Centennial Library 2019-2020 Annual Report

$28,822 $140,716 $860,232 BUDGET PRODUCTIVE SPACES Use of group study rooms continued to grow by nearly 10% in Fall 2019 and Spring 2020 prior to the pandemic. Over 56% of reservable time slots were booked by students - this is an increase compared to the 49% and 53% averages of the past two years. The rate rises to 68% when hours during which students are in chapel or class are excluded. With the planned opening of an attached campus dining location, library staff used time during the COVID pandemic to reposition library resources for better visibility and aesthetics. Print journal, audio - visual, and newspaper collections were relocated and given new signage. $674,374 2019 - 20 Library Expenditures Library expenditures for 2019 - 20 totaled $1,704,144 with personnel expenses accounting for over 50% and resource expenses for 40% of total expenditures. Systems and operational costs accounted for the remaining 10%. Due to the financial challenges stemming from the COVID - 19 pandemic, the library participated in a university - wide budget holdback and managed to accrue a $250,000 surplus. This surplus was generated through salary savings from an unfilled position and the cessation of student employment, along with suspended spending on non - essential items and resources. The fixed nature of library resource subscriptions meant that the print book budget in particular suffered the biggest holdback. While graduate program credits offset some digital resource costs, subscription - based resource models place the library in a position of limited financial flexibility. During this year, the library began a two - year project to examine and reduce print periodical costs in order to create more financial flexibility and to better structure costs between print and digital resources. This project is especially timely in light of the financial constraints posed by the pandemic. The COVID - 19 pandemic affected every aspect of the library, including patron use of our facilities. Prior to the switch to online learning, patron traffic in the library had continued to rise. Fall 2019 increased 2.1% in traffic over the previous fall, while Spring semester traffic had increased 6% year - to - year through March 13. Patron traffic during the work week increased, and weekend traffic reversed from 2017 - 18 trends with Saturday showing a slight increase and Sunday showing a slight decrease when compared to the previous year. Even with the switch to online learning, the library stayed open with reduced hours as a vital space on campus for remaining students and faculty.