Library book sales: A cost–benefit analysis

Library Collections, Acquisitions, & Technical Services 29 (2005) 149 – 168

Library book sales: A cost–benefit analysis Audrey Fenner1 Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress, 101 Independence Avenue, SE Washington, DC 20540-7480, USA Available online 27 June 2005

Abstract The perception that library book sales result in a net profit has not been examined systematically. Real and hidden costs are involved in book sales, including the opportunity cost of preventing staff from performing normal work. Cost–benefit analysis is applied to models of library book sales of several types: annual, on-going, and online. In each instance, analysis indicates that book sales are not cost-effective. An opinion sample taken at one academic library indicates that library personnel have misgivings about staging book sales but see them as having public relations benefits. Additional analysis would be of value, applied to measuring costs and benefits of specific book sales. D 2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

1. Purposes of library book sales At the ALCTS Gifts and Exchange Discussion Group, 1994 ALA Midwinter Conference, Steve Johnson of Clemson University cited two reasons for libraries to sell used books: collection management (the need to cull books not needed for the collection) and fundraising. As reported by Ron R. Ray, Johnson emphasized that one of these two purposes must be identified as the primary goal of holding a book sale [1]. A third justification for staging used book sales, that of building good public relations, may outweigh considerations of efficiency and cost-effectiveness and will be discussed shortly. E-mail address: [email protected]. The author is the former Head, Acquisition Department, Walter Clinton Jackson Library, The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, North Carolina. 1

1464-9055/$ - see front matter D 2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.lcats.2005.04.003

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First, let us consider Johnson’s two purposes for holding library book sales. It is obvious that not all books donated to libraries can be added to their collections, for a variety of reasons. For example, the donated books may be in poor condition, may duplicate current holdings, may be outdated, or may not fit library collection development guidelines. There is also a need to weed duplicate copies and other redundant materials from existing library collections. In recent years, bmanagementQ of collections has been emphasized over bdevelopmentQ of them, making disposal of books a necessity. Offering these materials for sale rather than simply disposing of them fills the goal of culling the collection, in part. Anyone who has run a book sale knows that sizable quantities of materials may remain unsold at the close of the sale, and will then have to be stored, given away or discarded. Weeding the collection could be accomplished more easily by making a few trips to the recycle bin, without first organizing and running a book sale. Discarding books, however, can be a touchy proposition. In the author’s experience at one state library, concern about discarding books was so great that library staff removed the covers from unwanted books and transported them to a dumpster under cover of darkness. Library book sales combine the disposal function with the tantalizing prospect of raising money. Why not realize a profit for the library by selling materials that have outlived their usefulness, or that have come to the library unsolicited?

2. An unexamined assumption An assumption is made that library book sales make a profit for the institution through the sale of unwanted books. While a book sale may bring in proceeds of hundreds or thousands of dollars, this money cannot be considered clear profit, though it may at first seem to be. Few people calculate or consider the invisible costs involved in library book sales: staff time and labor to receive materials and separate those that will be sold, to box and store these materials until sale time, then to plan, organize, set up, and run the sale. Someone must take phone calls from donors, answer questions about potential gifts, visit donors to view collections, pick up donated books and transport them to the library, publicize the book sale, oversee setup, monitor the sale, ensure that cash is secured, and dispose of unsold books. The reason these costs are hidden or invisible to book sale planners is that the personnel involved, both librarians and support staff, already work for the library and their salaries and benefits are already accounted for in the library’s budget. Assigning some of their paid time to book sale-related work at first seems easy and logical. How much time, however, does book sale work take from their real responsibilities, preventing librarians and staff from doing the work they were hired to do? Are the proceeds from book sales sufficient to justify the use of time?

3. Literature review Most of the existing literature on library book sales is concerned with running sales efficiently rather than with analyzing their costs and benefits. The fact that book sales once held at certain libraries have been discontinued suggests that some in-house analysis has been

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done. For example, according to postings made in January 2004 to the discussion list Giftexch, book sales are no longer held at the Stanford University Libraries, [2] nor at the University of Texas at Austin [3]. While published reports exist of specific library book sales and how they were organized, these reports do not present the topic in a studied or systematic way. They do not offer comparative analysis regarding population served, type of library, or geographic region, and they do not show net profit after bearing fully burdened costs. Hidden or invisible costs are not enumerated, nor are proceeds adjusted accordingly. There are only sparse data covering the cost–benefit analysis of book sales, that is, the systematic calculation of the total real costs of library book sales in comparison with any monetary increase or nonmonetary benefits resulting from them. At the ACRL National Conference held in Nashville in 1997, Terry S. Latour presented a paper on library fundraising activities. Latour surveyed library directors at 600 randomly selected colleges and universities, concerning fundraising at their institutions. He obtained responses from 517 institutions, or 86.1% of the libraries in the sample, and ranked the success of various fundraising activities based solely on the income they realized. Used book sales were among the most popular fundraisers but were carried out by only 12.5% of the institutions surveyed. According to Latour, bUsed book sales and friends groups are perennial favorites, but the income realized from these efforts is seldom as great as can be realized with the other methodsQ [4]. Based on income generated, book sales ranked third as a source of funds after private foundation grants and government grants. Income raised through all types of fundraising activities represented an average of only 6.33% of the operating budgets of the libraries surveyed. Latour stated in his conclusion that, bFund raising requires a significant commitment of staff time and resources,Q [4] but he did not attempt to measure the cost to institutions of these commitments. In 1989, Thomas E. Nisonger published results of a study that ascertained the extent of theft at a university library book sale that was not staffed full-time. Nisonger provided an explanation of the difference between what he called brealQ and btheoreticalQ (hidden) costs of a book sale, giving an approximate value for the theoretical costs. His article included a table showing cost of book sale staffing depending on the rate of pay of sale workers at various library classification levels. Nisonger’s work provides a basis for cost analysis of all aspects of library book sales [5]. Gary W. White and Gregory Alan Crawford applied the concept of bdirectQ and bindirectQ costs when they used cost–benefit analysis to justify the acquisition of electronic resources at Heindel Library, the Pennsylvania State University, Harrisburg. White and Crawford stated, bLibrary services and products have associated costs, including direct monetary costs and indirect costs such as time. The decision to acquire or provide a particular product or service should involve an examination of its costs and benefits to library customers.Q They cautioned that, bAlthough direct costs . . . are typically easy to measure, indirect costs are much harder to ascertainQ [6]. These authors cited other studies that applied cost–benefit analysis in various areas of library collections and services: comparisons of different means of providing access to journal content, providing fee-based services, and costs of interlibrary loan services. bOne technique for analyzing cost-effectiveness is to perform a cost–benefit analysis (CBA). CBA involves analyzing the benefits, or potential

