Change: Watch For The Right Time

Collection budgets are an essential tool for building collections yet the amountsof allocations can ebb and flow over the years. Modifying the budget structure is anintimidating, exhausting exercise with administrative and political ramifications thataffect the workload of collections librarians as well as the workflows in acquisitionsdepartments. External and internal forces such as impending budget cuts and serialsreviews, a new library system, new department heads, newly minted librarians’ learningcurves, and the creation or demolition of big deals seem like roadblocks to a budgetrevision process. They can also be seized as opportunities to look at new models.Libraries get by with the allocations provided in any given year, but would it be betterfor the collections if the approach to allocations was more flexible from the beginning,more of a proactive allocation instead of reactive? At Binghamton University Libraries,the hiring of a new Head of Collection Development and migrating to a new library systemnecessitated collaborative conversations concerning structures and roles for the twodepartments. This paper presents scenarios and recommendations for determining when andhow to collaboratively evaluate a legacy budget structure, redefine allocations, andreview staff roles.