Academic Senate Youngstown State University Youngstown, Ohio  44555

April 7, 2004

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• Approval of Library Committee Budget Recommendation

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Senate Chair Dr. Tom Shipka was unable to attend because of illness.  Dr. Chet Cooper, vice chair of the Academic Senate, called the Senate to order at 4:08 p.m.

Minutes of the Previous Meeting:

Minutes of the March 3, 2004, meeting were approved as posted.  To view the March minutes, go to <http://www.www.ysu.edu/acad-senate/minmar04.htm>. 

Senate Executive Committee (SEC) / Report from the Chair: 

No report.

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Ohio Faculty Council (OFC):   Chet Cooper reported:

1. The minutes of the OFC Meeting of March 12 are available on the OFC web site, http://www.ysu.edu/facstaff/ofc The featured speaker at the March 12 meeting was Jim McCollum, Executive Director of the Inter-University Council.

2. The next meeting of the OFC is this Friday, April 9, in Columbus. Paul Sracic will be attending.

3. In a recent e-mail, Tom Shipka noted that one of the items on the agenda for the April 9 meeting will be the distribution of "the penultimate draft of the report of the Governor's Commission on Higher Education and the Economy." The Commission's web site states that the formal presentation of the final report to the Governor is to take place on April 29.

Williamson College of Business Administration:   Dean Betty Jo Licata reported on news and events in the College.  A summary of the presentation is contained in Attachment 1.

Charter & Bylaws Committee:    No report.

Elections & Balloting Committee:  Jane Reid reported that elections for Senators for next year are currently taking place within the Colleges.

General Education Committee:

Bill Jenkins reported: The University is the midst of assessment for General Education Courses. The Committee is still working on learning outcomes for General Education courses and is willing to meet with departments to help answer their questions. The key driving influence is North Central Association of Colleges and Schools. North Central is becoming more concerned with assessment. Ultimately, our assessment will be done by departments rather than a university-wide assessment. Sharon Stringer is handling Program Assessment, and the General Education Committee is handling GenEd assessment.

Library Committee: 

The written report of the Library Committee is contained in Attachment 3.

Prior to the introduction of two motions, Library Committee Chair Dan Suchora reported on the background of the committee's deliberations: The University Archives now being housed in Library, and the Melnick Medical Museum is also under the auspices of the Library. A member of the Library Staff is being sent out to visit with faculty and to introduce the facilities and resources of the Library.

As for the affect of technology, the Committee feels that the leadership of the Library has embraced technology and is using it effectively.

OhioLink costs have gone up. OhioLink is a mandated amount. In order to keep up with the Ohio Link increase, further cuts were needed from the Colleges.

The Final allocation for 2003-04 was 22% lower overall than the budget for 2002-03; it is worse than that for some colleges.

Dr. Suchora then moved that the allocations for 2004-05 should be as follows:

 

	2003-2004 FINAL ALLOCATION	2004-2005 PROPOSED ALLOCATION	Percent Change
ARTS & SCIENCES	242,335	266,500	10%
BUSINESS	51,882	57,100	10%
EDUCATION	38,659	42,500	10%
ENGINEERING	40,449	44,500	10%
FINE & PERFORMING ARTS	30,830	33,900	10%
HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES	68,272	75,100	10%
OHIO LINK	450,000	495,000	10%
LIBRARY:	109,733	152,700	39%
NEW PROGRAMS		11,000
TOTALS	1,032,160	1,178,300	14%

The motion was seconded, and discussion began on the motion.

Gabriel Palmer-Fernandez asked if the $495,000 for Ohio Link has already been determined. Dr. Suchora replied that it has not yet been determined, but the Committee believes that figure will be accurate. Dr. Palmer-Fernandez also asked who determines the cost of OhioLink. Dr. Suchora replied that when an institution joins OhioLink, the institution's holdings at that time are evaluated, and a formula is used to determine the cost for that institution.

Robert Leipheimer stated: The proposed increase in the allocation is not enough. The slashing of the Library budget is hurting all departments, not just Chemistry. Last year Chemistry went from $90,000 to $58,000 to $35,000. Chemistry has tripled graduate assistants, has increased research, and has invested in interdisciplinary programs. I don't think we can continue the increased emphasis on research. Quest could suffer. The 10% increase is not enough. Dan Suchora replied: The Arts & Sciences budget recommendation is 10% increase, but actually $32,000 was subtracted out from the total and was going to be funded from another source.

Paul Kobulnicky: By moving Chemical Abstracts into the general fund, that frees up $32,000. Also, the electronic journals available through OhioLink are only a fraction of the total electronic journals. There are a large number of publications not available electronic via OhioLink. In order to deliver the services the Library needs to deliver, half the money comes from institutional funding. There are three ways to purchase: The War Chest method; the NPR method; and the Pay-to-play method. Pay-to-pay requires that only those institutions who pay get access to certain databases. We are at the call of OhioLink as far as their costs are concerned.

Dr. Palmer-Fernandez asked if the Library Committee has looked at possible long-term funding methods for Library, e.g., the capital campaign:  Dr. Suchora: No, that was not looked at this year; they concentrated on finding the best reasonable request for funding levels..

Tony Atwater spoke regarding the motion: He thanked Dr. Suchora and the Library Committee for emphasizing this funding problem. He then shared the context of the cuts: 2002-03 was a year in which we faced three mandated state cuts. His interest is in wanting to restore the extent of cut that the Library budget sustained. Dr. Atwater has met with the Senate Executive Committee and determined to incrementally restore some funding for the Library budget. He outlined a plan to the Executive Committee for restoring funding levels. Probably about $280,000 needs to be restored to the Library budget to bring it back to earlier levels, possibly incrementally over 3 years. He expressed his hope that more can be done more and that it could be done more quickly. He stated that this motion helps him to make the case for proper funding for the Library. Yet, they too are struggling to keep their head above water with respect to costs of subscribing to electronic journals. Dr. Atwater wants to assure the Senate that this is a high priority for the Provost's office. He sympathizes with the comments of Dr. Leipheimer and others. Libraries are dealing with these issues all over the country. It is important for departments to work closely with Paul Kobulnicky to determine which journals are needed.

Michael Serra: Chemical Abstracts is very important. Biology and Chemistry face a special problem: even with the $32,000 removed and funded elsewhere, the funds are not enough to sustain the journals needed by their departments. Chemistry is already in the hole, with some gaps in some of their journal holdings.

Dr. Suchora: The Library Committee makes recommendations on allocations to colleges; the colleges makes allocations to departments and programs.

Paul Kobulnicky: Every institution handles the selection of materials individually. YSU has a long tradition of faculty directing the purchase of materials for their departments. Some departments were almost maxed out with just recurring subscriptions. The Library was forced to give each department their list and their budget and to ask them to let the Library know which ones should be renewed, within the budget. Chemistry's situation is unique due to the $32,000 cost of Chemical Abstracts right off the top. I'm in a situation of having to come to the end of the fiscal year with a balanced budget. We cannot pay for titles out of excess money, since next year there would have to be more extra money found to pay for those. It is no different than hiring a staff member hoping for continuing funding for the position, which just can't be done.

A vote was taken on the motion: Motion Passed.

Dr. Suchora then introduced another motion: When any College receives approval for a new program, the library's base budget shall be increased by $1000.00 with each increase being allocated to the particular college and department managing the new approved program.

The motion was seconded. A vote was taken. Motion passed.

 

Unfinished Business:   None.

New business:   None.

Adjournment:  The Academic Senate adjourned at 5:03 p.m.