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benefits, of offering a product or service and comparing them to the costs of offering that product or serviceQ [7]. In their paper, bCost Benefit Analysis: A Summary of the MethodologyQ, Glen Holt and Donald Elliott showed how cost–benefit analysis can be used to estimate the dollar value of public library services. Holt and Elliott explained, bThe library management team then can decide if they can increase net benefits to the public by reallocating library resources or budget support from one service to another.Q They stated that cost–benefit or CBA methodology ballows dollar estimates of value derived from particular servicesQ [8]. Detailed studies have applied cost–benefit analysis techniques to comparing costs of maintaining electronic and print journal collections. Carol Hansen Montgomery and Donald W. King analyzed costs, both direct and indirect, of the shift from print to electronic journals at Drexel University’s W.W. Hagerty Library. Their study included overhead and fixed costs, staff benefits, and institutional overhead bas is done when budgeting for grants and contractsQ [9]. Costs of space, systems, services, supplies, and staff were the broad areas considered, and many of these were hidden costs. Roger C. Schonfeld, Donald W. King, Ann Okerson, and Eileen Gifford Fenton collected data on staff activities and costs and did a blife-cycle analysisQ of the transition to electronic journals at eleven academic libraries [10]. Like Montgomery and King, they studied non-subscription costs, both direct and hidden, including staff time and capital expenditures for space. As these and other studies show, cost–benefit analysis can provide estimates of the value of library services, or justify expenditures on certain types of resources. This analysis rightly includes hidden as well as direct costs. It is a method that can legitimately be applied to examining the total direct and indirect costs of carrying out library book sales. A librarian or administrator could estimate the costs and potential value of a library book sale by applying cost–benefit analysis. According to White and Crawford, bThere are two general types of CBA [cost–benefit analysis] studies. First, CBA can be performed before undertaking a project and involves estimating costs and benefits. Second, CBA can be performed after a purchase or project and involves measuring past costs and benefitsQ [11]. Business or government policy analysis use both bhardQ and bsoftQ data (estimates). Here the costs of selling books on behalf of libraries are estimated. The estimates used in these models can easily be adjusted for differences of location, or empirical results (measurements) can be inserted and any missing items added after an actual book sale. In the Montgomery and King project, for example, library staff members kept log sheets recording the time they spent at journal-related tasks. Average salaries by job classification and staff benefits were taken into consideration in including these data in the analysis [12].

4. Pro forma cost–benefit analysis: an annual library book sale Following is a pro forma estimate of the total of paid staff hours and staff costs (including both salary and benefits) required by year-round, on-going work related to an annual book sale.

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Time estimates are based on the author’s observation of annual book sales at Walter Clinton Jackson Library, The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (2001–2003), and semiannual book sales at the library of Missouri Western State College, St. Joseph (1997–2001). Costs are based on the following figures: ! There are 260 paid 8-hour days, 52 paid 5-day weeks, or 2080 paid hours in a working year. ! A librarian’s salary is estimated at $45,000 per year ($21.63 per hour). ! A support staff person’s salary is estimated at $22,000 per year ($10.58 per hour). This estimate is low, since support staff members at several different classification and salary levels would perform book sale-related work. ! Full-time salary rates in the table are increased by a ratio of 260/220 (1.18%). Each fulltime employee is paid for 260 days per year, but performs work on site for 220 days per year. The remaining 40 days per year (statutory holidays, institutional holidays, vacation, and sick days) must be allocated in order to estimate costs accurately. ! Benefits for librarians and support staff are estimated at 20% of annual salary. This estimate is intentionally made low, for broad applicability; the value of benefits at many large institutions may exceed 26% of annual salary. (Benefits for full-time workers include paid sick leave, health insurance, retirement plans, long-term disability, unemployment insurance, death and disability insurance, etc.) ! A student worker’s salary is set at a wage of $5.45 per hour. This estimate may be low for some locations. ! The number of books available to offer at the annual sale is set at 7500, including both donated books and books withdrawn from the library collection. This total is based on the average numbers of books offered at annual sales at Jackson Library, the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (2001–2003). The total is used in estimating the number of hours needed to transport the books from storage and set up the sale. ! Sale proceeds are also based on results of 3-day annual sales at Jackson Library, the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (2001–2003). Their books were priced at $3.00 each on the first day of the sale, $2.00 on the second day, and $1.00 on the third day. Approximately half the books were sold. The average of the total proceeds of annual book sales over 3 years was approximately $6500, or $1.73 per book sold (Table 1). This model indicates that an annual book sale results in a net loss to the library rather than a net profit. Less labor-intensive alternatives exist to a big, annual event (a book sale held in the library once a year). Would alternative means of selling materials be less labor-intensive and more cost-effective? What are some of the possibilities?

5. On-going book sale One option is an on-going book sale. Because less staff time and labor are involved, is an on-going book sale closer to being cost-effective than other types of library book sales?

