Hard Choices for the Libraries' Collections
Vice Chancellor John Peters
Most of the campus is now aware that the University has received a continuation
budget from the state for 1995/96, with only marginal increases, and that the
immediate outlook for significant additional state support in future years is not
promising.
This situation creates problems for all academic units, but particularly so for
the University Libraries, as price increases for books and especially for serials
subscriptions substantially exceed the rate of inflation. The inevitable consequence of
a flat budget plus inflation is decreased buying power for the Libraries.
In the coming year, the Libraries will have to make hard choices about what
to continue collecting.
We are fortunate that changing patterns of scholarship, which increasingly
rely upon electronically assisted access to information, are well supported by
technological advances in the Libraries.
Over the next three years, the University is investing over one million
dollars to purchase a much more versatile and flexible online information system for
the Libraries. You can expect to see improved access to the Libraries collections
from your desktops as the present antiquated system is retired.
Dean Kaufman's newsletter describes the economic situation that makes it
necessary to cancel some journal subscriptions so that we will be able to continue to
subscribe to high-use and high-value titles. I encourage you to read this newsletter
and be ready to work with the Libraries so that we make the most rational choices
possible under difficult circumstances.
