library budgets Melissa Lydston

LIS 516 LE GSLIS

University of Illinois

A librarian should...• Create budget rationales and priorities using evidence from

strategic planning

• Meet with principal, Site Council administrators and/or district CFO

• Seek additional funding through fundraisers, grant writing and donations

• Create an action plan (should be an outcome based needs assessment detailing goals and objectives)

• Create a report as an analysis of how the budget will affect the school using a "whole school view" (Dees, Mayer, Morin and Willis)

A budget should...• Be supported by local and nationally published evidence that

shows how library programs impact learning, as well as assessment

• Be curriculum-based and support needs of the learner

• Include charts, graphs and per pupil expenditures

• Make comparisons on a state or local level, or to rival schools

• Include projected estimates for the next year (Don't do this at the last minute!)

• Support program guidelines and outlined school goals/objectives

Suggestions• Professional organizations: awards, vendor discounts, network

programs (http://guides.masslibsystem.org/ebooks?hs=a)

• Fundraising: book sales, Amazon accounts

• Partnerships with other departments within the school who can pay out of their budgets, partnerships with magnet schools, businesses, and community groups. (e.g., Better World Books gives schools a small percentage of the donated books' profits)

• Other Funds: PTA/PTO funds, principal’s discretionary budget, staff development budget

• Incorporate the community: parents and student volunteers, (having students donate a book in honor of their birthday or having a senior leave behind a "legacy book"). Create a Library Leadership Team of volunteers (Carin E. Lagesten)

• Grants: independent or private organizations (The Daughters of the American Revolution, e.g.), family organizations (Will and Ann Eisner Family Foundation), businesses (Best Buy), organizations (National Gardening Association)

• Deals: advance copies, competitions, Early Reviewer Groups (http://www.librarything.com/er/list)

• Technology: trials, free web-based software, open source software

You could start out with wanting to host a monthly breakfast for your library volunteers. Contact a local grocer and see if she will lend bagels and orange juice for the breakfast. After hosting the event, write a thank you note. Credit the donor in a newsletter. Make bookmarks with with a credit line for the grocer. Sing the grocer's praises at the next PTA/faculty meeting. Write a letter to Chamber of Commerce saluting grocer.

(Anderson and Knop)

Start local

Places to Search

Magazines and News

• eSchool News

• Learning and Leading with Technology

• American Libraries magazine

• Knowledge Quest (AASL)

• Library Journal

• Library Media Connection

• Horn Book

• School Library Journal

• Voice of Youth Advocates (ALA)

Directories

• Corporate 500: The Directory of Corporate Philanthropy

• The Foundation Directory Parts 1 and 2

• Foundation Grants to Individuals

• Statistical Abstract of the United States: The National Data Book

• The National Directory of Corporate Giving

Government Agencies

• Library Services and Construction Act (LSCA)

• Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA)

• National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH)

• State Humanities Councils

• Council on Foundations (http://cof.org)

• Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (cfda.gov)

schoollibrarymonthly.com

edweek.org

ezra-jack-keats.org

http://www.ala.org/aasl/awards/info-tech

http://www.ala.org/awardsgrants/awards/

https://www.titlewave.com/intro/grants.html

http://www.hmhco.com/educators/educational-services/grants-funding/free-grant-database

grants.gov

http://fundsnetservices.com

http://foundationcenter.org

Do's and Dont's of grant writing• Don't write a grant proposal without the approval of supervisor

• Do collaborate with other teachers and subjects, like art or physical education

• Don't make the letter about you. Funders' primary goal is not to make life better for school librarians, but for kids

• Do show a way to measure the achievement of your proposed goal

• Do have a can-do, energetic, positive, collaborative attitude

• Do volunteer to be a grant reader

• Don't use edu-speak in the grant proposal

• Do keep a calendar of annual grants

Cynthia Anderson, “Go Where the Grants Are”