Only one school reported clerical help other than WPA. This staff member was listed as assistant librarian but was untrained. Most of her time was reported under three categories: Circulation, general office work, and school routine. Four schools reported WPA help. These workers reported time in all categories except teaching classes, but 63 percent of their time was reported under circulation, care of collection, office work, and school routine. Nine schools had NYA helpers. In most cases these were highschool students but one school reported two college students on their NYA staff. They, too, reported some time spent in every category except teaching, but 77 percent of the total NYA time was spent in circulation, care of collection, and school routine. Three schools reported paid student help other than NYA. Here again most of their time (82 percent) was spent in circulation, care of collection, and school routine. Forty percent of all the time reported for the entire survey was recorded for volunteer student assistants. Every school reporting used unpaid student help, varying from 1 student, second semester only, in 1 school to 182 students in another school. This group reported time in every category but time reported under unproductive was deleted because they were not being paid. Seventy percent of their time was spent in circulation and care of collection and 15 percent in school routine. This percentage distribution is shown in the accompanying graph which shows the distribution for all workers and the distribution by class of position in the six large groups. For convenience, in this graph, WPA workers are classed with clerical workers and all students including NYA, paid student help, and volunteer students are grouped together. Salary Schedules The variation in salary schedules in different schools has been mentioned as a factor in rendering unit costs difficult of comparison. In this study the salaries of librarians varied from $1,000 in a small town in the Pacific group to $3,520 in a city in the North Central group. The average for this group was $1.969; the median $1,800. Salaries for trained assistant librarians ranged from $1,000 to $2,800, with the average $1,758, and the median $1,700. In the four schools reporting WPA help, the rate per hour varied from 37 cents to 83 cents. The average was 53 cents; the median, 48 cents. The NYA rate varied from 20 to 30 cents per hour. In five schools it was 30 cents; in two schools the rate for high-school students was 25 cents and in the school reporting college students on the staff, the rate was 25 cents. In this school and in one other the rate for high-school students was 20 cents an hour. Two schools with paid student help paid them at the rate of 30 hour and one school paid 25 cents. cents per An arbitrary rate of 20 cents per hour was assigned to unpaid student help in order that the cost of their time in money could be computed. The preceding salary and wage rates must be taken into consideration in interpreting the unit costs. Percentage distribution of direct labor time by activity and by class of position Summary and Conclusions. As stated at the outset, the purpose of the study was to determine the cost per unit of certain activities carried on in a selected group of school libraries. In order to make this aim specific, nine questions were formulated which it was hoped the completed study would be able to answer. The answers to these questions, as derived from the figures submitted by the 11 participating libraries, are presented here in averages of both time and money: 1. To answer a reference or information question required 3.6 minutes and cost 5 cents. 2. To prepare a bibliography required 98.5 minutes and cost $1.59. 3. To instruct a class (average enrollment 26) for one period in the use of books and the library required 41.9 minutes and cost 93 cents. 4. To give advisory service to a person required 2.6 minutes and cost 4 cents. 5. To circulate a book required 2.6 minutes and cost 2 cents. 6. To acquire a title required 17 minutes and cost 31 cents. 7. To check in and care for a periodical required 6.3 minutes and cost 7 cents. 8. To catalog and classify a title required 27.3 minutes and cost 34 cents. 9. To catalog and classify a unit of nonbook material (pamphlets, clippings, audio-visual aids, etc.) required 7.7 minutes and cost 13 cents. In addition to unit costs for the activities in a school library which it was possible to break down into units, the study shows the percentage distribution of direct labor time in all the categories and the percentage distribution by class of position including professional, subprofessional, clerical, WPA, NYA, paid student help, and volunteer student help. The average percentage distribution of total labor time, all classes of positions included, for the 11 participating schools is as follows: School library activities 1. Reference, instruction, and book advisory services_ 3. Acquisition and cataloging_____ 4. Administration, public relations, and office routine_. Percent of total 9.7 52.8 11. 1 8.8 12. 6 6. Unproductive time, time spent in keeping the time record, and 5.0 5. School routine__ 1. Reference, instruction, and book advisory service. The average percentage distribution of direct labor time for professional staff only is as follows: School library activities 2. Circulation and care of collection___ 3. Acquisition and cataloging Percent of total 21. 2 32. 2 16. 4 4. Administration, public relations, and office routine.. 14. 6 5. School routine__. 