LAUC minutes 11/14/97

Highlights of the Budget Presentation:
A three-year budget projection was presented, from 1997/98 to 1999/2000. A summary was given of library funding requested for these three fiscal years. This budget presentation was prepared at the request of the Vice Chancellor. UCSB ranks last of the UC libraries in students per librarian, acquisitions $/student & faculty, and 6 out of 7 in faculty per librarian. Library staffing levels have fallen from 201 in 1990/91 to 146 in 1997/98. In materials expenditures, UCSB ranks 100 out of 108 ARL Libraries. Three major factors that have driven the Library's budget over the past 5 years have been reduction in library staffing, major automation activity, and the deterioration of the book budget. The money saved from reduced staffing has been used for the infrastructure and equipment needed for automation.
Current funding requests that the Library has forwarded to campus include:
1. Assistance for costs relating to providing public access to the PEGASUS II system.

2. In 1998/99 and 1999/2000, the Library is requesting funding from the campus for a computer technician position and $50,000 per year to amortize computer hardware.

3. A 10% increase to the book budget for each of the next three years, beginning 1997/98. Without that increase, another round of serial subscription cuts is inevitable.

4. Funding for library materials for the School of Environmental Science and Management. In 1995/96, the campus agreed to provide funding for these materials as FTE are added to the school. In 1996/97 and 1997/98, the Library received funding for faculty added during those years, but the 1997/98 allocation did not include continued funding for 1996/97 FTE.

The current request is not for new funding, but funding to comply with the agreement already in place. The budget presentation summarized by focusing on three key areas:
1. The Library needs major funding assistance to avoid further deterioration in the book budget.

2. The Library will need assistance from campus to expand PEGASUS II into public areas.

3. The Library will need to spend $400,000 - $500,000 per year over the next several years for basic computer hardware replacement, but there is no provision in the state or campus funding for this type of expense. Author: Lynne Hayman hayman@library.ucsb.edu Last modified: 1/28/98
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