Cost of material management at the CSUN University Library is calculated by removing building operational costs (lighting, HVAC, carpet, accessibility/open hours, etc.) and focusing on the management of the material instead.
The management of materials (or unit cost) is determined by dividing the total amount of fixed and variable costs by the total number of units.
For example:
- $31,500 in annual shelving student budget divided by 400,000 items equals $0.079 per-material per-year in open shelves
- $18,000 in annual AS/RS student budget divided by 900,000 items equals $0.02 per-material per-year in the AS/RS
