| Book circulation | Obtaining a sample of used book prices that was stratified by the frequency of circulation to reflect the actual use pattern by library patrons, then multiplying the average prices, which include shipping charges, to the circulation volume. | Used book prices in Amazon.com. |
| Multi-media collections (CDs, DVDs, audio books) | Similar to the above. | Similar to the above |
| E-books | Discounting the average used book prices obtained through the above methodology by 70 percent, which is approximately the average discount of Kindle books in Amazon.com compared with hardcopy books, and then multiplying the discounted prices to the circulation volume. | Amazon.com |
| Music and video downloads | Market download prices. | Amazon.com, Naxos, and Indieflix |
| Magazines and newspapers (paper) | Obtaining the individual subscription fees of all magazines and newspapers, calculating the average fee of the subscribed titles, and multiplying the fee to the estimated volume of usage, which was obtained by a patron survey to estimate the percentage of library visitors who browsed any newspapers or magazines at the library at least once a month. | Websites of magazines and newspapers to obtain the individual subscription fees, patron survey to estimate the usage |
| Magazines and newspapers (online) | Obtaining the individual online subscription fees of different newspapers and magazines, calculating the average monthly fee, and multiplying the fee to the volume of digital check-outs. | Websites of magazines and newspapers |
| Reference desk | a) Multiplying the average hourly rate of a reference librarian to the number of hours helping patrons who asked high-level reference questions at the reference desk;b) Multiplying $22.50, the average price of academic journal article to be purchased online, to the number of academic journal access through ProQuest;c) Multiplying the average online subscription fee to the number of log-on sessions of a reference service (e.g., Gale, reference USA). [Note: One-time log-on charge, which is not used in our calculation, is significantly higher than the average subscription fee.] | Websites of reference services |
| Internet and computer usage via desktop computers | Obtaining the average rental fee of a computer with some standard office software, calculating the average hourly rate by assuming 12 hours of usage per day, 7 days a week, and then multiplying the hourly rate to the usage hours of desktop computers in the library. [Note: This calculation is highly conservative as it does not use the typical hourly charge of computer rental by FedEx or other private entities, which can make our estimate ten times higher.] | Market research of 10 local computer companies |
| WiFi | Estimating the hourly cost ($0.35) and multiplying the cost to the estimated number of hours of WiFi usage. | Market research of local companies |
| Meeting rooms | Obtaining the market rental rates of hotel meeting rooms of different capacity, calculating the average charge per minute by categories of room size, and multiplying the average charge to the minutes of actual usage of library meeting rooms. | Market research of hotel room rentals |
| Various programs organized by the library | Obtaining the average fees of equivalent programs organized by nonprofit entities, such as the YMCA and parks and recreation, and multiplying the fees to the number of program users. | Market research of various non-sport programs |
| Volunteer help | Obtaining the total hours of volunteers, and multiplying that with the average hourly pay of a librarian. | Library database |