Page 115 - DLIS003_LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION AND MANAGEMENT

Library Administration and Management

Notes Kothari Education Commission (1964–66), however, recommended that as a norm, a university
should spend each year about ` 25 for each student and ` 300 per teacher. Ranganathan suggested
that per capita expenditure on university and college libraries should be ` 20 per student and
` 300 per teacher or ` 50 per student. In schools, per student appropriation at the rate of ` 10
should be made available for the library. For public libraries, Ranganathan suggested a 50 paise
per capita expenditure way back in 1950. Now, the per capita figure must be much higher and
this is the inherent limitation of the method as it does not provide for inflation and devaluation.

6.3.2 Proportional Method

This method presupposes that the authorities provide adequate finances to the library out of
their regular budget, and that a particular minimum limit is fixed. A generally used measure of
adequate support is the percentage of the institutional budget which is allocated for library
purposes. Various standards have been recommended for deciding this limit in India. The
University Education Commission had recommended that 6.5 per cent of a university’s budget
would be a reasonable expenditure on its library. The Commission suggested that “this
expenditure could vary from 6.5 to 10 per cent, depending on the stage of development of each
university library”. In practice, the majority of the universities in India hardly spend three per
cent of their total budget on their libraries. It is generally agreed by most authorities that a
college should allocate to the library four to five per cent of its total expenditure. Ranganathan
suggested that either 10 per cent of the total budget or 6 per cent should be earmarked for public
library purposes. This method is likely to lead to a high disparity in case of special libraries as
the budgets of high technology and capital intensive organizations are much larger than the
budgets of pure research, social science and humanities institutions.

6.3.3 Method of Details

According to this method all items of expenditure of a library are accounted for while preparing
the financial estimates. These are of two types, viz., (i) recurring or current expenditure and
(ii) non-recurring or capital expenditure.
For estimating public library finances, Ranganathan suggested the circulation of recurring/
current expenditure and non-recurring/capital expenditure. The Advisory Committee for
libraries, Government of India followed almost a similar method for estimating the financial
requirements for establishing a countrywide public library system.
The UGC Library Committee in its report suggested a staff formula for finding out the quantum
of library staff members of various categories required for college and university libraries.
It has also laid down their respective pay scales. The total amount required for meeting the cost
of the staff can be calculated by this formula. For cost of books and other reading materials, the
Committee has suggested a per capita expenditure formula.

Lastly, a suitable combination of the above methods may be ideal in some situations.

!
Caution The foundation of proper financing depends upon correct and effective estimation.

Self Assessment

Fill in the blanks:

9. In ……………………… method, a minimum amount per head is fixed which is considered
essential for providing standard library services.

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