Budgets on My Mind: Changing Budget Allocations to Meet Teaching and Research Needs: University of Washington Case Study

In fall 2017, the University of Washington (UW) Libraries began a multiyear process to examine and update the resources budget structure and allocation model. The budget structure and allocation model at UW Libraries remained fundamentally the same for over 20 years. In that time there has been a shift toward more interdisciplinary research as well as significant changes in scholarly publishing and the acquisition environment for academic libraries. Recognizing that our budget structure and allocation model are no longer aligned with the changes in our environment, UW initiated a process with the goal of developing a model that is better designed to serve students and researchers and allow the libraries to respond nimbly to the challenges and opportunities in the publishing and acquisition environment.

This paper will describe our budget review process as a case study, which is intended to be a multiyear phased approach. In the first year, we implemented an environmental scan and survey of library budget structure and allocation practices. We will present a summary of findings from this survey, discuss some conclusions that inform our budget review process, as well as describe trends in academic library budget practices. The UW case study offers insight into one library’s approach to the difficult and sometimes contentious process of making changes to the resources budget structure and allocation model. We hope that we can provide practical ideas that could be implemented at other institutions.