Fred W. Roper and John N. Olsgaard
This section of the report provides a descriptive analysis of the data pertaining to the financial status of graduate programs of library and information science whose first professional degree programs have been accredited by the American Library Association. Complete financial data were received from all of the 56 eligible schools with ALA-accredited programs. Only two reports were received from schools that do not have an accredited program. Their responses are reported separately.
A total income of $110,853,934 was reported by 56 schools; this represents an average income of $1,979,535, as shown in Table IV-1. Funding for the schools ranged from a high of $13,251,928 to a low of $471,077. The median income in 1997-98 for the 56 schools was $1,257,733, which represents a decrease of 6.4 percent below the previous year’s median income of $1,343,455.
The average income continues to increase, although the percentage of increase declined from 1996/97. A review of the percentage of increase or decrease for individual schools is reported in Table IV-2.
The number of schools receiving increases in total income of one percent or greater declined from 33 in 1996-97 to 30 in 1997-98. The number of schools receiving decreases of one percent or greater increased to 23 in 1997-98 from 19 in the previous year.
The frequency distribution of the total income for schools with ALA-accredited programs is contained in Table IV-3. Thirty-seven schools reported income over $1,000,000, compared with 35 schools in 1996-97 and 36 schools in 1995-96. The number of schools reporting income over $2,000,000 declined from 13 to 12. At the lower end of the spectrum, the number of schools reporting income under $600,000 decreased to six, compared with seven in 1995-96.
In Table IV-4, the sources of funds for schools with ALA-accredited programs are described for the ten-year period, 1988-89 to 1997-98. The largest percentage of funding continues to come from the parent institution. The percentage of support from the parent institution, which has declined in each of the ten previous years, except for 1991-92, increased slightly in 1997-98. Although the actual amount has increased considerably, the percentage has decreased by 14 points.
Table IV-5 depicts the frequency distribution of income from the parent institution. These figures ranged from a high of $5,939,211 to a low of $342,067, with a median income of $1,055,078. One school reported income under $400,000. Four schools reported support under $500,000 in 1997-98, compared with six schools in 1994-95. Thirty-one schools reported support in an amount over $1,000,000 compared to twenty-eight schools last year. Twenty-six of these 31 schools were from the United States; five were from Canada. Ten schools reported income from the parent institution of greater than $2,000,000 in 1997-98, compared with eight in 1996-97.
Schools were again asked to indicate if there was any special basis for receiving funding from the parent institution, such as FTE, credit hours generated, or head count. Table IV-6 provides the responses received from the ALA-accredited programs. There is little change from previous years.
In 1997-98, the number of schools who reported federal
funding stayed at 33 as shown in Table
IV-7. For the past ten years, the number has varied between 29 and
40 schools. The mean for federal funding decreased for the first time
since 1993-94. The decrease in 1997-98 was 3.4 percent.
The range of federal funds in 1997-98 went from a high of $2,841,158 to a low of $7,594. (The median was $96,094) Table IV-8 reports the frequency distribution of income from federal funding.
Differences in income between schools with doctoral programs and those without continue to be examined. Table IV-9 shows that the total mean income for schools with doctoral programs continues to be more than two times as high as that of schools not offering the doctorate. Schools without the doctorate continue to have greater dependence on the parent institution than those with doctoral programs.
Income data for the ALA-accredited schools were first examined by geographic regions in 1982-83; these data are again presented in 1997-98 according to the regional listings established by the American Library Association’s Committee on Accreditation. Table IV-10 reports these data.
The 1997-98 expenditures by category for member schools are shown in Table IV-11, along with mean expenditures, ranges, and percent of total.
Questions relating to the library and information science facilities were again included in 1997-98. Schools were asked to indicate if they had a separate library; whether the library received its major support from the school; whether the librarian was funded by the school; and if the library was administratively a part of the main library. Table IV-12 displays the responses.
Table IV-13 shows the amount of support given to the library for those schools that reported library support as a direct budget line.
Schools were asked to indicate the allocation of salaries and wages among four categories: faculty, specialist, clerical, and students. Table IV-14 provides the distribution for all schools plus a comparison for those with and without the doctoral programs.
A review of the teaching and administration expenses by category is provided in Table IV-15.
All categories of expenditures were examined for schools with and without doctoral programs, and these results are shown in Table IV-16.
Computer laboratory costs for member schools are identified separately in 1997-98. These figures are presented in Table IV-17.
Travel expenditures are reported in Table IV-18.
Tables IV-19 and IV-20 present the complete income and expenditure figures for all 56 schools with ALA-accredited programs.