State of the Library
William Gray Potter
University Librarian and Associate Provost
August 19, 2004
HIGHLIGHTS OF PAST
YEAR
FIRE
 July 23, 2003
 Largely back to normal
– Or to New Normal
 Some re-binding underway
 Destroyed material will be replaced over
coming years
 Gained some shelving capacity on 2nd floor
Opening of Student Learning
Center
 Opened August 2003
 Wildly popular with students
 Over 15,000 students per day during finals,
just in library portion
 President Adams: most significant building
since Old College, i.e., 200 years
SFX
 SFX linking software implemented
 Makes it much easier for users to link
from citation to full text
 According to statistics kept by Reference,
over 40% of SFX use goes to Elsevier
 Other heavily used sites are Kluwer,
Academic, Factiva, Highwire Press,
Wiley, and JSTOR
Moved to Electronic Only for
Major Journals
 Elsevier, Wiley, Kluwer, Springer
 Saved about $170,000
 Reduced load on check-in
 Will reduce binding
 No paper = no net
 We are now spending close to $3M, or 30%
of Library Materials Budget, on electronic
resources
Electronic Journal Use (Big
Ticket, Elsevier, Wiley, etc.)
 FY01 = 137,357 full text retrievals
 FY02 = 227,224 (+65%)
 FY03 = 378,438 (+67%)
 FY04 = 628,857 (+66%)
 Elsevier about 40% of use
 This does not include EbscoHost, ProQuest which
provide over 1,000,000 full text views
 According to Reference, over 90% of online use
comes from outside the Libraries
Electronic Journal Locator
Some facts from Serials
 46,435 titles in EJL
–
–
–
–
–
17,008 funded by GALILEO,
19,872 by UGA Libraries,
574 funded by UGA Law School,
8,078 free,
903 pay per view
Library Instruction Strong
 Over six hundred sessions
 Almost 10,000 students, one-third of total
enrollment, participated
 Half of all sessions in SLC
Other Highlights
 UB/UC GIL Express – soft launch
 Russell Library “NO OTHER ROAD”
– 1953 Red And Black Editors Stand Up For
Equality And Free Speech
 Special Collections Libraries Building now 16th on
Regents List – was 22nd
BUDGET
Impact of Budget Cuts
 Personnel/Operations budget cut about 10%
from FY02
 Library Materials Budget also cut, but
restored (more below)
 We are down positions, travel is restricted,
and equipment aging
 But, thanks to excellent efforts of staff,
production and service levels are steady
Library Materials Expenditures
 FY03 Spent $9.3M
 FY04 Spent $9.6M
 FY05 Project $10.2M
 FY06 Project $10.5M
Slowed cost increases with “electronic only”
for major publishers
Library Materials Budget
 FY03 Base $7.81M
 FY04 Base $7.35M
 FY05 Base $7.91M
Reduced to $7.16M then increased by $750,000
Budget Gap FY04
 FY04 – budget = $7.35M, spent $9.6M
 How did we close $2.25M gap?
– Graduate Tuition Differential = $254,377
– Student Tech Fee = $400,000
– Research Stations = $87,000
– The rest, $1.5M, from one-time funds from
University Administration
Budget Gap FY05
 FY05 – budget =$7.9M
 Expect to spend $10.2M
 How do we close $2.3M gap?
– Graduate Tuition Differential = $254,377
– Student Tech Fee = $400,000
– Research Stations = $87,000
– The rest, $1.6M, from one-time funds from
University Administration
Library Materials Budget

Why show you these numbers?
1.
2.




Illustrate University support
Show you how precarious is our position
Costs, especially for journals, escalate
Electronic resources are costly
We are barely keeping up
(By the way, I want to thank Helen Wilkes,
Caroline Killens, and June Bellew for a great job
in tracking this budget.)
Crisis in Scholarly Publishing
 Journal prices continue to rise
 Electronic journals are successful but do not
offer long term savings
– Indeed, faculty want electronic back files –
another expense
 New means of publication are needed
 Open Access might provide an answer
Why emphasize Library Material
Budget ?
 More slides on Library Materials Budget
than on Personnel/Operations
 We can recover from cuts to
Personnel/Operations when budget restored
 Opportunities to add to the collection are
often lost forever
Not Out of the Woods Yet
 Governor has said that more cuts may come
 Possible rollback of payroll delay
 Impact on UGA budget is unknown
 See story in today’s AJC
State agencies say layoffs may loom
By JAMES SALZER
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 08/18/04
Gov. Sonny Perdue's recent decision not to use an accounting shift to
balance the state budget has university presidents and state agency
directors contemplating employee layoffs.
That's because they may have to slash another $179 million worth of
spending in coming months, on top of about $1.7 billion in reductions during
the past two years.
While college, technical school and prison officials are just beginning to
consider the consequences of Perdue's decision, they say layoffs are a
possibility in agencies where employee salaries and benefits account for 80
percent to 90 percent of budgets …
Assessment
Library Assessment – Busy Year
 LibQUAL
 Surveys/Focus Groups in SLC
 Survey of Humanities/Social Science
Faculty
 Participated in ARL’s “Assessing ILL/DD
Services”
 Web Advisory Group conducted usability
studies (has led to improved web site)
LibQUAL
 Results still under analysis
 Basically, we are normal
 Dominant findings:
– High demand for electronic journals
– Faculty & students want more electronic content, but
they may not be fully aware of what we offer
 Assessment Committee will make presentations
LibQUAL Radar Charts Comparison
ARL:UGA Core Questions
ARL Colleges and Universities
UGA
SLC Surveys/Focus Groups
 92% of use by undergraduates
 SLC conducive to studying
 Claim to study more than before SLC
 Research at Main/Science, study at SLC
 Group study important
 Not aware of librarians in SLC
 Do not recognize as a library
– (does this matter?)
Survey of Humanities/Social
Sciences Faculty
 Nan McMurry and Kristen Nielsen
 42% physically visit library weekly
 87% visit the library virtually weekly
 E—journals very popular
 E-books not seen as important
 Library is central to research and teaching
SHORT TERM GOALS
Past and Future
Review Short Term Goals for
Last Year
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Address deficit in Library Materials Budget
Open and Operate SLC
Implement SFX
Institute LibQUAL
New measures for SLC
Utilize naming opportunities in SLC and SCLB
for development
Secure additional storage space
Short Term Goals for This Year
(from Annual Report)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Complete fire recovery
Replace material destroyed in fire
Stabilize Library Materials Budget or cancel
journals
Expand SFX
Evaluate first LibQUAL survey
Co-sponsor Lillian Smith Book Awards
Continue development activities using naming
opportunities
Secure additional storage space
Additional Short Term Goals
 Move Map Collection
 Investigate Institutional Repository
 Cataloging will implement OCLC
Connexion
 Evaluate Impact of UC/UB
 Evaluate Impact of ILLIAD
Conclusion
 We have been hit hard by budget cuts and
fire
 Still, much of which we can be proud
 Future of budget is uncertain
 Future of our commitment is not in question
Happy to take questions, but
prefer a treat.