This is honestly a library task I love doing (okay, there are very few I don’t enjoy). Updating my budget for each year. I’m not a numbers person. Ask me to count, multiply or do a simple sum and I simply can’t, so having a good understanding of my library budget is really important. It’s something I enjoy doing at the start of each year, or late in the previous year, depending on when I get my total for the year ahead, and it helps me keep track of what funds I have, what I can spend on each area of my library service and specifically target funds towards projects as needed.
The way each school prepares and organises budgets is different. In one school I would put forward an itemised and detailed accounting of the funds I needed. In my current school I am provided with a suggested amount and have the opportunity to request further funding and capital funds if required, with justification. I don’t need to present how the total of the funds will specifically be spent but knowing that is important to me, hence why I create my own itemised budget spreadsheet.
Excel is of course my go-to solution for this. I divide up the funds between subscriptions, consumables, digital and physical resources, furniture items, events. I have an overview sheet, with the total budget I have available for the year and start by adding the amounts for each annual subscription, including an estimate increase in price each year. These include the fees for our library catalogue, LibPaths, Clickview, ebook and audiobook platforms, databases and digital resources. I have a column for the item, what category it’s in, if it’s a cost for the overall library, junior or secondary library, the estimated price, how much has been spent, how many allocated funds remain for that amount and when the invoice is due. I then use the same columns to add amounts for the rest of my items. These are estimates and help me to see how many funds I have each year for our collection, events and author visits, additional ebook and audiobook purchases, and miscellaneous funds. Of course, I can move these numbers around but it gives me a great starting point.
I also provide the team with an opportunity to create a wish list of items and projects. This might include updating robotics, lunchtime resources, new software or a database or overhauling a specific collection. These might prompt me to put in a request for additional funding for the year or might be able to fit within the funds we are provided.
Once I have the spreadsheet organised, I share it with the Library team so we check to see if anything needs to be adjusted and so we all know how much we can roughly spend in each area, knowing of course that there is flexibility within this planning. If we want to pull more funds for author visits from other areas, we can, knowing the baseline we need for our subscriptions.
Then it’s time to get spending!! I’m fortunate that I can spend the Library funds at any time throughout the year and work on a calendar year schedule. This means we can get the resources we need for the start of the year and plan our project spending accordingly. My final tip is that I always make sure I spend all of my library budget, even if that means I run over slightly. There is always a need and the funds are spent purposely but not using the funds indicates the full budget isn’t required and that’s not true, so I always make sure we use all the funds.