Page 119 - DLIS003_LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION AND MANAGEMENT

Library Administration and Management

Notes 3. No clear responsibility for organizing fundraising campaign is assigned, either to
librarians or university administrators. Library funds are accumulated from a mixture
of local, state, federal, and other sources.
Funding models for academic libraries vary greatly, depending on whether the institution
is private or public, a particular state’s budgetary regulations and funding formulas for
higher education and the overall budgetary situation of each university. American Library
Association (2006) stated that academic library budgets are allocated by the central
university administration based on historic formulas or outdated needs, and libraries
follow their institutional policies and mandates regarding budgets.

Occasionally, an institution provides funding for its library through individual colleges
and departments instead of centrally setting the library budget. In that case, each
department or university unit decides whether or not to fund the library each year based
on satisfactory library service as well as need. In most cases, academic library budgets are
not allocated separately from the university budgets. For some libraries, budget is allocated
partially for acquisition, while other aspects such as staff and furniture are part of the
university budget. This arrangement does not meet the library needs (Hisle, 2002).
Nigerian academic and research libraries derive the major part of their financial support
from the government. Ifidon (1990) found that university libraries derive the greatest part
of their funds from their universities, whose major sources of financial support is the
government. Of all the different types of libraries in Nigeria, only university libraries
have a clearly defined policy on funding. They are allocated 10 per cent of the recurring
annual budget of their parent universities, a result of the Federal Government and
Academic Staff Union of Universities agreement of 1992 (Okiy, 2005). Funds for library
and information services are traditionally derived from the library proprietor. The extent
of such revenue varies from fixed fraction of received grant to ad hoc arrangement (Edoka,
1992).
According to Anafulu (1997) the university library is only one of numerous units in a
university. By its centrality and role in the endeavours of the university – teaching, research
and extension work – it is a major unit and a vital one at that. Notwithstanding these
considerations however, the fact is the university library does not generate its own income
and does not receive grants directly from the proprietor. The general financial environment
of the university is such that allocations are made to the library, but apart from small
imprest accounts, no money is held in the library. Omotayo (1997) opined that libraries
derived their funds from the host university. Therefore as university financial situation
dwindled so also the allocation to the library.
Questions

1. What are the sources of funds for an academic library?
2. In the above context, explain the importance of funding in academic library.
Source: http://www.webpages.uidaho.edu/~mbolin/uboku-okiy.pdf

6.5 Summary

This unit deals with the financial management of libraries. Financial management in
service and NFP organizations has several problems attributable to the characteristics of
such institutions.

Libraries, being service institutions, seldom earn revenue and hence have to be funded
almost entirely by their respective parent organizations or by governments as in the case
of public libraries.

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