Costing the library services. Cairns Library: a case study

Abstract

In the present climate libraries have to adopt a business approach to funding submissions; detailed management information must be produced in support of expenditure and to ensure that the services are cost-effective. In addition to the grant from its parent body (the Faculty of Clinical Medicine, University of Oxford), the Cairns Library obtains funding from five other bodies, including National Health Service Hospital Trusts. The Cairns Library has introduced an ongoing costing exercise covering the different services. The costs are divided into three categories: salary costs, other direct costs and indirect costs. Staff time has been identified from detailed time-sheets kept by each member of staff; the time recorded is assigned to the individual services. The direct costs and the indirect costs have been identified and allocated/apportioned similarly. The services are divided into five packages: core, current awareness, document delivery, enquiries and user education. The costs for each package have been apportioned to the funding bodies on the basis of the number of registered users from each body.