9.6 6. Unproductive time, time spent in keeping the time record, and 6.0 Only 10 percent of the total time in these selected schools, under the present organization, was spent in reference, instructional, and book advisory services which aim at giving the student an appreciation of books and a knowledge of their use, the ultimate objective of school-library work. On the other hand, 90 percent of the total time was spent in technical processes which are generally recognized merely as the necessary means for effective teacher-pupil use of the library's resources and services. These technical processes include circulation and care of collection which consumed 52.8 percent of the total time, and school routine which consumed 12.6 percent of the total time. Of the total time reported by all the participating schools, 33.2 percent was for professional and subprofessional staff; 11.4 percent for clerical and WPA help, and 55.4 percent for student help which includes NYA and paid and volunteer students. These figures seem to indicate that more paid clerical help is needed in school libraries in order to release the professional staff for the more important duties connected with reference, instructional, and book advisory services. This study has obtained cost data which may be helpful to school administrators and has suggested a technique for conducting like studies for comparison and verification. In addition, it has disclosed the need for more detailed investigation into some phases of school library costs. The following are suggestions for further study in connection with unit costs in school libraries: 1. A study by a controlled demonstration, to determine unit cost of adequate reference service. 2. A study, by a controlled demonstration, to determine unit cost of readers' advisory service adequate to meet the needs of the curriculum. 3. A study to investigate technical processes of routine school library procedure such as circulation, care of collection. 4. A more detailed study of cataloging costs over a longer period of time. 5. A study to investigate the techniques of school routines performed by the library staff, such as checking attendance, issuing permit slips, etc. Bibliography AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION. Board and committee reports: library administration: subcommittee on cost accounting. A. L. A. bulletin, 30: 403, May 1936. Part 1. A survey of libraries in the United States. Chicago, the Association, 1926. vol. 1, p. 30; vol. 4, p. 137-40. CATALOG SECTION. Proceedings. Plan for an investigation into and report on the cost of cataloging. A. L. A. bulletin, 19: 278-86, July 1925. General session. A. L. A. Bulletin, 18: 300-1, August 1934. COMMITTEE OF THE COLLEGE AND REFERENCE SECTION. College and reference library yearbook; no. 3, p. 85–93. (Leupp, H. L. Cost survey of the University of California library.) EXECUTIVE BOARD. Report of committee on cost and method of cataloging. A. L. A. bulletin, 8: 182-84, July 1914. Report of committee on cost and method of cataloging. A. L. A. bulletin, 7: 239-41, July 1913. The A. L. A. cataloging test at Yale and Columbia. Library journal, 42: 110-12, February 1917. BALDWIN, EMMA V. and MARCUS, WILLIAM E. Library costs and budgets: a study of cost accounting in 37 public libraries. New York, R. R. Bowker Co., 1941. 196 p. BISHOP, WILLIAM W. Further notes on the number of cards for a book. Library journal, 31: 270-71, June 1906. Practical handbook of modern library cataloging. 2d. ed. Baltimore, Williams, 1924. p. 58-60. Some considerations on the cost of cataloging. Library journal, 30: 10-14, January 1905. BUELOW, BERTHA E. Cataloging costs. Library journal, 60: 657-59, September 1935. CALIFORNIA. (Department of DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION. The secondary school library in California. Sacramento, California State printing office, 1939. education bulletin 1939, no. 2) p. 50-62. CHATTERS, CARL H. and TENNER, IRVING. Municipal and governmental accounting. New York, Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1940. p. 272-88. Cooperative study of secondary school standards. Evaluation of a secondary school library. Washington, Cooperative Study of Secondary School Standards, 1938. 49 p. Evaluation of secondary schools: general report. Washington, Cooperative Study of Secondary School Standards, 1939. 526 p. Cost accounting in libraries. Library journal, 64: 511, June 15, 1939. CUTTER, CHARLES A. Dr. Hagen's letter on cataloguing. Library journal, 1: 216-20, Feb. 28, 1877. DEWEY, MELVIL. The coming catalogue. Library journal, 1: 423-27, Aug. 31, 1877. EATON, THELMA. A study in school library finance. American Library Association. School libraries committee. School library yearbook, number five. Comp. by the School libraries committee of the American Library Association. Chicago, American Library Association, 1932. p. 84-89. ELDER, VERA. Budgets for school libraries. A. L. A. bulletin, 31: 14-20, January 1937. FARGO, LUCILE F. The library in the school. 3d. ed. Chicago, American Library Association, 1939. 552 p. Preparation for school library work. New York, Columbia University Press, 1936. 190 p. GAGE, HARRY L. Oct. 15, 1937. Montclair cost-finding procedure. Library journal, 62: 755, GRAY, D. Library cost accounting. Library association record, 39: 70, February 1937. HAND, ELINOR. A cost survey in a university library. Library journal, 55: 763-66, Oct. 1, 1930. HANSON, J. C. M. The cataloging test in the University of Chicago library. Library journal, 40: 399-400, June 1915. HORTON, MARION. A study in high-school budgets. American Library Association. School libraries committee. School library yearbook, number five. Comp. by the School libraries committee of the American Library Association. Chicago, American Library Association, 1932. p. 100-20. HUTCHINGS, F. G. B. Library cost accounting. Library association record, 39: 173, April 1937. JOECKEL, CARLETON B., ed. Current issues in library administration: papers presented before the library institute at the University of Chicago, August 1-12, 1938. Chicago, University of Chicago Press, [c1939.] p. 236-39. JOSEPHSON, AKSEL G. S. The cataloging test: results and outlook. Library journal, 41: 654-57, September 1916. The cataloging test again. Library journal, 42: 344, April 1917. Committee on cost and method of cataloging. Library journal, 39: 598-99, August 1914. LELAND, SIMEON E. Observations on financing libraries. Library quarterly, 2: 353-66, July 1932. |