judith A. Koveleskie, Serials Librarian
Seton Hill University, Reeves Memorial Library
1 Seton Hill Drive, Greensburg, PA 15601-1548
724-838-7828
This document may contain confidential information and is intended solely for the use of the addressee. If you received it in error, please contact the sender at once and destroy the document. The document may contain information subject to restrictions of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy and the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Acts. Such information may not be disclosed or used in any fashion outside the scope of the service for which you are receiving the information.

On Fri, Apr 28, 2017 at 4:30 PM, Scott Stangroom <stangroom@library.umass.edu> wrote:

Hi Carissa,

I don’t think I have much to offer by way of income generating suggestions. But I wont to suggest, however, that libraries are cost centers, and not income generators. Income generation is not a Library’s purpose or mission, certainly not an academic or public library’s purpose or mission. The neoliberal ideas behind what you’ve been asked to research are in my opinion, simply foul and wrongheaded.

Your time would be better spent assessing the impact your Library and its collections/services has on attracting prospective students, and on their success, retention, and graduation rates once enrolled. This is what your administration should focus on to justify the Library’s place on campus, otherwise be prepared for a whole lot of disappointment.

______________________

Scott Stangroom

Acquisitions Coordinator

University of Massachusetts, Amherst

W.E.B. Du Bois Library

154 Hicks Way

Amherst, MA 01003-9275

stangroom@library.umass.edu

voice: 413.545.6724

fax: 413.545.6494

Go UMass Libraries

P Consider the environment and don’t print this e-mail unless you really need to.

From: Serials in Libraries Discussion Forum [mailto:SERIALST@LISTSERV.NASIG.ORG] On Behalf Of Mark M England
Sent: Thursday, April 20, 2017 4:28 PM
To: SERIALST@LISTSERV.NASIG.ORG
Subject: Re: [SERIALST] Revenue generating academic libraries

Merriam-Webster defines a library as “a place in which literary, musical, artistic, or reference materials (such as books, manuscripts, recordings, or films) are kept for use but not for sale.”

From: Serials in Libraries Discussion Forum [mailto:SERIALST@LISTSERV.NASIG.ORG] On Behalf Of Carissa Hernandez
Sent: Thursday, April 20, 2017 1:39 PM
To: SERIALST@LISTSERV.NASIG.ORG
Subject: [SERIALST] Revenue generating academic libraries

Dear all,

I have been tasked to research ways in which an academic library could possibly be a revenue producing entity at a small university. I have done a literature search, but thought I would pose this question to the collective wisdom (Apologies for cross-posting).

Any libraries out there that have engaged in revenue generating activities and what have these activities been? What ideas did you come up with? How successful were they? What was more trouble than it was worth? What can a library expect to generate (at best)?

with thanks,

Carissa

Catalog Librarian

To unsubscribe from the SERIALST list, click the following link:
http://listserv.nasig.org/scripts/wa-NASIG.exe?SUBED1=SERIALST&A=1

Melissa Belvadi

Collections Librarian

University of Prince Edward Island

mbelvadi@upei.ca 902-566-0581

To unsubscribe from the SERIALST list, click the following link:
http://listserv.nasig.org/scripts/wa-NASIG.exe?SUBED1=SERIALST&A=1