8 June 2016

Information on the MU Libraries FY17 budget and how these cuts will affect the veterinary collections

Summary: For the MU Libraries, the 5% campus-wide budget cut amounts to $877,000. About 70% of this cut ($627,000) will come from reductions in operational expenditures (e.g., staffing, services, etc.); 30% ($250,000) will be cut from the collections budget.

In addition to the 5% cut, the collections budget faces further and significant shortfalls due to increasing costs of materials, cuts to UM System library funds, and other funding shortages. For FY2017, the MU Libraries collection budget is facing a $1.2 million shortfall. This shortfall represents a nearly 20% cut to library collections.

Subject funds to be cut 20%: As mentioned in Ann Riley and Rabia Gregory’s communication dated May 26, subject-specific funds are facing a 20% reduction. I directly control approximately $50,000 for “veterinary” materials and will need to cut $10,000 from that fund. In order to protect online veterinary journals, I will be cutting low-use print only journals and severely curtailing book purchasing. If you need a book for your research or teaching, please let me know. Your input on book purchasing is extremely useful – I want to make sure I’m purchasing what you need and not what I think you need.

IMPORTANT: Many of the resources you use are included in our journal packages or are included in other science and biomedical subject funds. All of the science librarians will be working closely together to mitigate the impact of the severe collections cut as best we can.

Your additional feedback will be needed: Thanks for your comments on journals in our ScienceDirect and Wiley packages. This feedback is informing our negotiation process with these publishers. Over the summer, we will be soliciting feedback on additional journal titles.

Thank you: This is not an easy or pleasant task. If you have any questions or want additional detail, please contact me.

More information on the Libraries collections budget can be found at: http://library.missouri.edu/collectionsreviewupdate/

Kate Anderson
Head, Zalk Veterinary Medical Library