Library staff grapple with loss of $3m

n already grim outlook for campus libraries worsened last week as the final fiscal 2002 state budget was passed, reducing the Educational and Reference Materials (ERM) line item by 64 percent, or $9 million, from last year's appropriation of $14 million.

     Although the reduction affects libraries across the public higher education system, the cut means the Amherst campus libraries are losing approximately $3 million from their $5.4 million acquisitions budget.

     In October, when it was announced that ERM was likely to be reduced from $14 million to $11 million in the provisional state budget, Library staff began to put together short-term and long-term plans to address that shortfall. To reduce the acquisitions budget from $5.4 million in to the anticipated FY02 budget of approximately $4.4 million, the Library cut 30 percent of the serials budget and 20 percent of its book budget. Cancellations for 927 journal subscriptions were submitted to vendors at the end of October. Most of those subscriptions will cease at the end of this month. Lists (by title and by subject) of the journal cancellations are available online (www.library.umass.edu/cm/cancellation).

     In addition to the $1 million in journal cancellations made under the provisional budget, it is likely that no more books will be ordered this fiscal year, according to Library officials. Efforts are underway on the campus to seek at least one-time coverage for some of the ongoing subscriptions. Planning for the FY03 acquisitions budget has begun, and will continue during the spring semester. Selectors and bibliographers from the Library will meet with every department and program to explain the budget and to discuss the implications of reductions.

     In past years, the campus contributed $1 million annually for Library acquisitions, which, along with ERM, funds the purchase of books, journals, and electronic resources. If that contribution remains stable, say Library officials, the total acquisitions budget will be approximately $2.5 million. That reduced budget would have a severe impact on the Library's national ranking as a research library in the Association of Research Libraries (ARL), according to a statement issued this week.

     The Faculty Senate Research Library Council met Dec. 6 to discuss the latest budget information. The council is analyzing the effects of the funding reduction on the Library's ARL rankings and on the interim report on accreditation (due in fall 2003) for the Commission on Institutions of Higher Education of the New England Association of Schools & Colleges, Inc. (NEASC). NEASC specified particular steps to be taken within five years to increase collections and staffing support for the Library at an appropriate level for a Research I institution.