Reporter Volume 25, No.27 May 5, 1994

By MARK WALLACE
Reporter Staff
"I think it's important that you look at how the library budget is put
together," Richard Lee, chair of the Faculty Senate Committee on
Information and Library Resources, told the FSEC last week in a
presentation of the University Libraries 1994-95 Budget Summary. "Some
people were upset that their areas were shortchanged."
	Lee said that while his committee looked at issues of space
and maintenance in UB's libraries, library budget issues seemed
central to understanding the situation of the libraries.
	Stephen Roberts, associate director for University Libraries,
said that the budget summary presented to the FSEC was "an outline of
what we think are our major approaches, challenges, and directions for
the next several years.
	"We're moving increasingly towards an automated environment
while trying to maintain our print-based resources, and that's causing
problems with our budget," Roberts said.
	As the cost of information and the number of resources
produced continues to go up, UB's libraries will depend more on
cooperation with other schools in the SUNY system, Roberts said.
	While the average yearly subscription cost for UB's libraries
is $180 and the average cost of an interlibrary loan transaction is
$25, photocopying materials from other schools in the SUNY system
costs about $5 a transaction, Roberts said. "The situation it boils
down to is simple," Roberts said. "What do we have in the state system
that can meet people's needs?
	"If we can share access to unique materials, we can do it
faster, better, and cheaper than relying on the traditional
interlibrary loan system," Roberts said.
	Richard Lee added that "In most grants and contracts to
faculty, the cost of library resources is being taken for granted, and
that's stretching resources. Faculty may have to take some trusteeship
in finding funds for the libraries."
	Provost Aaron Bloch said that money for library resources is
sometimes built into grants. But Lee said it was important for faculty
to find out, when they get a grant, if they can get more money for
library resources through that grant.
	Dennis Malone of Engineering asked what sort of distinction
was being made between the use of library resources in general and the
use of computer resources.
	Stephen Roberts answered that the University Libraries "have
dropped out of worrying about the number of volumes we have, and are
concentrating instead on getting faculty the resources they need."
	William George of Engineering said "Given that the library has
multiple sources of financial support, the question we should be
asking is whether the percentage of that support which is state
support is reasonable to fund a library system of the type we want."
George asked if the figures on such percentages were available to the
FSEC.
	Richard Lee added that it is also important to look at the
physical environment of the Libraries. "Do people want to go to the
Libraries and use the resources that are there?" Lee asked. "We
sometimes forget about this in the urge to disperse information
electronically."
	Victor Doyno of English said that in the faculty quality of
life survey, the libraries were ranked as a highly important matter.
"It probably would be wise to advertise that notions of library access
are switching," Doyno said.
	Provost Aaron Bloch pointed out that "While everybody says the
Libraries need more money, the way the budget falls out is that
Libraries get the short end. Deans don't suggest to me that their
financial resources should go to the Libraries, even to their part of
the libraries. We're eloquent in talking about these financial needs
in isolation, but need to understand them up against each other."
	Most of the budget cuts in recent years had fallen on service
units, Bloch said. Now that the budget picture has improved, most
money has gone to academic units, he said. "We haven't engaged to
problem of how to get money back to the service units," Bloch said.
	William George of Engineering said that in restructuring the
faculty, the Provost should also consider restructuring the library
system as well. "It makes some sense to align libraries with
particular decanal responsibilities," George said.
	In other business, the FSEC discussed charging a new Faculty
Senate Committee on Public Service. The reasoning behind such a
committee, according to Dennis Malone of Engineering, is that "in our
mission statement it seems quite clear that public service is one main
priority of UB. Since the Faculty Senate has committees on the other
main priorities, we should consider having a public service committee
and discuss what we will charge it to do," Malone said.
	Malone said that the committee might consider working with
Muriel Moore, vice president for public service and urban affairs, on
establishing a data base that would tell potential public service
clients what expertise the UB faculty has, and in what areas they are
willing to work. The committee should also consider the general issue
of what constitutes public service, Malone said. Another important
question for the committee was how to encourage faculty to engage in
public service, Malone said.
	Muriel Moore said that faculty often ask her for guidance on
how to define public service and what it means in a particular
discipline. It is important to understand how public service is tied
to research, Moore said, which involves recognizing how research
informs public service and how such service leads to further research.
	The most important part of a dialogue about public service
would be to discuss how to structure the reward process for public
service, Moore said. There is not much research on how public service
affects faculty, Moore said. It is also difficult to define the ways
faculty engage in public service, Moore said, since the definition is
often different for different faculty.
	"In terms of Faculty Senate involvement, I think you should
help us promulgate public service, and to help faculty think about it
and establish models for it," Moore said.
	William Miller of Dental Medicine said that while faculty have
many discipline-specific skills, they also have many skills that are
not unique to their disciplines, such as their teaching skills. "To
acknowledge public service only if it's directly related to one's
academic field and leads to research on the side, is too narrow,"
Miller said.