[Eril-l] funding for DDA/PDA

[Arndt,Theresa]

We stopped tracking individual (departmental) funds a couple of years ago for all purchases, and do not miss it.  We have one "Book" fund, and we use another fund to track costs of DDA short term loan expenses (since those may not result in a purchase, but we want to know how much it costs us).  It was an increasing challenge to come up with a formula that made any real sense as many publications are interdisciplinary.  It also wasn't worth the staff time to update the formula and track all the various funds internally with our small staff.  We convinced our faculty to just tell us what they needed and let us manage acquisitions (although some still refer to "their fund" when placing a request).   DDA with 3 short term loans prior to purchase has helped keep costs in check.  We still buy "core" collections and individual titles on request.   We can run acquisitions reports by LC classification if a department ever wanted to know what we purchased "for them".   Our DDA titles are selected based on our profile with YBP (which was created to align with our perceived curricular needs).

Initially liaison librarians were not entirely comfortable with this, so we kept the "science book" fund and the "art book" fund.  The "science" fund was retired this year when the liaison librarian agreed that tracking served no purpose.  "Art" is our only holdout.  We no longer provide librarians with an allocation that they are responsible for spending.   Our librarians increasingly focus more on teaching and research consultations, and less on spending time selecting individual titles for purchase (although they still do some of that).

You might see this as an opportunity to simplify your operations.    BTW, our DDA purchases have been remarkably evently spread across the entire LC classification scheme.  Many of the books purchased would likely not have been the ones selected by librarians.

- Best, Theresa

Theresa Arndt, MLS
Associate Director for Library Resources and Administration
Library and Information Services
Dickinson College
P.O. Box 1773
Carlisle, PA 17013
voice:  717-245-1750
fax:  717-245-1439
arndtt at dickinson.edu<mailto:arndtt at dickinson.edu>

From: Eril-l [mailto:eril-l-bounces at lists.eril-l.org] On Behalf Of Katy Ginanni
Sent: Tuesday, September 22, 2015 10:30 AM
To: eril-l at lists.eril-l.org
Subject: [Eril-l] funding for DDA/PDA

Hi folks,

{Apologies for duplication. I'll post this to several ists.}

I wonder if anyone out there has come up with some magical scheme or prediction or formula for how to allocate subject or program-based funds to pay for DDA/PDA purchases?

When we started our DDA program, we limited the profile to subjects that would support our distance and/or online programs. We paid for all purchases from one fund. Now we are thinking of expanding the DDA plan to cover all programs, and we're wondering how to allocate money from the subject/program-based funds. For print books, we've been experimenting with an allocation formula that includes several criteria or factors (student credit hours per department, # faculty per department, etc.). But we're struggling with how to factor in ebooks. How can we predict what we might spend on ebooks and what we should put aside for print books? For example: Let's say the history department gets $15,000 to spend. Halfway into the year, DDA books have eaten all of that allocation but the liaison still has print books she wants to buy.

Our usage of ebooks - among all purchases, not just the DDA-initiated ones - is spread across many disciplines. That's why we are thinking about putting additional subject areas in our DDA profile.

Thanks in advance for any insight you can provide.

Katy G.


Katy Ginanni, Acquisitions Librarian & Asst Professor
Hunter Library
Western Carolina University
176 Central Drive
Cullowhee, NC 28723
ksginanni at email.wcu.edu<mailto:ksginanni at email.wcu.edu>
828-227-3729 office
library.wcu.edu

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