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Table 1 Annual sale Task

On-going tasks and costs Take calls from donors Librarian Support staff Receive and transport donated books within library (support staff) Check titles in OPAC (support staff) Shelve for librarian to review (support staff) Librarian review: determine if gift books are added to collection or designated for sale Sort sale books by subject and efface ownership marks (support staff) Box sale books and move to storage (student worker) Book Sale Committee meetings Librarians (3) Support staff (3) Subtotal: on-going tasks and costs

Benefits Hourly Total Rate Hours Total of pay at 20% subtotal per year per week hours ($) ($) ($) per year ($)

0.5 0.5 1

26 26 52

25.52 12.48 12.48

5.10 2.50 2.50

30.62 14.98 14.98

796.22 389.38 778.75

1.5 0.5 1

78 26 52

12.48 12.48 25.52

2.50 2.50 5.10

14.98 14.98 30.62

1168.13 389.38 1592.45

1

52

12.48

2.50

14.98

778.75

0.5

26

5.45

n/a

5.45

141.70

25.52 12.48

5.10 2.50

30.62 14.98

6.5

4.5 4.5 338

137.81 67.39 6239.96

2

25.52

5.10

30.62

51.04

1 3

25.52 12.48

5.10 2.50

30.62 14.98

25.52 44.93

2 4 4

25.52 12.48 5.45

5.10 2.50 1.09

30.62 14.98 6.54

51.04 59.90 26.16

4 8 4

25.52 12.48 5.45

5.10 2.50 1.09

30.62 14.98 6.54

102.08 119.81 26.16

16 32 1

25.52 12.48 25.52

5.10 2.50 5.10

30.62 14.98 30.62

408.32 479.23 25.52

2 8 91 429

25.52 12.48

5.10 2.50

30.62 14.98

51.04 119.81 1590.56 7830.52 6500.00 (1330.52)

One-time tasks and costs Arrange personnel to set up and handle the sale (librarian) Publicize the sale Librarian (1 at 3 hours) Support staff (3 at 1 hour each) Transport books from storage Librarians (2 at 1 hour each) Support staff (4 at 1 hour each) Student workers (2 at 2 hours each) Set up space for sale; arrange and display books on tables Librarians (2 at 2 hours each) Support staff (4 at 2 hours each) Student workers (2 at 2 hours each) Monitor 3-day sale, including receiving cash Librarians (8 at 2 hours each) Support staff (16 at 2 hours each) Deposit cash (librarian) Dispose of unsold material after sale ends Librarians (1 at 2 hours) Support staff (4 at 2 hours) Subtotal: one-time tasks and costs Total cost of book sale Proceeds of 3-day book sale (estimated) Net cost to library

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A moderate number of books would be priced and placed for sale on shelves near the library entrance. Unsold books would be removed and replaced every week or two. This approach saves many of the hours required to plan, prepare, and run an annual book sale. For example, there is no need to transport the books to and from a storage area, nor for the major, out-of-the ordinary efforts required by an annual sale: publicizing, arranging staffing, setting up a sale space, displaying books. Payment could be made on the honor system, using a locked box secured to a wall or large piece of furniture for payment, and the library would accept losses due to theft or non-payment. It is likely that these losses would remain at an acceptable or at least tolerable level. Nisonger’s 1989 study, where a library book sale was not staffed full-time, showed that losses totaled 17% of book sale prices. That is to say, 17% of the sale materials’ total value, if all had been sold at full price, was stolen. Nisonger calculated that full-time staff monitoring of the sale would have cost more than the value of the stolen items. He concluded that acceptance of this loss rate was more cost-effective than paying staff to monitor the sale [13]. Following is a pro forma estimate of the total of paid staff hours and staff costs (including both salary and benefits) required by work related to an on-going book sale. As with the model of an annual sale, 7500 books are set as the total number offered for sale in a year. In estimating total sale proceeds of on-going sales, it is assumed that the sum realized would equal the total when 7500 books are offered at an annual book sale, minus a theft factor since the on-going sale is unmonitored.

6. Pro forma cost estimate: an on-going book sale According to this model, an on-going book sale results in a higher net loss to the library than an annual book sale, because of losses due to theft (Table 2).

7. Online book sales Another possibility is to offer books for sale on the Internet. This process can be time consuming, since a librarian or staff member must research the value of donated books, assign prices, evaluate, and describe the books’ condition correctly, and package and ship or mail books to purchasers. In a posting to the discussion list Giftexch, Helen Mack, Acquisitions Librarian at Lehigh University Library, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, described selling used books on amazon.com (http://www.amazon.com) and half.com (http://www.half.com) for nearly 2 years. Online sales require an initial investment of time and effort for logistical concerns, but once procedures are in place, student assistants can do much of the day-to-day work [14]. Half.com, the company used by Helen Mack, provides an example of a commercial online book sale scheme. Half.com allows sellers to list items (mostly books and CDs, but a variety of other items, as well) for sale at a fixed price that the seller determines. Items remain available for sale until sold, rather than for a specific amount of time. Half.com does not

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Table 2 On-going book sale Task Take calls from donors Librarian Support staff Receive and transport donated books within library (support staff) Check titles in OPAC (support staff) Shelve for librarian to review (support staff) Librarian review: determine if gift books are added to collection or designated for sale Sort sale books by subject and efface ownership marks (support staff) Publicize the sale (librarian) Set up space for sale; arrange and display books on shelves Support staff Student workers Deposit cash (librarian) Dispose of unsold material Support staff Student workers Book Sale Committee meetings Librarians Support staff Subtotal: on-going tasks and costs Annual proceeds of on-going book sale (estimated) Theft factor (17%) Net proceeds Net annual cost to library

Hours per week

Total hours per year

Rate of pay ($)

Benefits at 20% ($)

Hourly subtotal ($)

Total per year ($)

