Greater Western Library Alliance

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Optimizing the Recovery of Sponsored
Research-related Library Costs

• Greater Western Library Alliance
• 2006 Spring Membership Meeting
• Arizona State University, Tempe AZ
• February 27, 2006
• Brinley Franklin
• Vice Provost, University of Connecticut Libraries
  and
• Principal, Library Management Consulting

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Why Perform a Library Cost Analysis Study?

• A library cost analysis will probably increase
  your universitys indirect cost recovery by at
  least
• 1 million/year
• Higher educations revenue sources are limited
  tuition sponsored grants and contracts gifts
  overhead cost recovery public support auxiliary
  income
• The United States government allows educational
  institutions to seek reimbursement for library
  expenses related to funded research via the
  universitys indirect cost rate using OMB
  Circular A-21

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The Library is Often Overlooked as an Overhead
Rate Component

• An FA Proposal might look like
• Administration 26
• Operations and Maintenance 10
• Building Depreciation 4
• Equipment Depreciation 4
• Interest 3
• Library 2
• 
  49

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• OMB Circular A-21 Allows Two Methods For
  Assigning Library Expenses to Sponsored Research
• Standard (Full-time Equivalent) Method
• (Section F-6)
• Library Cost Analysis Study - Section E2(d)

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Key Components of the Library Cost Analysis Study

• Library expenses are assigned to cost centers
• Cost centers assigned to sponsored research,
  instruction, and other activities based on user
  surveys
• In-house and web-based user surveys are based on
  the random moments sampling technique and are
  conducted over a 12 month period
• Cost allocations are based on actual (not
  remembered or projected) use
• Remote library users are also surveyed using a
  web-based survey

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The DHHS/KPMG Agreed Upon Library User Study
Methodology

• Has been used with minor modifications since 1982
• Has been conducted 50 times in 160 libraries at
  35 institutions using a consistent approach with
  data from more than 150,000 respondents
• 35 institutions include 23 public colleges, 12
  private universities and 30 of the 100 largest
  recipients of science and engineering research
• The academic libraries surveyed are
  geographically diverse

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Overview of the Library Cost Analysis Study
COST ANALYSIS
LIBRARY USER SURVEYS
COMPILE DIRECT LIBRARY EXPENSES BY OBJECT CODE
FROM UNIVERSITY FINANCIAL ADMINISTRATORS
YEAR-END FINANCIAL REPORTS.

• CONDUCT YEAR-ROUND LIBRARY USER SURVEYS TO
  MEASURE
• PATRON CLASSIFICATION
• PATRON UNIQUE IDENTIFICATION
• PATRON AFFILIATION
  
• SURROGATE USAGE
  
• NUMBER OF MATERIALS AND SERVICES USED BY TYPE
  OF
• MATERIAL OR SERVICE
• PURPOSE OF USE FOR EACH MATERIAL AND SERVICE
  USED
• NON-RESPONDENTS PATRON CLASSIFICATION

GROUP LIBRARY EXPENSES INTO DIRECT COST
CATEGORIES SUCH AS PERSONNEL, BOOKS, JOURNALS,
ELECTRONIC SERVICES, AND OTHER EXPENSES.
ASSIGN DIRECT COST CATEGORIES TO SPECIFIC
LIBRARIES AND LIBRARY COST CENTERS SUCH AS
REFERENCE SERVICES, RARE BOOKS AND MANUSCRIPTS,
CIRCULATION, ELECTRONIC SERVICES, AND OTHER
EXPENSES.
CALCULATE USAGE OF SPECIFIC LIBRARY MATERIALS AND
SERVICES BY PATRON CLASSIFICATION AND BY PURPOSE
OF USE.
COMPILE INDIRECT LIBRARY EXPENSES AND ASSIGN THEM
ON THE BASIS OF SQUARE FEET (SPACE-RELATED
INDIRECT EXPENSES) AND MODIFIED TOTAL DIRECT COST
(ADMINISTRATION-RELATED INDIRECT EXPENSES) TO
SPECIFIC LIBRARIES AND LIBRARY COST CENTERS.
APPLY NON-RESPONSE FACTORS BY LIBRARY BY
CLASSIFICATION (E.G., UNDERGRADUATE
NON-RESPONDENTS).
COMBINE DIRECT AND INDIRECT LIBRARY EXPENSES FOR
EACH COST CENTER AND ASSIGN APPLICABLE CREDITS
(I.E., COPY CENTER AND PRINTING REVENUES).
CALCULATE TOTAL USE OF SPECIFIC MATERIALS AND
SERVICES FOR BOTH RESPONDENTS AND NON-RESPONDENTS
TO DETERMINE THE ALLOCATION BASES FOR SPECIFIC
COST CENTERS.
ASSIGN LIBRARY EXPENSES FOR ALL LIBRARIES AND
LIBRARY COST CENTERS BY PURPOSE OF USE (E.G.,
ORGANIZED RESEARCH, INSTRUCTION, PATIENT CARE,
AND OTHER INSTITUTIONAL ACTIVITIES) BASED ON USE
OF SPECIFIC MATERIALS AND SERVICES AT SPECIFIC
LIBRARIES BY PRIMARY CATAGORIES OF USERS (I.E.,
FACULTY/STAFF UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS, GRADUATE
STUDENTS, AND ALL OTHER USERS.
DETERMINE TOTAL LIBRARY EXPENSES BY PURPOSE OF
USE BY COMBINING RESULTS FROM ALL LIBRARIES
INCLUDED IN THE STUDY.
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LIBRARY USER SURVEY (continued)
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Major Findings

• Sponsored research use varies considerably by
  type of library
• There is considerable variation in sponsored
  research use at even the same type of library
• Interlibrary loan use and journal use are the two
  most heavily used traditional library services
  proportionally by sponsored researchers
• Sponsored research use of electronic services in
  the current environment is generally at the same
  level as print journal use in the print
  environment was

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Sponsored Research Usage by Type of Library
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Demonstrating the Validity of the Study
ViaLongitudinal Research Use at One Main
Academic Library
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Impact of Recent Library Studies
1.2 points potentially equals a 1.2 million/yr
recovery gain on a 100 million base
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Questions/Comments?

• Brinley.Franklin_at_UConn.edu
• This presentation is available at
• www.lib.uconn.edubfranklin