Librarians, too, have more complex duties, and often end up playing a role they didn’t sign up for: accountant or financial planner. “I cannot single-handedly bankrupt the library,” said Tina Panik, reference and adult services manager at the Avon (Conn.) Free Public Library. She was only half-joking — her library follows a series of protocols that ensure one person alone doesn’t make financial decisions. But no matter the size of the library or its budget, basic fiscal knowledge is important for librarians.
In its National Impact of Library Public Programs Assessment (NILPPA), ALA identifies financial skills as one of nine programming competencies that are vital to successful library programs. (The remaining eight are event planning, organizational skills, knowledge of the community, interpersonal skills, creativity, outreach and marketing, content creation, and evaluation.)
Financial skills include the ability to budget and use techniques like cost-benefit analysis, understand documents such as basic contracts and tax forms, and identify grants, partnerships and other sources of financial support.
Here are tips from programming librarians on how they keep track of what they’re spending, determine whether they’re using funds wisely, and seek financial aid from outside sources.
1. Know the rules, or get help from someone who does
How your library handles funding and payments will differ by city, state, and type of library. As a librarian who plans programs, even if you aren’t directly in charge of accounting, knowledge of tax forms for paying presenters or artists, and understanding basic legal contracts, can help you avoid financial snafus. Kristen Calvert, programs and partnerships manager at the J. Erik Jonsson Central Library in Dallas, said she and her programming staff “don’t need to understand contracts, but we do know to not sign anything without understanding rules or asking questions first.”
Who can you ask for help? Panik said that at her municipal library, “both the library and the city have accounting departments who liaison with us.” Jina DuVernay, adult services manager at Gwinnett County (Ga.) Public Library near Atlanta, said the business services team at her library looks over any contracts, especially those sent by publishers for author events.
Janie Hermann, adult programming manager at the Princeton (N.J.) Public Library, said her library requests contracts in advance from presenters, and “we get a W-9 [tax form] from every person we pay. If we don’t have that in advance, they don’t get paid.”
2. Track purchases
Keeping track of every cost for a program might seem like a thankless task, but it’s crucial for ensuring you stay on budget and can justify your spending. Plus, grant funders and other donors often require detailed accounts of expenses. Calvert said when working with her institution’s Friends of the Library group, “they track on their end, we track on our end, and we have to make sure the numbers match.”
Hermann’s library has a finance department that uses professional accounting software to create invoices. “I also have two spreadsheets where I track by month and program area, then make adjustments as the year goes along,” she said.
To evenly allot her budget, she divides the amount of money she receives each year by 12, then allocates funds for programming for each month. “If you’re halfway through the year and over budget, you might have to pivot and cut back,” she said.
Hermann's budget spreadsheets include tabs with costs for presenter fees, technology, food and drink, other supplies, outreach — anything that involves a financial transaction.
3. Be prepared to explain expenses
If you work for a public library, whether you’re spending funds from the government, grants or donors, Calvert said, “remember you’re accountable to people who pay taxes. You need to be able to tell the story of why you bought something.”
The more you track statistics and explain why programming is essential, “the more likely you are to get funding,” Hermann said. “We include a goal for every event.” The goal doesn’t always need to be numerically quantifiable. “Sometimes the goal is to raise awareness of racial literacy or bridge divides in communities,” she said, “or to increase well-being and feelings of connectedness.”
4. Consider cost when evaluating program success
“Cost-benefit analysis” might sound like a term best left to financial experts, but librarians should understand this process as well. According to Investopedia, “cost-benefit analysis evaluates the feasibility of a project by comparing its expected advantages with its costs, both tangible and intangible.”
Hermann said she keeps detailed statistics about costs and attendance on a spreadsheet for each program. “If there’s a splashy program where we spend $700, but get a small turnout, we might say it’s time to cancel,” she said.
She described a series called Readings Over Coffee, where local people were paid to act out readings, that had been running at her library for 40 years when she became the programming manager. In addition to paying actors, the library also provided coffee and cookies. Most audience members, however, came on buses from other areas. “We were serving a community, but not our community, so we ended that program,” she said.
