Cuts pose challenges for libraries
von Wahlde tells FSEC that UB has slipped out of top 50 in research library rankings

By MARA McGINNIS
Reporter Assistant Editor

The serious impact of UB's budget shortfall has the University Libraries facing a challenging future, Barbara von Wahlde, associate vice president for University Libraries, told the Faculty Senate Executive Committee at the group's March 22 meeting.

A major indication of the negative impact of recent budget problems, she reported, is that over the past few years, UB has slipped considerably in the rankings of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL), an organization of 120 institutions across the United States and Canada.

The libraries dropped from number 43 in 1993-94 to 55 in 1997-98 due to declines in gross-added volumes, current serials and the number of professional and support staff as a result of budgetary constraints. Before this year, von Wahlde explained, the libraries could position themselves as one of the top 50 collections and information service areas in North America, a description that she says now is "clearly a stretch."

She reminded the FSEC that neither the SUNY Board of Trustees nor the state legislature recommended inflationary increases for the SUNY libraries in this year's budget. Furthermore, she added, nothing was done internally to counter the deficiency.

"Since the various categories of research materials we purchase increased in average price from between 6 to 10 percent, the absence of this increase decreased our spending power by an estimated $500,000, or nearly 10 percent."

In addition, she noted, UB imposed a base cut of $232,000, to "further and permanently" erode the libraries' budget.

"We hope there will be an inflationary increase next year in the SUNY budget, but that is yet to be determined," she added. "It is clear to those of us who have devoted serious portions of our careers to building the libraries that the mission that has informed and structured our efforts has already been threatened and would certainly be negated by a multi-year re-enactment of either this year's budget process or allocation outcome."

von Wahlde said that the libraries have fewer scientific, technical and medical serials than in recent years and that the ones they do have are much more expensive than in the past. This poses another concern, she noted, since Provost David Triggle has called for the university to double its research funding and the areas capable of generating significant funding rely on very expensive information resources.

von Wahlde shared with senators the libraries' budget-impact statement that she prepared earlier this year for Senior Vice President Robert J. Wagner. It states that "journals, electronic databases and especially monographs were all cut in significant numbers" during the current fiscal year.

It also said that the university "has not been willing/able to make the sacrifices necessary to sustain and insure the ongoing development of research-quality collections that are found at the institutions we long held as peersŠIf UB is indeed serious about obtaining/sustaining prestige as a research, as well as an instructional, institution, it is going to have to increase the priority of libraries in its budget planning.

"A possible alternative would be for UB to define specific disciplines for which research collections will be sustained, at the same time specifying other disciplines that can be cut back," suggested von Wahlde. "While this would be a distinctly unpleasant process, the other option-having all facets of the collection slip from research to instructional quality-is probably even less palatable."

"As you can see from the graphs, the trend has been basically downward," she told FSEC members, referring to Web-generated graphs of ASL rankings in different areas. "So we want to do some work this year to try to determine whether or not we are still a quality research institution in terms of the libraries."

Another point emphasized by von Wahlde was the need to "reform the way in which we communicate our research results." There are ways, she told senators, to start new journals at less cost that still have quality materials and good editors, which needs to be encouraged.

"We need to see new titles build the prestige of some of the older, more established journals," she said, noting that this is a national issue, not one only pertinent to UB. "We'd like to work with those of you who are engaged in research in thinking about new ways in which you can transmit (research results)."

She noted that Steve Roberts, associate director of University Libraries, is heading a task force to expand access to electronic research materials. The group will survey the present status of BISON access to electronic research materials and recommend steps by which such access can be augmented significantly during the coming budget year.

Faculty members raised concerns about privacy and copyright issues on campus in the new electronic era, which von Wahlde recognized as two of the most important 21st-century questions in the electronic environment.

Specifically, some faculty members expressed concern about a new authentication process at the libraries formerly anonymous public terminals that now requires all users to log on using a username and password. Concerns were not only about privacy, but also about the lack of faculty consultation before the new process was implemented.

Roberts explained that the change was made as a result of a request from Computing and Information Technology, which recommended the change since the university's Internet privileges were at risk due to criminal behavior at these unrestricted terminals.