Developing Standards for Library Expenditures

This paper reports the results of a project to use simple and multiple regression to develop standards for evaluating budget proposals of a university library. Based on a seven-year sample of actual expenditure data, ending with the academic year 1964–65, regression equations were developed for each of the five major categories of library expenditures. These equations were tested against the expenditures approved for the academic year 1965–66. Based on this test, useful standards were developed by employing the regression technique. The technique is proposed as a device for coping with the control of complex activities for which direct standard setting is difficult or prohibitively expensive, in institutional, governmental or business organizations.