>From time to time, someone asks about collection values for insurance purposes. Since the reply to this question cites our own state comptroller's office, I thought it would be of interest to member libraries. This is from the Collection Development e-mail discussion list. Laurie ***** From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Re: Collection Valuations GASB 34/35 is a new standard for capital asset reporting for government. It has a 10 year depreciation schedule for library collections based upon expenses for each of the 10 years. This dramatically reduces the valuation of the collection that has been used for insurance purposes in the past. Special Collections will require an appraisal but is not included in this depreciation table. How are other campuses handling this new standard? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Bonnie Allen Associate University Librarian, for Collections and Technical Services Oregon State University 121 The Valley Library Corvallis, OR 97331-4501 (541)737-8528 FAX (541) 737-3453 ===Response #1 Our auditor's office has also been asking questions related to collection depreciation that I suspect are related to the "Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) Statements No. 34 and No. 35, _Basic Financial Statements and Management's Discussion and Analysis for State and Local Governments and Public Colleges and Universities_." No. 34/45 set forth new financial reporting requirements for public colleges and universities. I found this enlightened answer from the State of Texas Comptroller to a question from Austin Community College re: source: http://www.cpa.state.tx.us/comptrol/san/gasb/gasb34_qai11.html 'QUESTION I.11: Depreciation for library books Date Question Answered: 11/30/00 Requestor's Agency: Austin Community College Question: At the end of FY '00 our book shows that we have an accumulated balance of $2,800,000 for library books. If we want to start to depreciate our library books in FY 01. How do we go about to depreciate this $2,800,000? Thanks for all your helps. Answer: The state's methodology for library books and materials will be to classify them as inexhaustible assets that should not be depreciated. Library books and materials have an economic benefit or service potential that is usedup slowly and their estimated useful lives areextraordinarily long. Some books have a cultural, aesthetic, or historical value, and efforts are usually applied to protect and preserve these assets in a manner greater than that for similar assets without such cultural, aesthetic, or historical value. Therefore, the state will not depreciate its library books and materials. ' source: http://www.cpa.state.tx.us/comptrol/san/gasb/gasb34_qai11.html John P. Abbott Coordinator, Collection Development Appalachian State University Boone, NC 28608 [EMAIL PROTECTED] Laurie Mahaffey, Adult Services Consultant Central Texas Library System P. O. Box 2287 Austin TX 78768-2287 512-974-7517 (please note new exchange!) [EMAIL PROTECTED] --------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, send to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Include in body: unsubscribe ctls-l For information on CTLS-L please visit: http://www.ctls.net/document/ctls-l.htm
