ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries


March 1 9 9 3 / 1 2 5

Inflation, budget cuts, and faculty needs
Ed. note: Although economists inform us that 
the recession was officially over in  M arch 
1991, the library newsletters arriving a t the 
C&RL News office are filled  with stories about 
budget cuts, serials cancellations, employment 

freezes, a n d  other effects o f  the tight economy. 
We thought that the follow ing "Dean’s Col­
u m n ” prepared by D avid Walch f o r  the Cali­

fo r n ia  Polytechnic State University Library 
Update did  a n  excellent jo b  o f explaining these 
cutbacks to the library’s constituency a n d  that 
readers m ight f i n d  in it some useful ideas. 
(Reprinted with permission.)

Consider the following:
•  Five years ago the average cost o f a 

b ook w as $34.92; today the average cost is 
$52.08, an increase o f 49%.

•  Five years ago the average cost o f a 
journal was $128.55; today the average cost 
is $233.22, an increase of 82%.

•  Five years ago the library subscribed 
to 3,313 journals, and paid $426,000; today it 
subscribes to 2,983 journals and pays nearly 
$700,000, an increase in cost of 82%.

•  Five years ago the library purchased 
14,608 books. At this writing the library has 
not purchased a b ook in over 3 months.

•  Five years ago the library em ployed 
70.5 FTE; today it has a staff o f 57 FTE, a 
reduction of 24%

W hen one com bines these five-year infla­
tionary trends with the fact that the library’s 
budget for purchasing books and journals did 
not increase, but rather decreased, during this 
period of time by approximately 13%, then 
one begins to com prehend the difficult con­
dition the library finds itself in.

To accommodate the inflation factor and 
the budget cuts the library must not only trim 
b o o k  purchases b u t also cut even more jour­
nal and serial titles. While cutting subscrip­
tions is never easy, the progress m ade with 
the electronic access does cushion the blow.

With the UNCOVER system now  available 
to every faculty and student outside the li­
brary, via the network, the num ber of jour­
nals accessed electronically n u m b er over 
12,000, far more than Cal Poly’s library ever 
held.

It is true that with electronic access the 
user is unable to go to the shelf, find the vol­
ume, and photocopy the article immediately, 
but the article can be faxed for near immedi­
ate delivery (for a fee), or ordered through 
interlibrary loan.

Simply put, the library must make deep 
cuts (approximately 30%) of its subscriptions 
to journals and serials. Doing this will allow 
the library to retain the most heavily used 
journals and serials and perhaps buy a mea­
ger num ber o f books.

During the summ er the library staff have 
b een  identifying those journals that have such 
a high rate o f use that it w ould be impracti­
cal, and not at all cost-effective, to rely on 
electronic access—this will becom e the “Print 
Core Collection.”

Five years ago the library subscribed 
to 3,313 journals, a n d  p a id  
$426,000; today it subscñbes to 
2 ,9 8 3 journals a n d  p a ys nearly 
$700,000, a n  increase. . .  o f 82%.

We have also made progress in identify­
ing journals that may be less frequently used 
bu t accessible by electronic m eans and docu­
ment delivery—this will becom e the “Elec­
tronic Core Collection.”

In conjunction with this the library will do 
all it can to accom modate the needs of stu­
dents and faculty in obtaining information that 
is in the electronic core collection. An im­
proved docum ent-delivery system is being 
organized to assist. It is h o p ed  that funds will 
eventually b e m ade available to subsidize the 
cost of faxing o r dow nloading articles.

The library solicits the assistance of all fac­
ulty, and particularly departmental library rep­
resentatives in identifying the journals and se­
rials that will n eed  to be trimmed from the 
“print core collection.”

Given the inflationary trends and budget 
cuts experienced, electronic access is seen as 
the only feasible alternative.— D avidB. Walch, 
dean o f  libraries, California Polytechnic State 
University