Readings and Reflection for 6-28-11, Budgets
Lori Jane Perdew
LIS 5240
Book Budgets—Hanging on to What Is Yours, by Jacquie Henry.
In this time of economic uncertainty, I loved Jacquie Henry’s idea for protecting her budget. She suggests filling out requisitions for books from your favorite book distributor and sending it to the business office but ask them not to mail it. Instead ask them to give you the Purchase Order number and let you order it over the internet. This way, you have purchase order numbers for all your books, but you don’t have to rush to order them.
She says that she breaks up the orders into usually three—one to replace old or lost books, one for non-fiction to go with that year’s curriculum and literature/fiction to cover Language Arts and Reading. I would include Communication Arts in that category too. She usually does this towards the end of the fiscal year, so that when she comes back to the school in September, her P.O. is waiting for her and she can start purchasing that year’s books. This way, the money is encumbered and can’t be cut from the budget. Personally, I think this is an awesome idea and one that I would definitely use in the future.
Citation:
Henry, Jacquie. “Book Budgets – Hanging on to What Is Yours.” Wanderings 20 Nov. 2009. Web. 29 Jun 2011.
Budgeting for Mean, Lean Times, Part 5 by Doug Johnson
Doug Johnson says that LMS’s should make sure that their budgets are based on results not created by someone else who hands over a set amount of money and tells you to make do with the amount. He says that it is up to the LMS to communicate effectively the needs of the program in order to meet the goals and expectations.
There are three main parts to a program oriented budget—goals, requested amount of money and outcome projected. Library media specialists need to let the powers that be know what they expect will happen to student learning if the funds are provided for the program. They also need to let them know exactly how much money they need and how they will spend it and finally, they will need to document everything related to the program so they can show how the program has progressed.
Johnson says talk about your school’s specific needs, not the state or federal standards. School districts are more likely to give money to a school that mentions the specific needs of certain teachers and has specific long range plans than to a school whose library media specialist quotes statistics and state and federal standards. He also suggests working with an advisory committee because it’s harder for school districts to reject a budget when there is more than one person presenting it.
Citation”
Johnson, Doug. “Budgeting for Mean, Lean Times Part 5.” The Blue Skunk Blog 20 Dec. 2009. Web. 29 Jun 2011.
Help Sweep Up the Budget Dust, by Doug Johnson
Doug Johnson says that the end of the year is a good time to check for what he calls “budget dust”—that left over emergency money you stashed away just in case there was a problem or money that your principal has left at the end of the school and needs to use right away. Be prepared with a list of items that you could use for the library like a new digital camera or light bulbs for Smartboards. If you don’t spend your whole budget, then there is a good chance that the next year you’ll end up with a smaller budget; not to mention losing what you had allocated but not spent this year. Just be sure that the items on your list are readily available for purchase.
I actually had this happen to me this past spring. My principal came into the library and said, “Lori, if you had three hundred dollars to spend, what would you purchase? I immediately said that I would purchase some great graphic novels that I had learned about in one of my graduate classes. (The librarian hated graphic novels and refused to purchase them.) She said, “Give me a list of the titles, prices and where to purchase them, and we’ll do it.” A week and a half later, I had the graphic novels in my hand and a few days later, the books were prominently on display. I know I wouldn’t have been able to get the graphic novels if I hadn’t been prepared to answer my principal’s question.
Citation:
Johnson, Doug. “Help Sweep Up the Budget Dust.” The Blue Skunk Blog 3 Jun. 2009. Web. 29 Jun 2011.
Zero-Sum Budgets and Technology by Doug Johnson
In this article, Doug Johnson has some of the same information as he did in his article, “Budgeting for Mean, Lean Times Part 5.” He does say that that school funding is unlikely to increase and may decrease due to the troubled economy and to what he calls “today’s anti-tax climate.” (Johnson, Zero-Sum) So, library media specialists have to be willing to fight for what they need. It’s not pretty, but it might be necessary in the end.
He says that you need a goal-driven budget, be specific about what you need and why, and document everything, so you can point to your successes and quantify your budget request. Let them know what very well could happen if the library budget is not approved. Be specific, but don’t sound threatening. You want to warn them of the consequences but not beat them over the head with it.
He also talks about how to talk to the number-crunchers about maintaining the technology in the school. You can’t just purchase computers and forget them. Computers break down and the technology changes, so you need to make sure they understand that it costs more in the long run if you don’t replace computers when they need to be replaced. He has a formula:
“Maintenance budget=replacement rate x total number of items x average cost.” (Johnson, Zero Sum) He gives an example and says that if technology maintenance isn’t accounted for, the technology will get worse. Let the number-crunchers factor that fact.
Another suggestion Johnson has is that the LMS serve on governing committees and get involved in legislative platforms on the state and national level. Make your voice be heard. You aren’t allowed to whine if you’re not willing to get involved. You must be ruthless and fight for your part of the pie. No one else will do it for you.
“Zero-Sum Budgets and Technology.” The Blue Skunk Blog 5 Jul. 2007. Web. 29 Jun 2011. <http://www.doug-johnson.com/dougwri/zero-sum-budgets-and-technology.html>.
I love the example of your having been able to take advantage of the budget dust! Now that we have talked about selection, what source for reviews did you use to purchase the titles? As we can see from our "League of Gentlemen" example, graphic novels are not without their issues.
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