Numbers don’t tell the whole story. Panik added that not every program needs high attendance numbers to make a difference, such as workshops on suicide or disaster prevention.
When critics questioned why Hermann’s library hosted an outdoor Dancing Under the Stars series, she reminded them that “part of how we serve community is to bring joy. It’s in our mission statement. Often 300 to 400 people attend. People love it. You can’t buy that kind of PR for the library.”
5. Meet periodically to plan budget periods
To keep track of annual programming costs, consider budget planning sessions more than once per fiscal year. Calvert said her library plans three budgeting sessions: in January for summer programming, in April for September through December, and in August for January through May.
“If we have an opportunity for more programming, we’ll add it,” she said, “but for the most part we’re looking far out in advance.”
6. Cultivate partnerships
If you have a limited programming budget, or even if you have a robust one, you’ll likely need to partner with outside organizations. “Partnerships are part of my job,” Calvert said. “If we want a science museum to do programming with us over summer, a lot of that is networking and maintaining relationships with them during other times of the year.”
Outside organizations might also collaborate with you to apply for grants. Calvert said she decides whether to seek grants using the same cost-benefit analysis she uses for programming: “Is the gain I get from this money worth the work?” Teaming with other organizations splits the labor, and might yield higher grant funds.
7. Set clear expectations on contracts
Hermann recommends paying artists and performers rather than expecting them to “do it for exposure” because “they’re trying to make a living.” For contracts with program presenters, Hermann recommends laying out in detail what will be required in advance, from what time the person should arrive, to what happens in the case of a snowstorm, to when and how someone will be paid. “Think through all the details and exceptions,” she said. “There’s no right or wrong way to do it, but do decide on policies.”
By clearly documenting expectations and guidelines, contracts can keep both parties accountable and reduce misunderstandings, unexpected costs, and the likelihood of legal disputes.
8. Look far and near for grants
For funding to supplement your programming budget, grants — although often labor-intensive to apply for — can give you a boost. If your library doesn’t have a development officer, volunteer, employee, or contractor who researches and applies for grants, you’ll likely need to take the initiative yourself.
To find grants, keep an eye out online for opportunities. “I am probably on every single LISTSERV there is related to museums and libraries, and I’m always on social media, looking for grants,” said DuVernay, who reads professional journals in search of funding.
Hermann suggested connecting with your state’s or territory’s humanities council; while the current federal funding situation may have impacted them in different ways, each typically offers small grants or provides speakers to appear at events for free. The National Endowment for the Humanities and Federation of State Humanities Councils provide contact information for each state council.
You might have more luck soliciting support from local foundations and nonprofits, especially those created to serve a specific community, such as an early-childhood organization to purchase books for baby storytime. Local businesses might also be willing to donate funds for programs or directly supply items such as food.
Other grantmakers in your community include philanthropic organizations, banks or credit unions.
Librarians also recommend seeking grants from ALA’s Public Programs Office (PPO) or the Institute of Museum and Library Services. ALA’s Programming Librarian website keeps an up-to-date page with PPO’s current grant and exhibit opportunities. There’s also a new ALA eLearning course that teaches a comprehensive foundation in collaborative grantseeking, proposal development and submission for external funding success.
And don’t forget the simple step of thanking grantors in addition to providing them with detailed expense spreadsheets. You might dial back the flattery, though, unlike the leaders of Franklin, Massachusetts, did when thanking Benjamin Franklin for his book donations. They wrote, in part:
May all the seeds of Science, which You have sown in this, and various other parts of the world, grow up into a living Laurel, to adorn your illustrious Head in the Temple of Fame. And, in the meantime, may the sincere and affectionate Esteem of this Town, as well as the accumulated Honours, which You have merited and received from the united Republics of Liberty and of Letters, serve to smooth the last Passages of your eminently useful and important Life. We have the honour to be, with the deepest Gratitude and Respect, your Excellency’s most obliged, and most obedient, humble Servants.
Do you have any financial practices to share? Email them to us at publicprograms@ala.org.
Financial Skills is one of the nine programming competencies identified by ALA's National Impact of Library Public Programs Assessment (NILPPA).
This article is made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services grant number RE-256725-OLS-24.
