Libraries hit hard by cuts, Senate hears

by Sarah R. Buchholz, Chronicle staff

he impact of the decrease in the Libraries' personnel, acquisitions, and general operating budgets has led to a "particularly dire" situation in the Libraries that their director Margot Crist says staff are nevertheless working hard to make the best of. Crist, coordinator of Collection Development Jay Schafer, and Robert Rothstein, chair of the Research Library Council, made a joint presentation to the Faculty Senate May 9.

      The group reported on the state of acquisitions, the general Libraries budget, ranking comparisons with peers, and what the Research Library Council has been doing.

     The total library budget is expected to decrease by between $4.1 million between FY01 and FY03 if the state chooses not to fund the Education Reference and Materials reserve in its budget.

     "How did we reduce the collection budget by approximately $3 million this fiscal year?" Schafer asked. "With less money we are having to decide how it is most cost-effective to provide faculty and students with the content they need. Sometime, often many times, it is through document delivery or article delivery, rather than journal subscriptions."

     Schafer said a number of new and ongoing electronic services have helped the Libraries cover the gaps in access to information.

     Both Schafer and Crist emphasized the Libraries' staff's positive attitude in the face of the cuts.

     "We do believe there's progress that we can continue to make, and we intend to make it," said Crist. "We wanted to give you some indication of the ways the Library is still working, adapting, and seeking ways to be the library you want us to be."

     A projected loss of 20 percent of its staff this year has prompted a redesign of services and will result in a reduction in Library hours, she said. Crist expects hours to decrease by about 15 percent in the fall and "summer hours will drop significantly. At this point, we do not expect to offer Saturday hours anywhere in our facilities."

     Crist also noted that the campus ranking among the 113 Association of Research Libraries has fallen below 100 in several categories, including money spent on books and size of staff.

     Rothstein said a number of responses to the budget decrease are being considered, including assessing students a fee, using a percentage of Research Trust Fund monies, and having a predictable share of the general operating budget. He noted that access to Development resources for fundraising had been and will continue to be important.

     After the reports, the senate unanimously passed a motion calling on Chancellor-designate John Lombardi, President William M. Bulger and the Board of Trustees "to treat the creation of sustainable funding for the Library as a matter of the highest priority."

     Some members of the senate were opposed to charging students a fee for use of the Libraries. Others said that, while they didn't like the idea, they felt keeping up the quality of the Libraries was ultimately more important.

     Senate secretary Ernest May pointed out that higher education has been getting a progressively smaller portion of the state's budget each year and said that alternative sources of revenue must be found.