Finance
Finance for the resources managed by the library comes from various sources including the Library and Curriculum allocations from the school's Grant, the ICT budget, P & C contributions, donations and the Annual Education Week book fair. The relatively limited library budget draws mainly on P&C funding and school grants.
It fluctuates from year to year ($10000–$13000) depending upon school priorities. The TL explained that the library budget is the same now as it was 10 years ago, yet the cost of resources has doubled. This impedes collection development and software acquisition.
The budget is supplemented by donations from our Education Week book fair and the teachers who run Book Club. Due to budget and space restrictions the TL no longer subscribes to magazines, the encyclopedia will not be replaced and the non-fiction section of the library is small. This affects the TL's ability to use a resource-based approach in library lessons.
Information texts to support new units of work are selected by the HOC and purchased from curriculum funds. Some teachers supplement what the school supplies by buying their own books or borrowing from Brisbane City Council libraries.
Budgeting
The teacher librarian has responsibility for the library and ICT budgets. The ICT committee makes decision related to the ICT budget, but the teacher librarian controls the library budget, but his decisions are influenced by whole-of-school priorties. Spending priorities are based on school needs. In the past few years a significant portion of the budget has been directed towards maintaining and increasing the Accelerated Reader collection.
A more inclusive and consultative process needs to be put into place to ensure that teacher and student needs are met. A budget procedure such as that suggested in Resource Management for Schools with Teacher-Librarians could be adopted to facilitate wider and more effective consultation about spending priorities and resource acquisition. (Learning Resources Unit, p.38)
It advocates: establishing resource needs and school priorities; collating and distributing an initial budget; submitting budget for approval; advising staff of the outcome; monitoring and reviewing spending; and reporting back to staff. This process could be further improved by using a consultative approach to establishing resource needs and priorities.
Reference
Learning Resource Unit, Studies Directorate: (1991). Resource Management for Schools with Teacher-Librarians Queensland Department of Education: Brisbane. (p. 38)
