The Division requests $300,000 in non-base funds be re-authorized for library collections. This allocation will help sustain the library’s efforts to serve the university’s increasing instruction and research information needs. However, this will be true only if the permanent base “catch up” $300,000 is allocated by the CSU as proposed. The latter possible allocation is scheduled to be given to each CSU Library according to campus FTES with the intention of restoring at least some of the purchasing power lost to the budget cuts of the early 1990’s. It is not intended to replace any local funding for CSU libraries.

Last year’s non-base $300,000 allocation did make it possible to address specific unmet needs cited by faculty and students. However, the reality is that many unmet needs remain, especially in the area of journals and electronic databases. Adding hundreds of new faculty with new instructional support and research needs, plus thousands of new students, has further increased pressure on the library to meet the information needs of our university.

The Division is also requesting that $100,000 be added to the Library’s base budget to fund two major service contracts—OCLC and Link+. OCLC with an annual price tag of $80,000 supports the library’s services to the community in the critical areas of maintaining the database of bibliographic records in the online catalog “COAST”, interlibrary loan and reference information. Link+ at an annual cost of $20,000 provides essential access to 4 million unique titles located at over 20 participating libraries and available to our community on a rapid turnaround basis. Funding for these service contracts has come from the library acquisition budget. By providing a base budget for these essential services, the library can use its acquisition budget for the intended purpose.