Library
hurt by state deficit
Economy:
The University Library must make cuts to
its resources in response to recent cuts
in funds.
By
Lauren Nelson
On-line Forty-Niner
Due
to the California budget crisis, the Cal
State Long Beach library is being forced
to significantly reduce spending on books,
media, journals, and electronic information
resources that many students, faculty and
departments currently depend on.
According
to the Associate Dean of the University
Library, Henry DuBois, the library has recently
experienced a 10 percent cut in funds. The
library budget has gone from an allowed
$500,000 a year to spend on materials to
only $100,000, a drastic difference that
may keep some library shelves empty.
Beginning
in January 2004 only essential books and
media requests will be accommodated. Though
most of the venues will be attainable through
the Internet, they are not all guaranteed.
The
current objective for library officials
is to decide which media subscriptions will
be cancelled by the Nov. 1 deadline when
the five-year subscriptions for many resources
end. Most subscriptions will be cancelled.
Librarians
must decide which subscriptions are most
useful to students and faculty. Each department
or program must choose three percent to
15 percent of its subscriptions for non-renewal,
creating a problem for students who depend
on the resources for research and information
on their individual majors.
The
library staff is aware of the challenges
that this fiscal year will cause for people
who use the library for their informational
needs. They have made it a goal to make
the best of the situation with alternate
resources that are hoped to help library
users one way or another.
"We
are committed to getting the students the
information they need," said DuBois.
In
the early '90s a state recession brought
difficult economic times to the university
and the library, states the Library Campus
Community Update. However, there are now
better mechanisms to protect the library's
stakeholders from the harmful effects of
the budget shortfall.
COAST,
which is accessible on campus as well as
from personal computers off campus, will
still work to inform people of what is available
and will also guide users through the collection
of library resources. Link+, a research
database on the library computers, is useful
for obtaining more than 5 million unique
titles that can be shipped from other university
libraries to CSULB in only two days.
The
library can no longer afford to provide
full text and full image on paper without
a compelling reason, however, a new system
has been adopted that will use electronic
plus paper and Web-based electronic subscriptions
when possible. Journals in electronic format
will no longer be duplicated on paper or
microtext.
"We
know we are in for a couple of rough years,"
said DuBois. He is confident that the times
will worsen before getting any better.
Thought
the library is doing all that it can do
to make this time manageable, some students
are still worried that this funding setback
will affect their academic progress.
"[For
research papers] my professors won't accept
anything except original sources, which
only come from medical journals. A book
is not good enough because it's only a compilation
of multiple sources of research," said
radiation therapy student Debra Yee. "In
order to have an accurate research paper
these journals are necessary."
Yee
knows that some online journals will be
available, but is still skeptical. She thinks
that the online versions of medical journals
will not furnish all of her needs.
Most
students are unaware of university funding
and spending, but agree that money should
be spent on
College library resources because it is
an investment for everyone. Students are
understanding of the fact that they may
have to purchase some of their own materials
and settle for non-paper resources, but
they are willing to be patient and do what
they have to.
"With
rising tuition costs and the limited amount
of copies that professors are allowed to
give us students, this is just another obstacle
that we face to get our resources,"
said credential student Kat Reese.
"With
rising tuition costs and the limited amount
of copies that professors are allowed to
give us students, this is just another obstacle
that we face to get our resources."
-- Kat Reese, CSULB student
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