Friday, September 11, 1998

08:32:38 AM

For a bi-monthly wrap up of NOLA news and information, be sure to check out NOLA Notes!

Desktop Categories

ALA Election Results

I am pleased to share some exciting news with you. Sarah Long was just elected the President Elect of the American Library Association. She was a mentor for the Library Leadership 2000 in 1993 and 1995. NOLA was one of the first sponsors of this Institute and is a sponsor again in 1998. Many NOLA librarians attended the '93 or '95 program and had the opportunity to work with one of the finest leaders in our profession. Sarah worked for a number of years at the State Library of Ohio and in public libraries in the central part of the state. For additional information about Sarah and her position on issues, click on her web site.

More good news. Connie Van Fleet, a professor at the Kent State University School of Library and Information Science as of this coming fall, was elected a member of ALA Council (1998-2002).

1997 NOLA Cost/Benefit Study

In an effort to determine the cost of programs and services provided by the NOLA Regional Library System, we undertook a cost/benefit study during March/April 1998. Working with Zinner and Co., a management and accounting firm, we developed a model to calculate the actual cost of our programs. We also developed a model to determine the return on investment for member libraries.

The 1997 Return on Investment Sheet: Services and Programs shows you the cost of each major NOLA program and service. The Library Contribution is the total of all fees received from member libraries. As you can see, member libraries, as a whole, received a 419% return on their investment during the year. Members saved $638,085 by participating in the NOLA Vendor Discount Program and also had the opportunity to review children's books valued at $32,000 by participating in the Book Look program. Each NOLA member library received $3848 in services/programs provided by grants that we wrote/received and investments we made on behalf of the membership.

NOLA has also developed a Return on Investment Sheet for each member library showing the cost of core services for all members and the cost of specific programs that were used by their individual library as well as their own return on investment. During 1998 we will be tracking costs and will send each member a new Return on Investment report next winter.

Items submitted by:
Millie Fry - Email
NOLA Regional Library System

To Unsubscribe, send email to [email protected]