Bibliographer's Guide

The University, and therefore the Library, operates on a fiscal year calendar: May 1 through April 30 of the following year. At the end of a calendar year and beginning of the next calendar year, the Library Administration must prepare and present a budget request for the upcoming fiscal year. That request will consist of many parts, one of the largest being the materials budget. The materials budget is what is used for collection development as well as support of the materials budget.

Monographs
Sometime after May 1, the Library will be informed of the amount of the budget that is allocated to the Library. Once the Library's budget is known, the Collections & Resource Management Librarian as Chair of the Collections Committee and with the advice of the Committee, will draft a new materials budget, taking into consideration all fiscal commitments. The base amounts for monographs allocated for each discipline are determined through a review of past allocations with input from the bibliographers.

Serials and other resources
Increases to resources other than monographs occur in one or more of the following means:

1. Inflationary increases for journal titles based on standard reports obtained prior to the budget cycle.
2. Requested increases for materials (including monographs) to support new majors, minors, or programs.
3. Requested increases for materials to support existing programs based on need and demand.
4. Reallocation of funds prior to the fiscal year as print resources are replaced by electronic resources.

Fund management

• It is extremely important that funds be expended throughout the fiscal year. Acquisitions staff cannot be expected to process an extraordinary number of orders and to get those orders paid for in time for the closing of the accounts at fiscal year's end. The fiscal year for Regis University is May 1 through April 30. A bibliographer's calendar establishes month by month guidelines for encumbrances and expenditures.

• Each bibliographer can check the fund management reports on Lumen from on campus. Allocations are established only for the monographic funds.  The fund management report is updated each time an order is placed or an invoice is paid and the transactions posted throughout the day. A password will be assigned to each bibliographer.

• Contact the Acquisitions & Collections Librarian, as Chair of the Collections Committee, for recommendations to increase or decrease budget expenditures for all types of materials. The Collections Committee will make recommendations to the Dean to increase budgetary figures based on the bibliographers' recommendations and recommendations from the committee. Justifications for an increase or decrease may include a new major or minor, a change in curriculum focus, an unusual increase in demand, or an inability to expend the current funds.

• Specialized reports may be requested from the Acquisitions and Collections Librarian. These reports may include and are not limited to expenditures by fund for current and past years, titles purchased or on order.