ABSTRACT
This study examined how school librarians spent their own money to support their libraries during the 2020–2021 school year in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and the various factors that influence this spending. Using mixed methods, this study identified demographic information about the participants and schools served, personal spending practices, perspectives on the need for personal spending, and local school policies related to library funding that impacted out-of-pocket spending. The major findings of this study indicate that school librarians used their own money to purchase books, decorations, prizes, office supplies, and cleaning supplies. Librarians used their own money to meet student needs, to get what was needed quickly and conveniently, to obtain items for which they were not allowed to spend school money, and to avoid dealing with time-consuming purchasing and reimbursement processes—if reimbursement was even an option. School librarians also spent their own money because library budgets were eliminated, reduced, or frozen during the pandemic. In addition, school librarians who spent the most of their own money worked in rural areas with a higher proportion of students who qualify for free/reduced lunch. School librarians who were over 60, unmarried, or had lower library budgets spent more of their own money on their libraries than did other study participants. © 2022, American Library Association. All rights reserved.