Allocative formulas are preferred alternatives for distributing the book budget among departmental funds. Economic efficiency via cost-effectiveness analysis is suggested as potentially useful for within fund acquisition of library-resource units. (Author)

A model is presented in which the division of library resources among competing interests is based upon considerations of economic efficiency. It is argued that allocation decisions should depend upon the prospective usage rate of materials, explicit value judgments about how much such use contributes to the university's goals, and costs. (Author)

Discusses the pressure placed on research libraries to maintain a balanced collection of serials and monographs, and presents an allocation formula for serial versus monograph budgeting. The formula is based on the findings of over 50 studies that used citation analysis to determine the actual percentage of serials versus monographs used by…