More Bang for the Buck: Increasing the Effectiveness of Library Expenditures Through Cooperation

The long-term strategy of the academic library community needs to focus on improved cost effectiveness rather than becoming preoccupied with the short-term effects of budget reductions. Fortunately, the rise of consortia and the maturing of the automation environment provide a conducive environment for substantial gains in the cost-benefi t ratio over a wide range of library services. Examples of such gains in four key library service areas are described. Introduction At a time when the restraints on academic library budgets are universally painful and seemingly ongoing, it is easy to believe that the fundamental problem for academic libraries is retrenchment and cost cutting—easy, but wrong and short-sighted. The underlying focus for budgetary attention, whether times are fl ush or fl ushed, should be a concern to get the most value out of each dollar spent. In the last decade and a half the convergence of two explosive trends—the rise of digital information and consortial organization—have provided radical new possibilities for improving libraries’ abilities to get more value out of each dollar spent. Such a positive approach to the budget can also provide a strong implicit argument for preserving or even increasing the library’s share of limited university resources. But whatever the library budget ultimately, the rightful concern for present-day librarians is the potential these two new developments have to increase the value received for library money spent. OhioLINK, a consortium of Ohio academic libraries, as well as other consortial examples, provide illuminating instances, if not a comprehensive survey, of how such an approach to increasing cost effectiveness can work. Four rather different areas of library service agendas can illustrate how More Bang for the Buck: Increasing the Effectiveness of Library Expenditures Through Cooperation David F. Kohl and Tom Sanville LIBRARY TRENDS, Vol. 54, No. 3, Winter 2006 (“Library Resource Sharing Networks,” edited by Peter Webster.), pp. 394–410 © 2006 The Board of Trustees, University of Illinois