Answer to Question #212727 in English for Nelile

Question

The ongoing economic recession creates a negative impact on budgeting in libraries and information centers where libraries together with publishers and vendors who supply libraries with resources have to make strategic changes as they seek to provide a high level of service when uncertainty continues to dominate planning and development (Collins 2012:1) with reference to this statement, discuss the role of a budget in a library or information centers. The examples in your study guide can not be used to answer this question.

Answer 1

Both the library board and the library director should be aware of their complimentary roles in the library's fiscal and budget procedures, and mutual respect and understanding of each other's positions is critical to the library's success. The board is in charge of securing sufficient finances to continue the library's programs, as well as assisting in the creation of the yearly budget and approving the final document. In conjunction with the board, the library director must develop an annual budget for the library and present a current report of actual expenditures against the budget at each meeting. In the current economic climate, library budgets and allocations from the parent institution are shrinking. Librarians must become more involved in efforts to develop library-specific development programs for their operations so that they can continue to provide the services and programs that their constituents expect from them while also maintaining their institutional relevance as the information provider for the academic and research missions of higher education. Senior library administrators must become increasingly involved in operational fund-raising, while library faculty and staff must conform to the changing needs of this new cultivation environment. Senior library administrators must collaborate closely with the development and fund-raising departments of their institutions.