0.5 0.5 1

26 26 52

25.52 12.48 12.48

5.10 2.50 2.50

30.62 14.98 14.98

796.22 389.38 778.75

1.5

78

12.48

2.50

14.98

1168.13

0.5

26

12.48

2.50

14.98

389.38

1

52

25.52

5.10

30.62

1592.45

1

52

12.48

2.50

14.98

778.75

2

25.52

5.10

30.62

51.04

52 52 1

12.48 5.45 25.52

2.50 1.09 5.10

14.98 6.54 30.62

778.75 340.08 25.52

8

12.48

2.50

14.98

119.81

2 2 431

25.52 12.48

5.10 2.50

30.62 14.98

61.25 29.95 7299.46

1 1

0.5 0.5

6

6500.00 1105.00 5395.00 1904.46

collect a commission or fee until the item sells. Half.com also collects the payment from the buyer and deposits the funds into the seller’s bank account, minus a commission, along with a shipping reimbursement. This is done on an approximately biweekly basis. Setting up a seller’s account may present difficulties (e.g., an academic library may not have a bank account apart from the institution’s account). Listing items on half.com is easy: it is necessary only to enter the ISBN to retrieve information, since half.com has its own database of books

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and CDs published in North America. This relieves the seller of composing his or her own descriptions for each item in many cases, though half.com often lacks any information on items published outside of North America or items without an ISBN or UPC barcode. The Library Booksales Web site (http://www.librarybooksales.org) provides a mechanism for public libraries and affiliates such as Friends groups to sell bbetter booksQ on the Web. Sales of withdrawn library materials are discouraged. Membership is required (there is no fee), and Library Booksales receives 10% of the purchase price of books sold. The program is not available to commercial booksellers. At the ALCTS Out-Of-Print Discussion Group Meeting, ALA Midwinter Meeting, January 2002, Patricia Hilker presented her experience of using Alibris (http://www.alibris.com) to sell a backlog of approximately 2000 gift books while working at the University of California in Riverside. Alibris, a commercial company, required a minimum listing of 1000 titles to sell books online. As reported by Narda Tafuri, Hilker initially spent about 40 hours transporting the stored gift books to a more accessible location and sorting them, and another 40 hours bcheckingQ books online (i.e., verifying bibliographic information and prices). From October to December 2002, Hilker and her staff spent 2 hours per day on online sale startup work and entered 1000 books in the Alibris database. With the initial work completed, Hilker spent 5 hours per week overseeing the online sale of the books, while student workers spent approximately 10 hours per week listing new titles and filling orders. Book sorting by type and condition is a continuing requirement for online selling. (Hilker indicated that book condition was an important factor in successful online sales, with books in good to fine condition selling best, and that academic/scholarly books sold better than other types.) Hilker reported spending 40 hours verifying information online for 2000 books, or 1.2 minutes per book, and an additional 1.0 minute per title to enter bibliographic and descriptive data online. She estimated her average book price at $25.00, with online sales averaging approximately $100 to $160 per week [15]. Another speaker at the same meeting, Thomas McAdam of the University of California at Irvine, described using the Advanced Book Exchange site (http://www.abebooks.com) to sell books online. After a Friends of the Library used bookstore closed at this university, McAdam, like Hilker, had a backlog of 2000 used books to sell. He and his staff spent 15 hours per week for a 3-week period to enter data on all 2000 books in the Advanced Book Exchange database, a total of 45 hours for data entry, or 1.35 minutes per title. Income after 6 months of online selling was approximately $2500 ($416.67 per month, or $97.35 per week), with an average book price of $40.00. At the time of his report, McAdam had carried out online sales for a year and a half. Because of a loss of library staff, McAdam employed student workers for much of the book processing. Staff and students entered titles in the abebooks.com database, checked prices, used a spreadsheet to track titles sold, and adjusted prices of unsold books. One full-time staff person spent 6 hours per week, and one student assistant spent 3 hours per week, entering and selling books. McAdam estimated that he received 10 book orders per week. A total of 9 hours of work a week was required to sustain these 10 weekly book orders [16]. These are comparable reports on online sales from librarians at two different institutions, working with different vendors/online intermediaries. Both started with an initial inventory of

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2000 books. Hilker reported that data entry required 1.2 minutes per title, and McAdam estimated 1.35 minutes per title. Hilker and her staff worked 15 hours per week with online book sales on an on-going basis, while McAdam’s staff spent 9 hours per week. On-going sales for Hilker brought proceeds of $130 per week, on average, and McAdam reported average sales of $97.35 weekly during his first 6 months of online sales. With Hilker’s staff working 15 hours a week to sustain these sales, the proceeds equal $8.67 an hour. With McAdam’s staff working 9 hours a week to sustain online sales, the sales bring in $10.81 per hour. These sale totals do not include vendors’ fees for listing titles on their Web sites. Following is a pro forma cost–benefit analysis of online book sales, based roughly on these accounts from Patricia Hilker and Tim McAdam. Both librarians continued with online book sales, but Tafuri’s report of the 2002 ALCTS Out-Of-Print Discussion Group Meeting does not state how many books are processed weekly at either library, or how many books are sold. The time estimates below, for sorting sale books, checking and verifying information online, data entry, and selling online, are taken from the reports of processing the initial backlogs. These figures are extrapolated to indicate time and personnel costs if 7500 books are offered for sale in a year. Vendors such as eBay, Alibris, and Abebooks charge fees for their services, using various methods: binsertion fees,Q subscription fees for listing books, or percentages of sales completed. Hilker’s and McAdam’s reports of their total weekly or monthly online sales are used to estimate yearly earnings from online sales. Hilker reported that Alibris charged took 20% of each sale. Vendors’ charges have been included in the following table, based on that rate.

8. Pro forma cost estimate: online book sales Clearly, selling books online is a losing proposition, based on Hilker’s and McAdam’s statements of the time required. The net loss to the institution is several times higher when this method of selling is used than with either an annual book sale or an on-going book sale (Table 3). Again, these estimates of hidden costs of online book sale are based on salaries and benefits only. They do not include the cost of space for library personnel (workstations, square footage, heat, and so on). Nor do they include the opportunity costs to the library of personnel performing tasks outside their regular library work.

