How to Allocate Personnel Costs of Reference.

In July 1974, at the American Library Association Convention, a symposium on reference measurement was held. The basic premise was that work sampling and random time sampling with self-observation were the best methods of allocating personnel costs of reference services at the Library of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia. First, reasons were given for the need of cost information. Then, alternative ways of allocating personnel costs were determined. Next, the advantages and disadvantages of different methods used to determine personnel costs were analyzed. The diary method as well as the accurate but expensive and complex method of cost accounting were rejected. Work and random time sampling were found to give reliability at low cost, minimal interference with service operations, and little distortion of collected data to the collecting process. The immediate practical finding was the minimum price that could be charged for a computer search. Most of all, it was learned how much better it was to sample activities, rather than to keep masses of data on all operations. Best of all, the method could be carried out by library managers. (WCM)