Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) Grant Program, North Carolina

Ability to Pay and Local Effort

In awarding LSTA grants to North Carolina libraries, two additional factors will serve as measures of institutional need if all other factors are equal in the review of a group of grant proposals. They are:

• Ability to pay: the adjusted tax base for a county or the financial resources available to an academic institution, and

• Local effort:  The financial investment of the community or institution in supporting library services (i.e., per capita support of a public library; for academic libraries, the library operating expenditures as a percentage of the Educational and General Expenditures for the academic institution; and for public schools, data compiled by the Public School Forum).

The data is from the following sources:

Public Libraries

• Modified information compiled and analyzed by the Public School Forum of North Carolina in their publication 2002 North Carolina Local School Finance Study (Public School Forum of North Carolina, 2002), see http://statelibrary.ncdcr.gov/lsta/wealthrank.htm and 
• Statistical Report of North Carolina Public Libraries - July 1, 2001-June 30, 2002 (State Library of North Carolina, 2003).  The data is posted at http://statelibrary.ncdcr.gov/ld/plstats0102/0102rpt.htm

Public Schools

• Information compiled and analyzed by the Public School Forum of North Carolina in their publication 2002 North Carolina Local School Finance Study (Public School Forum of North Carolina, 2002), see http://statelibrary.ncdcr.gov/lsta/wealthrank.htm; and
• Participation in the federal free and reduced school lunch program; and
• The relative effort of the school (i.e. "local effort") in supporting school library services-that is, per capita support of a school library or the library operating expenditures as a percentage of the general expenditures for the school.  

Community Colleges

• Modified information compiled and analyzed by the Public School Forum of North Carolina in their publication 2002 North Carolina Local School Finance Study (Public School Forum of North Carolina, 2002), see http://statelibrary.ncdcr.gov/lsta/wealtthrank.htm and 
• Annualized FTE data extracted from Table 26 "Annualized Curriculum and Continuing Education Full-Time Equivalent (FTE)" (6/28/2002) in the 2001-2002 Annual Statistical Reports (North Carolina Community College System). For each community college, the FTE figure used is the sum of the Curriculum Programs “Total” column and the Continuing Education Programs “Subtotal Budget” column in Table 26.  The data is posted at http://statelibrary.ncdcr.gov/lsta/ccfte0102.htm.

Public and Private Colleges and Universities

• FTE data are those collected for IPEDS and NCHEDS with the following definition: For institutions of higher education, enrollment of full-time students, plus the full-time equivalent of part-time students as reported by institutions. In the absence of an equivalent reported by an institution, the FTE enrollment is estimated by adding one-third of part-time enrollment to full-time enrollment. This data element includes only resident-credit enrollment in courses basic to or creditable to a bachelor's or higher degree.

For all the post-secondary institutions, the Education and General Expenditures and library operating expenditures are from unpublished data collected from each institution for the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS). Library operating expenditures are from IPEDS data submitted by the institutions and published in the Statistical Abstract of Higher Education in North Carolina, 2002-03 (The University of North Carolina, Office of the President, April 2003).

The State Library is aware that the data for the post-secondary institutions must be viewed in the broader context of institutional mission, degree programs, and other factors. The analysis of "Ability to Pay" and "Local Effort" indicators may include consultation with appropriate officials at The University of North Carolina, the North Carolina Community College System, and North Carolina Independent Colleges and Universities.

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JBN Last updated October 10, 2003
URL:http://statelibrary.ncdcr.gov/lsta/financialfactors0405.htm