9. Other-than-personnel costs To the costs shown in the above tables must be added indirect, non-personnel costs, and these should be subtracted from any expected profit or actual monetary proceeds. The additional indirect, non-personnel costs of library book sales include the following: ! Storage costs for materials accumulation and space for the sale itself—with building costs ranging from $100 (low) to $200 (high) per square foot, and building life estimated at 20

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Table 3 On-line book sale Task

Hours per week

Total hours per year

Rate of pay ($)

Benefits at 20% ($)

Take calls from donors Librarian 0.5 26 25.52 5.10 Support staff 0.5 26 12.48 2.50 1 52 12.48 2.50 Receive and transport donated books within library (support staff) Check titles in OPAC 1 52 12.48 2.50 (support staff) Shelve for librarian to review 0.5 26 12.48 2.50 (support staff) 0.5 26 25.52 5.10 Librarian review: determine if gift books are added to collection or designated for sale Sort sale books by condition 0.5 26 12.48 2.50 and type (support staff) Verify bibliographic data and prices 1.3 70 12.48 2.50 online (support staff) Oversee online sales (librarian) 5 260 25.52 5.10 Data entry: add new title listings, adjust prices. Fill orders (student worker) Support staff 8 416 5.45 n/a Student worker 4 208 12.48 2.50 22.8 1188 Subtotal: personnel costs of online book sales Proceeds at $110 per week 52 (estimated average) Vendor’s charge: 20% of sales Net proceeds Net cost to library

Hourly subtotal ($)

Total per year ($)

30.62 14.98 14.98

l796.22 389.38 778.75

14.98

778.75

14.98

389.38

30.62

796.22

14.98

389.38

14.98

1048.32

30.62

7962.24

5.45

2267.20 15,595.84 6760.00 1352.00 5408.00 10,187.84

years (median), the cost is $5–$10 per square foot per year. A room size of 10 feet by 20 feet (median) or 200 square feet then results in a cost of $1000–$2000 cost per year for storage. No adjustment increases for interest or replacement are included. Schonfeld et al. calculated similar storage costs. They determined on-campus storage to cost $100 per square foot in 2004 dollars, or $2.50 per volume for off-site storage, with space costs amortized over 25 years. [17] In their cost study of print versus electronic journal collections, Montgomery and King arrived at a higher estimate for building costs, citing a rental fee of $20 per square foot [18] to storage costs must be added 50% (median) for air conditioning/heating/lighting, maintenance, and shelving costs (depreciation and replacement). A total of $1500–$3000 is the cost of storage or sales space per year, based on using 200 square feet, and this amount should be subtracted from any expected or calculated profit. ! The cost of equipment rental, placement, and removal—these costs include acquisition and use of tables, tents, security systems, table covers, boxes, bags, etc. Their rental or purchase

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and depreciation must be accounted for, as well as placement and removal, and personnel costs to procure the items. The average total is likely to run from $200 to $600, but may be substantially higher. ! Opportunity costs to the library and greater campus community of salaried personnel performing tasks outside their regular work—this is a key factor that is nearly always omitted in accounts of book sales. Seldom does analysis of book sales include the opportunity cost to the library and greater campus community of library personnel performing tasks that take away from the focus, efficiency, effectiveness, timeliness, production, and productivity in their regular library work. The costs to others in the campus community of displaced effort of personnel involved in book sales can amount to thousands of dollars. Opportunity costs can be estimated by directly doubling personnel costs, unless it can be assumed that productivity multiplies when work is added, or that extra time is available. One need only study the effects of long-term staff reductions on workload to realize that either situation is unlikely. ! Space costs for library personnel (required in opportunity costing)—space costs include workstations, office fixtures, square footage, heat or air conditioning, electricity, and so on. This is an important element since it represents the cost of having library personnel do other work. Space costs will easily run over a thousand dollars. These costs can be estimated by inflating salary and benefit figures by approximately 40%.

10. Additional costs The above other-than-personnel costs are generic and should be applied to any complete analysis. There are other costs than may warrant inclusion depending on the specific circumstances of a particular book sale. These additional costs include the following: ! Policy meetings regarding book sales of director-level personnel, unless policy and practice are already in place—add a minimum of $500–$1000, depending on the number and duration of meetings and the number of senior administrators involved. ! Meetings with Friends of the Library, should they be involved (a policy choice)—this would include director-level personnel meetings with Friends of the Library. Add a minimum of $500 to well over $2500, depending on the number, duration, and level of library personnel involved (based on salary and benefits only, exclusive of opportunity costs). ! Publicity (a policy choice) using radio, TV, newspapers, etc.—many libraries use only free publicity, but there are limits to the availability and effectiveness of free publicity. Effective advertising will cost well over a thousand dollars but may produce significant increases in attendance. ! Signage and printing (a policy choice)—graphic design, professional printing, and copying are included here, with associated costs of placing signs and flyers, and personnel costs. These are likely to run $500 or more, even if the printing is done in-house.

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! Additional security (a policy choice)—security costs include personnel, whether in-house or outsourced, and equipment. Sale organizers may decide that losses due to theft are within tolerable limits or are less than the cost of additional security. ! Engineering (likely required)—physical plant personnel may be involved in moving, removing, and relocating materials. Certain library personnel may be prohibited from such activity due to union rules, job descriptions, or library or campus policy. These costs are likely to total over $400.

