THE PROPORTION OF UNIVERSITY LIBRARY INCOME WHICH SHOULD BE SPENT ON ADMINISTRATION
The college librarian, like every other department head in the institution, is anxious to spend as much as possible for the development of his department and is consequently seeking to get his appropriation increased as often as possible. It is usually of assistance to him in securing the favorable attention of the authorities to be able to show that the prevailing tendency among institutions of similar rank is to do that which he requests in his own case. Sometimes the librarian is asking more money for books, sometimes more money for administration and frequently more money for everything. While preparing an estimate for the authorities of our own institution, I recently collected data from 25 representative college and university libraries in different parts of the country and was interested to compare the data and draw what conclusions I could from the examination and from my own knowledge of the standard of accomplishment in the respective institutions. All but one of these libraries have over 60,000 volumes. I was able to separate them into three groups with reference to their book expenditures; those spending $5,000 a year or less, those spending between $5,000 and $20,000, and those spending $20,000 or more.
Six of the 25 libraries were in the first group, spending not to exceed $5,000. In all of these the expenditure for library administration exceeded that for books, in some cases by more than 100%. By amount spent for library administration I mean the amount spent for salaries and wages of persons employed in library work. In other words I mean to include student assistants and to exclude janitors.
Twelve of the 25 libraries were in the second group, spending more than $5,000 and less than $20,000 for books. Ten of these spent less for administration than for books, one spent more and the remaining library spent the same for administration as for books.
Two libraries in the group receive gifts of considerable sums each year for the purchase of books, the buying of which is done through the library so that for all purposes of comparison it is as though their book funds were increased just so much. I have regarded the gift money as equivalent to part of the book fund, although the actual payment is made by the giver without its passing through the hands of the college treasurer. Aside from these two, only one library in the second group receives any great number of volumes by gift. The average number of volumes received by gift is about one-third of the number received by purchase. The proportion of income used for salaries ranges from 35% to 45% leaving out the two libraries above mentioned which spent 50% and 52% for salaries.
Seven libraries made up the third group composed of those spending $20,000 or more for books. I omitted to obtain any figures from Harvard, Yale or Chicago as they are known to be making extraordinary expenditures at present in reorganizing or recataloging. Of the seven, two spent less for salaries than for books, two spent the same for each and two spent more for salaries than for books. The seventh library like two of those in the preceding group has considerable sums placed at its disposal each year for book buying but the disbursement is made by the donor and not by the university treasurer so that exact figures for calculating percentages are not available in its case. The proportion of income employed for salaries by the other six ranges from 40% to 60%.
From this brief comparison of data it is possible to draw the conclusion that with the smaller libraries a certain minimum of administration cost is necessary in order to operate the library at all and that this does not necessarily increase with the growth of the book fund. Where the book fund is less than $5,000, it is no reflection on the capacity of the librarian if his salary expense exceeds that amount although it is evidently his duty to devote his principal efforts to securing increased book appropriations. After the book fund has passed the $5,000 mark, the librarian should be prepared to give most excellent reasons for letting his salary roll exceed or even equal the book fund in case his governing board should begin to make comparison with the figures of other institutions. If his library is in what I have called the second group and his salary expense exceeds 45% of the total income, he ought to stand ready to show cause at short notice for some one is likely to attract the attention of the president to the fact any day.
If on the other hand his salary roll represents less than 45% of total income, the librarian may well resist the suggestions of professors to call for more book money and instead devote his annual appeals to securing additional needed assistance and more adequate compensation for the members of his present staff.
With the libraries of the great universities the case is different. An institution that can spend upwards of $20,000 a year for books has more complex needs and more varied activities than the smaller colleges and universities. The quality of service demanded of the library is higher and much less is forgiven by the ambitious holders of highly paid chairs. The pressure of research work demands greater facilities for the prompt purchase and cataloging of "rush" books. More accomplished reference librarians must be had to meet the needs of clients in a great institution with a large number of graduate students. Catalogers of special qualifications must be provided to handle the books in oriental and other languages not commonly encountered in the ordinary college library. In the work of a large cataloging department there is more opportunity for lack of uniformity to creep in, and the need of accuracy in an enormous catalog is more vital than in a small one. Therefore the work of the revisers has to be more painstaking and time consuming than in a smaller collection where everything is simpler. Reclassification of whole sections of books whose classification is now out of date, must be undertaken. Bibliographies have to be compiled for professors. The preparation of publications, like the catalog of a special collection, is called for while the smaller library may never print anything more extensive than a list of its Poole sets. The duties of the shelf department in a great library are more complicated than many persons dream of and in all the departments fuller and more accurate records are needed. More extended routine in the order department is required in order to prevent unintentional duplication. Messenger service for the delivery of books in response to telephone calls from other buildings may be furnished. The maintenance of an efficient exchange bureau is needed in order to conduct the exchange of university publications with the innumerable minor learned societies all over the world. These publications are often called for in the great universities, although one could not reasonably expect to find them in the lesser institutions.
In fact for many reasons the proportion of income required for administration in libraries of the first rank increases with the size of the collection itself. It is a fair inference therefore that a university library with a book fund of more than $20,000 a year is justified in maintaining a pay roll in excess of that sum without fear of criticism.