MU libraries look at long-term solutions for funding issues

Inflation of journal costs contributes to library funding problems.

By Eva Dou

Published Sept. 23, 2008

Spiraling journal costs and the weak dollar contributed to MU Libraries' projection last year of an $850,000 shortfall for this fiscal year.

The shortfall never developed because Provost Brian Foster was able to reallocate funds internally to fill the gap, but Campus Library Committee Chairman Robert Bauer said the library needs a better long-term budget strategy than this "putting-out-fires method."

The MU Library Committee will discuss options for maintaining the library budget in a meeting with the provost next month. Bauer, who is a geological sciences professor, said the issue is one of the committee's main focuses this year.

The provost has already agreed to provide an incremental increase to the library budget each year beginning with fiscal year 2010, Director of Libraries Jim Cogswell said.

"The good news is the provost agrees with us," Cogswell said about the necessity of keeping up library acquisitions.

Two other options to maintain the library budget are being considered, Bauer said. One is charging an automatic student library fee based on credit hours.

"A lot of universities have gone to an hourly student fee for library acquisitions," Bauer said. "But I can tell you quite frankly the people on the committee are not inclined to make students pay more. We were students, too, at one time."

Another option is to link the library's acquisition budget to the portion of research grant funds collected by the university.

Out of the $200 million a year MU researchers get from external grants, almost half goes to the university to cover "facilities and administrative" costs, Cogswell said.

"Because research and grants rely on having books and journals in the library, the argument has been that the library's budget should go up proportionally to the amount the university gets from research and grants," Bauer said.

Foster said the need for additional funding stems largely from the high inflation of scholarly journals.

"The inflation on library materials has become really daunting," Foster said. "The journals are very expensive and a lot of them come from overseas."

The inflation rate for journals is around 8 percent this year, said Ann Riley, assistant director for library technical services. This inflation is compounded by the decrease in the Dollar-Euro exchange rate, because many journals are purchased from Europe.

Bauer said there is also another reason for the funding problem.

"Many of the publishers have been rather greedy, to put it bluntly," he said.

Foster said inflation affects university costs across the board, but the rate of journal inflation has outpaced the norm. To maintain the level of acquisitions, the library budget has to be increased each year.

Last year, MU Libraries reduced acquisitions by 30 percent, due to the anticipated shortfall, but Riley said acquisitions are back to normal.

"The library is one of the most central facilities on campus," Foster said. "It supports virtually everything we do."

Fundraising has improved the library's financial standing, said Gena Scott, Director of Development for the MU Libraries. As of Sept. 31, the libraries have raised $8.1 million as part of MU's $1 billion For All We Call Mizzou fundraising campaign.

Still, Bauer said the libraries need a long-term plan to fund acquisitions.

"I believe the administration understands it's an issue that's important to faculty and students," he said. "The concern that we have is what we can do to put the library's budget on a long-term stability."

The library committee will hold its first meeting this month once a student representative from the Graduate Professional Council has been selected, Bauer said.

The committee is composed of eight faculty members, one staff member, three Missouri Students Association members, one Graduate Professional Council member, two ex officio members and a support staffer.

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