Library Faces Shrinking Acquisitions Budget

By Matthew Weinberger
Staff Writer

If you rely on the library’s books for class research, you may be in trouble next semester. 

The just-expired University Library Strategic Plan describes a goal of “modest but targeted increases” to the “shrinking” budget for acquiring new materials, but this has not solved the problem. The rising subscription price of electronic journals and databases are to blame, librarians said. 

The materials that are purchased under this budget include books, movies, computer software, music and other audiovisual recordings that are complete in one set. These things are categorized as "monographic" materials, as opposed to serial materials, such as magazines, that are continually published. 

During the 2003-2004 fiscal year, approximately $600,000 was spent on around 16,000 books, according to Min-Huei Lu, the head of monographic acquisitions. However, for the 2005-2006 fiscal year, which ends on Apr. 1st, approximately $400,000 was allocated for new monographic acquisitions, all but $15,000 of which has been spent, Lu said. This reflects an approximate one-third drop in the actual acquisitions budget. This means simply that as E-journal costs go up, the budget for new materials goes down. 

The reason for this shrinking budget is the rise in cost of electronic resources, Lu said. While printed materials are still being acquired on behalf of the humanities and social sciences at Stony Brook University, the sciences prefer the electronic journals and databases that are becoming more prevalent in their fields, she said. 

The problem is that the subscription rates don’t always match the rate of inflation. E-journal prices rise an estimated 10 percent faster than budget adjustments, Nathan Baum, the assistant director for electronic resources and services, said. 

“Between $550,000 and $575,000 was drawn from the acquisitions budget” in the past year to pay for the subscriptions, Baum said. 

The biggest impact for students comes in the form of textbook availability. Because of this lack of funding, the library will only be able to keep two copies of each textbook on reserve starting in the fall, Lu said. Previously, the library had kept five. 

The library's administration acknowledges this problem and is attempting to fix it, Dean and Director of Libraries Christian Filstrup said. 

Recently, as much as $300,000 was moved from other departmental budgets as a temporary fix to an ongoing problem, he said. 

"We've restored the book budget somewhat," Filstrup said. "That gets us through the year." 

Book prices tend to stay relatively steady with the rate of inflation, but the library puts the maintenance of electronic resources at the top of their priorities, Filstrup said. 

"Our first commitment is to the serials," he said. 

This budget shrinkage comes at a time when more and more classes are asking for videos and other recordings, Lu said. As to the possibility of an actual budget increase in the future:  "I hope so," Lu said.


Somebody also made a website about the library funding crisis.