11. Organizational considerations A library department head or other supervisor may be appointed to coordinate book sales. This would ensure the cooperation of the staff that person supervises, but would also mean that one unit of the library would carry the burden of the work. Is it a collection management responsibility to manage book sales? If the Acquisitions Department receives donated materials, is Acquisitions also responsible for disposing of them? What about the possibility of rare and valuable books being donated, and not recognized? Should the special collections librarian evaluate all donated books when they arrive? Book sales have public services and public relations aspects, which indicates that library administrators also need to be involved. Should the institution’s development office manage book sales? If a professional librarian coordinates a book sale, will help be readily available from members of support staff if they do not normally report to that person? Would paid student time be made available to that librarian, for sale-related purposes? Some librarians enjoy organizing book sales. Others may find it discouraging or demeaning to be assigned as the library’s disposal person, especially if their usual responsibilities involve decision-making rather than operational functions, or if their interests normally lead them to more cutting-edge types of activity. As mentioned earlier, a third justification for holding book sales may outweigh all considerations of efficiency and cost-effectiveness—book sales can be seen as having value as a public relations or library outreach activity. As stated by one librarian at Jackson Library, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, bI don’t think the main benefit is the several thousand dollars taken in each year. While this is certainly welcome money, I think that a lot of people on campus-students, faculty, and staff, and some off campus—really look forward to the sale each year, even though there are more and more competing library sales each year. I think the sale has been good publicity for the library; and well managed, I think the publicity can produce even better resultsQ [19].

12. Other alternatives to an annual book sale 12.1. Sell to book dealers Another approach is to offer books for sale periodically to local or regional booksellers. This method of sale has advantages in saving staff time and library space. There is no need to

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involve staff in a book sale, the books are stored for a limited time only, and there is no need to list them as there is with library book exchange schemes. After donated books have been received, sorted, evaluated, and rejected for the library collection, they are shelved together, probably in a technical services or closed stacks area. Local used book dealers are invited to visit the library and bid on the entire collection of books, with the stipulation that the dealer purchase them all, and move them at his own expense. Many books donated to libraries are not of interest to booksellers, but dealers will take less valuable books in order to obtain others that are of greater value. Books and back volumes of scholarly journals can also be offered to non-local dealers such as Zubal Books (http://www.zubal.com/sell.jsp). Another alternative is to combine dealer bids on selected books with other methods of selling or disposing of books. 12.2. Consignment sales In the online posting to Giftexch described earlier, Helen Mack of Lehigh University Library described making an agreement with a used/antiquarian bookseller to sell books on consignment. When books from the library were sold, 40% of the dealer’s sale price was applied as credit on the library’s next invoice. Mack described the books offered as bpretty obscure stuff Q and said that sales were not high [20]. 12.3. Book auction A book auction is another way of selling books that are not wanted for a library’s collection but that are considered too valuable to be sold at library book sale prices. Auctioning books may bring a greater return per title than the other methods librarians may try. Selling to book dealers, in contrast, will bring in no more than wholesale prices for books. Vincent Golden of the University of Illinois Library conducted a book auction in 1996, which he described to the ALCTS Acquisitions Section Gifts and Exchange Discussion Group at the 1996 ALA Annual Conference. The books were divided into lots, catalogs were printed and mailed, and an auctioneer was hired. This auction was intended to disburse a backlog of books and was a one-time event, not intended to be repeated annually. The materials offered were collected over a period of many years, and the auction took almost 2 years to plan and organize [21]. Books can also be auctioned online. Internet auction sites charge up-front fees, but online auctions have a worldwide market. At the ALCTS Out-Of-Print Books Discussion Group, ALA Midwinter Meeting, January 2002, Howard C. Bybee of Brigham Young University told of his selling experience using eBay (http://www.ebay.com) [22]. Bybee described the process as being very labor intensive, involving learning the auction jargon, describing the books accurately, and negotiating with buyers regarding shipping charges and method of payment. Rare books must be photographed and software purchased to manipulate the images for display on the Web. Bybee stated that the average price of books he auctioned online was $25.00.

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12.4. Outsourcing It would be possible to outsource the sale of unwanted books and withdrawn library materials. Local service clubs, fraternal organizations, or charitable associations are groups that may be willing to organize and run a library book sale, for a share of the proceeds. These groups may also be able to store the materials for the library. 12.5. Giving books away Barbara Royer, Serials Librarian at McNeese State University Library, Lake Charles, Louisiana, described on Giftexch an on-going book sale that is carried out from a large room on the library’s second floor. Gifts books are shelved by subject in this room, and the area is open to patrons to browse and buy. Books that do not sell are placed on a bgive-awayQ cart that is stationed near the front entrance. According to Royer, balmost all the books put out for give-away are takenQ [23]. Other means exist of giving away unwanted books. Books can be offered to hospitals, nursing homes, prisons, and charitable organizations. A library may run a give-away or btake one, leave oneQ exchange. For example, Mary Seaman of the Libraries of Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, reported to Giftexch readers that books remaining unsold after a book sale are placed on shelves located outside her office and offered to library patrons bfree for the taking.Q Stickers are used to code the books according to date added to the shelves, and the oldest material is pulled and discarded periodically [24]. Title lists of books and journals to be given away can be posted to discussion lists like BACKSERV. Links to this and other back issue and exchange services can be found on the Back Issues and Exchange Services Web site (http://www.uvm.edu/~bmaclenn/ backexch.html) maintained by Birdie McLennan of the University of Vermont Libraries. The site not only lists exchange services, but also discussion lists for information about gifts and exchange processes. The Web site Donation Programs for Books, Journals and Media (http://www.ublib. buffalo.edu/libraries/units/hsl/donationprograms.html) is maintained by Pamela Rose of the Health Sciences Library, State University of New York at Buffalo. It lists non-profit organizations or programs where books and journals can be donated. The list is organized alphabetically by the destination country for the donated materials, and some entries include links to local information pages. Of course, there are costs associated with giving away materials, such as staff time to prepare title lists and distribute them, time for would-be recipients to search lists of offerings, time to pack and ship materials, and costs of mailing or shipping. Not all libraries are allowed to sell or give away books, or it may be necessary to make special arrangements to allow either. A state government may not allow the sale of state property, including books withdrawn from a state-funded library. Academic librarians may be restricted by accounting office restrictions or the university constitution from re-selling materials purchased tax-exempt.

