Since I haven' t worked within a budget, these articles proved to be very beneficial to me. I really liked Jacquie Henry's suggestion of preparing the purchase requistion in advance and asking for the purchase order number to place the order online at a later date. This protects the librarian from losing funds later in the year (or the funds getting allocated somewhere else). "By doing this, I don’t lose my money if there is a budget freeze. AND – I don’t have to scramble to order everything at once just in case there might be a freeze," states Jacquie Henry. In the current state of school district budgets and concerns, this is an excellent idea that I would have never thought about as a first-year librarian. I also like the way she broke her purchase orders into three categories: “replacements and updates for outdated books...Non-fiction books to support the curriculum...and Literature and fiction to support English/Language Arts and Reading”.
Doug Johnson also makes some very important points in the three postings we looked at. One really stood out to me, because it also came up in the textbook reading. Form a committee! "Remember that media budgets which come as a recommendation of a media/technology advisory committee carry more weight than those developed by the individual media specialist. Who wants to turn down a whole group, especially if that group includes parents, students, and teachers?" states Johnson. This is something that hasn't been done in our district in the past, and I think it will be very beneficial to begin doing. Teachers will feel more ownership, and other stakeholders will realize the importance of the library and what impact reducing the budget will cause. Another important statement was to relate the budget to the districts goals. Find the focus, and make it your focus as well.
In Help Sweep Up the Budget Dust, Johnson states how not only is it important to make a request for items, but also to include the rationale and need for each item. If you can clearly state why an item is needed and the impact it can have on student learning, you are more likely to receive funding for it if the budget allows.
The first year I was a librarian my principal wanted to spend the rest of my budget in about March. When he called I could fortunately tell him that I had spent it all!
ReplyDeleteHe never asked again.