How to Protect your Budget in a Pandemic and Recession

by Nathan Curulla on May 27, 2020

Now more than ever, Libraries utilizing Koha, Aspen, and Folio are ahead of the curve in terms of business continuity and stability when it comes to providing services to your patrons and students. COVID-19 has created many challenges for all types of libraries, not only from a business continuity standpoint but also from a budget standpoint. Due to the inevitable economic downturn left in the wake of this pandemic libraries will start seeing budget cuts in the near future.

When it comes to the ability to effectively provide virtual services to your users, having a web-based system supported by a company that has been working from home for over 11 years is a big plus. ByWater has been able to provide uninterrupted service to our 2,000 plus library partners during the past few months because of the lightweight structure of our organization. We have been able to maintain our existing staff in a full time, uninterrupted capacity and although many of us have more people in our home offices than we are used to, we were well ahead of the game when it came to being able to provide guidance and services during this crisis.

From a budget standpoint, most of our customers who have come from traditional proprietary systems have seen anywhere from a 30% to 70% decrease in annual costs for their ILS/LMS/Discovery systems and services. During a time when many libraries are seeing 20% (or more) budget cuts, having a responsibly priced system can literally save jobs.

Now more than ever, libraries not yet using open source products should be giving these solutions a very serious look. Why worry about pay cuts and layoffs when this might be avoided by moving to a product that is up to 70% less expensive than traditional proprietary systems?