U. of California Santa Cruz Library Preparing for $1.9 Million Worth of Budget Cuts
Earlier in the week we posted about the State of Pennsylvania ending access to the subscriptions databases they provide at public and school libraries across the state. Sad and difficult for both the info pros and users.
We hope we don't see these types of major cuts don't occurring elsewhere. However, we wouldn't be that surprised if and when they do. Also, what are vendors planning on doing, if anything, to make up the lost revenue?
Well, the sad news continues today with an academic library preparing for nearly $2 million dollars with of cuts in all areas.
The school paper at UC Santa Cruz (UCSC), City on the Hill, reports that, "UCSC Library Faces $1.9 Million Reduction."
From the Article:
Library administrators are currently implementing a cumulative 14.5 percent reduction. Online resources, which include journals and databases, are some of the services being reconsidered.
“This is the first time we’ve had to go after collections in a major way,” said Kerry Scott, chair of the library’s collection development department.
[Snip]
According to the university library’s website, the collections budget in particular needs to be reduced by approximately $1 million. This is attributed in part to campus budget reductions, but also to inflation and the rising cost of journal publishing.
Scott’s position normally entails purchasing books and serials, licensing databases, and signing up for online resources, along with teaching classes about how to use the online resources and working at the reference desk. However, because of the $780,000 permanent cut to online resources, she has started making decisions about which online databases and subscriptions the school cannot afford.
“Instead of identifying material to pick up, I identify material to cancel,” Scott said.
Online subscriptions such as “Chemistry and Industry,” which costs the library $925 per year, and humanities materials such as “Acronyms, Initialisms and Abbreviations,” which costs $5,386 per year, are both on the chopping block.
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