COST - BENEFIT ANALYSIS OF SUBSCRIBING INDIAN PERIODICALS: A CASE STUDY OF BCKV CENTRAL LIBRARY, KALYANI, WEST BENGAL

Abstract

Presents the results of a study conducted with a sample of 700 users and 25 Indian periodicals subscribed continuously from 1992 to 200 1 at Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya (BCKV), Kalyani, West Bengal. The meaning, importance and the method of implementing cost benefit analysis in a library set-up is discussed with special reference to BCKV Central Library. Here, cost is measured in terms of the money spent for subscribing Indian journals and benefits are measured in terms of use frequency of the journals by different users and savings. achieved through different methods of subscription. During the 70-year period, increase in the cost of the journals ranged from 20 per cent at the lowest to 1100 per cent at the highest. The 25 journals that were selected for the study were used by 30 per cent to 75 percent of the users. The study also reveals that the cost of a journal is not directly related with its use. For example,the journal in the sample that cost most, ranked only 8^th in terms of use. It has also been seen that a saving around 25% can be achieved if the journals are subscribed for three years at a time. Of course, it involves some risks and also availability of funds. The benefit is evaluated against the cost structure of the system, which is represented graphically and statistically in this paper.