How do I manage the strategic textbooks funds in Alma?
Background
The Office of Library Services (OLS) successfully requested $1,000,000 from New York State to support the purchase of high demand print textbooks for CUNY libraries to support students. Campus libraries agreed to the following parameters when requesting a share of these funds:
- Spend the money only on reserve textbooks for semester courses and/or permanent reserves for high use/high demand material not associated with a particular course.
- Participate in university-wide reserves planning efforts coordinated by OLS
- Track expenditures in Alma
The funds were transferred to campuses in early 2024.
Tracking these funds in Alma is an additional requirement of the strategic textbook initiative. OLS will review bibliographic and usage data drawn from Alma to assist in developing data-informed best practices for collection development moving forward.
Alma
OLS has created a new ledger and new fund in each participating Institution Zone (IZ). The new ledger is "Non-CUNY Ledger" and the new fund is "Textbook Initiative to Support Course Reserves." Please use this fund in all purchase orders and invoices for the textbooks ordered from this money.
