The Mardigian Library materials budget is divided between two major fund groups - interdisciplinary funds and subject-specific funds. Those groups are further subdivided into Monographs (M), Serial (S), and Online Database (O) funds. Orders are paid out of funds based on the format of the item being ordered. For Subject-Specific funds, the amount of money in each budget is allocated based on the Mardigian Library Materials Budget Formula.

The Mardigian Library Materials Budget formula approximates the amount of subject-specific materials budget that should be allocated to each subject area fund. Eight facets are used to calculate this amount:

• Enrollment - The total number of students who have declared majors in a program.
• Credit Hours Taken - The total number of students enrolled in a program's classes.
• Average Book Cost - The average cost of physical and electronic books in a subject area.
• Average Serial Cost - The average cost of a serial subscription in a subject area.
• Average Database Cost - The average cost of a database order in a subject area.
• Physical Book Circulation - The number of checkouts and renewals of physical books in a subject area.
• E-Book Circulation - The calculated usage of e-books in a subject area.
• Serial and Database Usage - The calculated usage of serials and databases paid for by a subject-specific fund.

Regardless of calculation, no subject area fund will receive less than 5% of the subject-specific materials budget.