The information supermarket

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine how finances in an academic library might differ from household finances; in particular, how a library budget might be unbalanced throughout a fiscal year.

Design/methodology/approach

The author compares typical library resources to representative groceries purchased for a home and assess the relative nutritional value of each.

Findings

The author concludes that using a library‐style budget is likely to result in a less interesting diet, but such a budget is, with planning, adequate to sustain a minimum level of health. In future columns the author plans to examine ways a library budget might be altered in order to move beyond adequacy to higher performance levels.

Originality/value

The approach should be worthy of note for administrators who struggle with the “use it or lose it” philosophy common in libraries.

Citation

Steele, K. (2007), "The information supermarket", The Bottom Line, Vol. 20 No. 4, pp. 165-166. https://doi.org/10.1108/08880450710844012