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13. A sampling of opinions At Jackson Library, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, annual book sales have been conducted under the auspices of the Friends of the Library, although sales held to the time of writing have been planned and carried out by library personnel. Because the institution is state-supported and materials purchased using state funds cannot be sold, the Friends group purchased withdrawn library materials set aside for the sale, for a nominal fee (donated materials, not having been purchased, were not considered subject to this restriction). Members of Jackson Library’s support staff who have had experience with these book sales seem to have misgivings about them. An informal poll taken by e-mail in October 2004 elicited a number of interesting comments, opinions, and suggestions. What follows are excerpts from personal communications between members of the library support staff and the author. The names of the staff members offering these comments will remain anonymous, as a matter of protocol. Comments from some staff respondents concerned the amount of time and work involved in staging a sale. The extent of this labor is not readily apparent to anyone attending book sales but must be taken into consideration. One respondent described working with publicity, setup, and running the sale: I recall that the book sale usually took place right after fall break and that we’d blanket the campus with flyers during fall break while the students were away. We’d hit all the classroom buildings, EUC [university center] and the cafeteria building. We also asked businesses if we could post flyers. Then after the book sale was over, we’d go back and retrieve the flyers—that was the bnot so funQ part of the sale.

Others respondents discussed sale operations: We’d rent a bunch of long rectangular tables and white tablecloths to set up in the lobby the day before the sale. We’d set up the tables by subject area and then fold up the sides of the tablecloths over the books. The folks working the Reference Desk that night would keep an eye on the tables. We’d ask Library staff to volunteer to sign up for shifts. I know that at least once we did an online signup. The cash box would go to Circulation when the book sale shut down at night. We had a chart where we’d place tick marks to keep track of the types of items we sold.

Another respondent discussed the labor involved with clean-up after the sale: My main involvement was the clean up after the book sale. Last year _____, myself and one or two others were here until about 6:00 P.M. Often there are not many volunteers for Friday clean up; everyone is tired and wants to go home. Tables that have been rented need to be cleared off. A decision [had to be] made as to which materials will be held over for another book sale and what will be carted to the dumpster, [and] what can be recycled. Often there are not enough bins downstairs to hold all the stuff being discarded, and then it is a question of what to do with it. Book trucks and book ends need to be returned to their owners, sheets taken off the tables and washed, signs taken down to be kept for the next book sale. Sometimes groups will take our discards, _____ has sometimes taken some of the stuff, _____ took some stuff for a prison ministry, but what to do if the people aren’t here by the time we are dismantling everything? Just like setting up, it is physical labor, but usually there are more volunteers for setting up.

Some staff members reported misunderstandings and unfortunate incidents with past book sales: We had a disaster one year. A well-known and much loved faculty member died and his family gave his books to the library. They had no problem with putting them in the book sale. We asked them, and we had their permission. But, his

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name was still in them and there was an awful uproar. He was still popular on campus and a lot of people saw the books and were upset. I thought one man was going to have a stroke, right there on the spot. One year a faculty member plunked down a stack of books on the table, all withdrawn library books, and said, bI’m buying these and every one of them is going back in the collection!Q

In a similar vein, another person made a suggestion intended to stave off trouble: There should be signs posted at book sales to say that all donors have agreed to the sale of the books. The library should not be held responsible if there are problems about offering books for sale.

The experiences of some respondents seemed to have soured them on the whole idea of book sales: I don’t think that it’s any secret that used book dealers look forward to our book sale to dig for hidden treasures and otherwise replenish their stock! The book sale is a lot of work to bring in a few thousand dollars in restricted funds.

Several staff members suggested less labor-intensive alternatives to a big annual book sale, such as the small-scale on-going sale of used books in the library, offering books to local dealers, or selling books on the Internet. One person commented, speaking in favor of an annual sale, bsuch a visible event certainly brings folks into the Library and is good PR,Q and added, bI don’t think that an event such as we’ve had in the past and online selling are necessarily mutually exclusive.Q In contrast to these remarks, most of which were made by support staff, a professional librarian who responded was strongly in support of annual book sales. This person felt that book sales were of real monetary and public relations benefit to Jackson Library, and recommended that their scope be enlarged. This librarian favored soliciting book donations strictly for an annual sale: The book sale should be more than disposing of gift books we don’t want. If we don’t solicit books just for the sale, it will cut down our proceeds considerably.

The same respondent also advocated adding a pre-sale social event solely for Friends of the Library, where wine and desserts would be served and to which admission would be charged.

14. Involving Friends of the Library What about involving Friends of the Library in book sales? Only 43.7% of the academic libraries in Terry Latour’s study had a friends group [25]. If such a group does exist, and if there are members willing and able to take part in all aspects of book sale work, would their involvement lessen demands on library personnel and reduce the costs of a used book sale? Assigning specific tasks to a mixed committee of volunteers from the library and from the Friends group would divide the work. There are, however, legal and operational reasons why institutions avoid mixing volunteers and paid staff in doing the same job. How would such a group be administered? How would operational requirements be enforced? It would be

