Cost analysis of the LIBRIS II automated acquisitions system at the university of Texas at Dallas library

The costs of using the LIBRIS automated acquisitions system at the University of Texas at Dallas Library are analyzed for three fiscal years during the mid-1980s. Expenditures are tabulated for the monthly fee, equipment rental, unit charges, communications and supplies, while the division between fixed and variable costs is calculated. The top-down method is used to determine the average cost per order. The paper concludes that because the incremental costs of additional orders is always less than the average cost per order, LIBRIS becomes more cost effective at higher levels of ordering.