Frequently Asked Questions about Library Budget Cuts

A. The State of Illinois was faced with a $5 billion shortfall. The Governor addressed this shortfall in his budget proposal, which was passed by the Illinois legislature in May. For a detailed explanation of the state’s financial crisis, visit:

A. The FY04 budget, which begins on July 1, 2003, has been reduced by 3.84%. This amounts to approximately $1,152,000.

A. Because the Library is a labor-intensive organization, many of the cuts will be made in personnel. This directly affects library services.

Q. What specifically are these personnel cuts and what services will be affected?

A. The Library has cut 24 permanent staff positions either through retirement or attrition. This amounts to a little more than 10% of permanent civil staff positions. In addition, most of the graduate assistant positions have been reduced from .5 FTE to .38 FTE, and expenditures for professional development, photocopying, and other operating items have been reduced. Finally, The Library has cut $470,000 from the student wage budget. Due to fewer personnel, patrons will probably witness slower service response at many locations.

As a result of the budget cuts, most of the smaller departmental libraries and some of the larger libraries have reduced their hours (opening later and closing earlier and eliminating some weekend hours). To mitigate the effects of the reduced hours, the Library plans to keep the same hours for the Grainger Engineering Library (open until 3 a.m., Sunday-Thursday), the Undergraduate Library (open until 3:00 a.m., Sunday-Thursday), and the Law Library (open until midnight, Monday-Thursday), and the ACES Library (Open until 10:00 P.M., Sunday-Thursday). The Library also will increase the amount of course reserve materials that will be offered electronically.

A. The inflation rate for periodicals this year is projected at 7%, and this will erode purchasing power. With no new funds for collections, the Library is canceling over 400 journal titles valued at almost $800,000. However, electronic access will still be provided for many titles as a result of a collaborative agreement with the University of Illinois libraries in Chicago and Springfield. In addition, approximately $300,000 of the collections budget will be used for collections and access-related expenditures, the latter of which provides efficient access to materials through partnerships and cooperative agreements with other institutions. By doing this, the Library covers an important gap in the operating budget and allows the continuation of some services that might otherwise be lost.

Q. Why does the Undergraduate Library no longer have a Printing Services Desk?

A. This was a mutual decision by Printing Services and the Library. Due to the budget cuts, Printing Services no longer could hire students to work at the desk. The Library decided that the space would be better used for regular reserves and Media Services, consolidating service



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