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necessary to designate one person to manage all book sale-related efforts. This person would take calls and questions from donors, find storage space in the library building, oversee checking and packing of donated books, coordinate planning for the sale, organize cleanup after the sale, and so on. For reasons of logistics and expediency, this book sale coordinator would need to be a librarian or other person working in the library rather than a volunteer member of the Friends group. Likely this arrangement would diminish involvement by Friends of the Library volunteers, who would be drawn in to the process less directly and at a more clerical and superficial level. At Jackson Library, The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, legal liability is a concern when volunteers work on campus to organize a book sale or perform other functions. The university’s insurance does not cover volunteers on campus performing regular, on-going work that is deemed bnecessaryQ work. Latour found that, at institutions that have a friends group, bapproximately half are of a mixed social and fund raising natureQ [26]. If volunteers plan and run a book sale in conjunction with paid library staff, continuing cooperation and goodwill are assumed and would need to be maintained by all. There would be little reason other than goodwill for volunteers to cooperate with a designated sale coordinator when differences of opinion arose. The library’s book sale coordinator would need to implement volunteers’ opinions and preferences as much as possible, including ideas that would add labor for library staff and take additional time from their usual work. If the paid staff is not enthusiastic about the book sale, or resent being required to help with the sale, these negative attitudes could have a detrimental effect on Friends of the Library volunteers, who could withdraw their support not only from the sale effort but also from the library itself. Latour calculated, from his survey results, that bnearly a third of friends groups are not successful in terms of fund raising benefitsQ [27]. Nevertheless, the creativity of these volunteers must not be underestimated; their strength lies in their network and networking abilities. Members of Friends of the Library groups may have better fundraising ideas than book sales, and their efforts may be much more successful if they are not focused on used book sales. If a volunteer group has a certain amount of collective fundraising energy to offer, why exhaust the greater part of that energy on an event like a book sale, which is highly labor-intensive and yields only minimal proceeds? At best, a library book sale will bring in a few thousand dollars, a small sum in contrast with the hundreds of thousands that library may spend each year on new materials. Because of the hidden costs described earlier, a library book sale is at best a cost-neutral activity rather than a fundraiser. Before asking volunteers to expend their time and energy in helping with book sales, it is important to identify the real purpose and value of a book sale, and consider if this is the best way to use the willing service of the Friends.

15. Conclusion The models used here to analyze three methods of selling used books indicate that there is a net financial loss rather than a net financial increase to the institution in each instance. These

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cost–benefit analyses indicate that book sales, whatever else they may be, are not effective fundraising activities. Systematic after-the-fact cost–benefit analyses are needed to determine if the methods of selling books that are described here can result in any actual profit or return for a library. How many book sales are conducted in libraries year after year just because it is assumed that they are profitable? Intangible benefits of book sales are more difficult to measure. bWhereas costs typically are more immediate and somewhat more accurately known, benefits are much more difficult to measure and typically are spread out over a much longer time periodQ [28]. If the chief benefit a book sale presents is an intangible public relations benefit, how well and how easily can this be measured and studied? Holding a book sale is a policy decision. If, as the models indicate, the book sale cannot be justified as a means of raising money, the decision to hold it anyway must be informed by this knowledge. Incurring costs for the institution can be justified only if identifiable, objective benefits will result. Finally, there are ethical concerns with selling books in libraries, and employing existing staff to do it. Is the selling of books really an appropriate use of library staff time? Should librarians be in the business of selling used books at all? Librarians consider themselves professional providers of information, and public servants. How well do librarians serve users when they spend their salaried hours trying to turn a profit by selling used books? Questions like these deserve consideration.

References [1] Ray, R. L. (1994). Highlights of ALCTS Acquisitions Section Gifts and Exchange Discussion Group. Library Acquisitions: Practice & Theory, 18, 320 – 321. [2] Hawthorne, D. (2004, January 29). Re: Ethical issues in book sales. Message posted to Giftexch electronic mailing list. Retrieved from http://www.listserver.itd.umich.edu/cgi-bin/lyris.pl?enter=giftexch [3] Wolfkill, B. (2004, January 28). Re: Ethical issues in book sales. Message posted to Giftexch electronic mailing list. Retrieved from http://www.listserver.itd.umich.edu/cgi-bin/lyris.pl?enter=giftexch [4] Latour, T. S. (1997). Fund raising activities at colleges and universities in the United States. Retrieved January 14, 2005, from http://www.ala.org/ala/acrlbucket/nashville1997pap/latour.htm [5] Nisonger, T. E. (1989). Theft and staffing at a university library book sale. Library Acquisitions: Practice & Theory, 13, 343 – 350. [6] White, G. W., & Crawford, G. A. (1998). Cost-benefit analysis of electronic information: A case study. College & Research Libraries, 59, 503 – 510. [7] Ibid. [8] Holt, G., & Elliott, D. (2002). Cost benefit analysis: A summary of the methodology. The Bottom Line: Managing Library Finances, 15, 154 –158. [9] Montgomery, C. H., & King D. W. (2002). Comparing library and user related costs of print and electronic journal collections. D-Lib Magazine, 8(10). Retrieved January 11, 2005, from http://www.dlib.org/dlib/ october02/montgomery/10montgomery.html [10] Schonfeld, R. C., King, D. W., Okerson, A., & Fenton, E. (2004). Library periodicals expenses: Comparison of non-subscription costs of print and electronic formats on a life-cycle basis. D-Lib Magazine, 10(1). Retrieved May 3, 2004, from http://www.dlib.org/dlib/january04/schonfeld/01schonfeld.html [11] White and Crawford. [12] Montgomery.

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[13] Nisonger. [14] Mack, H. (2004, January 29). Re: Ethical issues in book sales. Message posted to Giftexch electronic mailing list. Retrieved from http://www.listserver.itd.umich.edu/cgi-bin/lyris.pl?enter=giftexch [15] Tafuri, N. (2003). There’s gold in your basement: Libraries selling books on the Internet. A report of the ALCTS Out-Of-Print discussion group meeting. American library association midwinter meeting, New Orleans, January 2002. Technical Services Quarterly, 20(3), 45 – 56. [16] Ibid. [17] Schonfeld. [18] Montgomery. [19] Finley, W. (2004). Personal communication with the author, October 21, 2004. [20] Mack. [21] Alleman, S. (1997). Gifts and exchange discussion group. Library Acquisitions: Practice & Theory, 21, 83 – 84. [22] Tafuri. [23] Royer, B. (2004, January 29). Re: Ethical issues in book sales. Message posted to Giftexch electronic mailing list. Retrieved from http://www.listserver.itd.umich.edu/cgi-bin/lyris.pl?enter=giftexch [24] Seaman, M. (2004, January 29). Re: Ethical issues in book sales. Message posted to Giftexch electronic mailing list. Retrieved from http://www.listserver.itd.umich.edu/cgi-bin/lyris.pl?enter=giftexch [25] Latour. [26] Ibid. [27] Ibid. [28] White and Crawford.