Modernizing Your Budget

Most librarians will stay well within the strict confines of their given budgets, which is the worst thing you can possibly do. If you run out of money in the book budget, the salary budget, paper for the copier, paper clips, etc, it's your own fault. Instead, staff the library 24-hours-a-day, let the water in the bathroom sink run like Niagara Falls, buy up really expensive rare volumes of manuscripts you don't even need and make sure that every computer station has a 30" flatscreen monitor and an Ipod. You'll be out of money by the end of the first fiscal quarter, necessitating your parent company to tap into the emergency fund, and probably quadrupling the budget for next year. They're never going to give you more money because you asked for it, you've got to show them that you need a bigger budget. Some librarians actually take pride in running a leaner department (or 'doing more with less,' as the kids say nowadays). Those librarians are doing everyone a real disservice. Take a cue from our Republican friends: running up huge deficits is cool. You want to be cool, right?