Telling Your Libraries’ Fiscal and Service Story on One Page

Abstract

As part of the new budget model implementation, our University created the Central Unit Allocations Committee to review and evaluate all campus units’ financial plans. This committee was comprised of academic and non-academic representatives from across campus may have had little familiarity with the mission, scope, and/or fiscal needs of the units it was reviewing.

To help the committee, stakeholders were required to produce a one-sided; one page document that covered four specific areas and the document deadline was within two weeks of the request. How do you boil down a multi-million dollar budget and explain the diverse collections, initiatives, and services of a twenty-first century academic library to just one page and in a few days? Not easily; but with planning, communication, and compromise it can be done.