Nutting Memorial Library

Faculty Research Book Fund

Each fiscal year, a percentage of the total library book budgets is set aside to create a Faculty Research Book Fund. This money is reserved for books and other materials* required by full-time, permanent faculty members for their own personal research. The total amount placed in the fund may be as much as 10% of the combined graduate and undergraduate book budgets, but is dependent on each year’s funding.

Faculty submit requests to Dept. Chairs for approval; the requests are then forwarded to the Library Director for purchase. Materials remain the property of the library and are cataloged; they circulate to the ordering faculty member for an indefinite term. When in the library, materials are kept in a secure location; faculty members may return them and make them available for other faculty to check out in the same manner, if desired. Items may also be moved to the regular collection, should that seem appropriate.

The fund is a lump sum, distributed on a first-come-first-served basis--the library will not "take back" the money on May 1, as it does departmental allocations (although faculty and Dept. Chairs should be aware that ordering late in the fiscal year can cause year-end accounting problems).

Dept. Chairs are encouraged to maintain a $300.00 limit per faculty member per year to ensure that access to funds is equitable. Should there be money unspent after May 1 of each year, a Dept. Chair may waive this limit.

Faculty members may use the Materials Request Form, simply indicating that their request is to be a Faculty Research Fund purchase.

*One-time purchases only (non-subscription)

March 20, 2008;rev. Oct. 4, 2011