BUDGET & FINANCE

VIVA began on July 1, 1994, and has been funded in two-year periods since then.

• 1994-96: The Commonwealth of Virginia's General Assembly provided the first funding for VIVA when it appropriated $5,238,221 as requested in the 1994-96 Biennium Proposal.


• 1996-98: The 1996-98 Biennium Proposal for continued funding was approved, providing $4,991,000 for the 1996-98 biennium period.


• 1998-2000: The Virginia General Assembly considered VIVA's 1998-2000 Proposal and approved the funding for the 1998-2000 Biennium. (See the Budget for 1998-2000 for a complete chart of the biennium VIVA budget from all sources, including local contributions.)


• 2000-02: The 2000-2002 biennium budget totalled $10,720,619 from all sources.


• 2002-04: VIVA's 2002-04 biennial budget from the state was cut approximately 13 percent during the spring and fall of 2002. Even with the budget cuts, however, the total 2002-04 biennium budget from all sources was $11,071,580. This is slightly higher than the previous total biennial budget because VIVA procurement began handling all invoices for our private nonprofit colleges and universities.


• 2004-06: VIVA's estimated 2004-06 biennium budget from all sources for the 2004-06 biennium is $13,372,674. Of this total budget, VIVA will allocate approximately 89.9 percent to electronic collections, 5.9 percent to resource sharing and interlibrary loan, .8 percent to travel and training for our members, and less than 3.4 percent to administrative costs of any kind.

In addition to the resources allocated through the General Assembly, individual institutions have supported the VIVA project in a variety of ways, most notably through the significant amounts of time donated by dedicated library staff members throughout the Commonwealth.

VIVA libraries take pride in knowing that significant financial benefits have accrued to our members through the group purchases. VIVA has conducted two surveys of the Cost Savings and Value Added nature of VIVA purchases for our member institutions. (The Executive Summaries for both the 1995-96 and the 1996-97 Cost Savings and Value Added Surveys are available.)

As of July 1, 2005, the Virtual Library of Virginia (VIVA) has recorded approximately $150 million in cost avoidance. This represents money saved over what would have been spent had each individual public institution acquired the VIVA resources independently. In most cases, these are resources that the local colleges and universities would not have been able to purchase in an electronic form without the Commonwealth's support for VIVA. VIVA not only saves money, but also levels the playing field across VIVA institutions and extends access for all of Virginia's students and faculty.

Contact the director:

Kathy Perry, VIVA Director
MSN 2FL
George Mason University
Fairfax, VA 22030-4444