CONTACT: EMILY SILVERMAN, (413) 545-0995

UMASS AMHERST RESTORES LIBRARY ACQUISITIONS BUDGET

Amherst, Mass. - State funding for the UMass Amherst Library acquisitions budget plunged from $4.4 million in FY01 to $400,000 in FY03. In response to this 90% reduction, the UMass Amherst administration has made an enormous effort to restore Library funding from campus sources. The Library received word today that the campus is making an ongoing commitment to an additional $3.1 million in the acquisitions budget for use in meeting this funding challenge.

In fall 2001, facing a previous round of budget cuts, the Library cancelled $1 million in journal subscriptions and reduced book buying by 50%. Director of Libraries, Margo Crist, called today's news about the restoration of funds "extraordinary."

"There is suffering all across the campus because of budget cuts and reductions in staffing," she said. "The campus administration's extraordinary support will enable the Library to maintain the expenditure level of FY02. This is very good news for the Library and, more importantly, the campus."

According to Crist, the funding will prevent another round of journal cancellations, maintain the book budget at FY02 levels, and provide modest increases in support for electronic resources. Unfortunately, the journals cancelled in FY02 will not be restored.

The Library's acquisitions expenditures reached an all-time high in FY01 of $5,264,945, through a combination of campus, University, and state funds, and private giving. The current restoration of funds, while significant, falls short of the Library's FY01 "buying power" by about $1.5 million. Annual inflation in the prices of scholarly materials continues to challenge all academic libraries. According to the Association of Research Libraries, "Since 1986, the average annual increase for the [journal] unit cost has been 8.5% and for the [book] unit cost 3.8%, both higher than the general inflation trend during the same period." (ARL Statistics 2000-01)

As it plans for the future, the UMass Amherst campus will need to make decisions about its library and whether funding can be found to make it competitive with its ARL peers.