Impact on KYVL of 4% Budget Cut at CPE

The Council on Postsecondary Education sustained a 4% cut, along with the other state agencies – retroactive to the beginning of Fiscal Year 2009-10 which was July 1, 2009. We do not yet know the impact of this cut on KYVL but they are creating budget scenarios for discussion at CPE. Mary Beth Thomson also serves on the KYVL Collections Committee which will make recommendations if a reduction in databases from KYVL is required. More when we know it.

New NEH Grant Funding for Historic Newspapers Project

Special Collections and Digital Programs was received word that funding has been awarded for participation in the National Digital Newspapers Project for another 2 years. The award is for $393,081 which brings the total that we have been awarded for this project to $1,102,967. Check out the details at http://www.uky.edu/Libraries/NDNP/
Congratulations Digital Programs!

FY10 Budget News

As FY09 is drawing to a close, the University is finalizing its budget for FY10 which begins on July 1st. What we know at this point:

We have received a 2% reduction to recurring funds ~ $400,000

• Reduction in materials budget ~ $200,000
• Loss of 4 positions (2 in University Libraries, 1 in Law, 1 in MCL)
• We have received $1 million in new recurring funds for the materials budget

The expenditure rate on the Young Endowment was reduced by the Young Endowment Committee from 3.5% to 3.0% effective July 1, 2009

• That reduction means there will be ~ $310,000 less available to spend in those accounts next year
• The impact of the stock market losses will be fairly minimal next year but will result in a major reduction in income in FY11 and FY12
  

Student budget allocations

• Each division’s funds were generally reduced by 5%
• Each associate dean has the authority to allocate their budget among their units as they see fit
• The increased minimum wage will have to be absorbed within existing allocations
• Student salaries were not increased beyond the minimum wage increases

Our conservative budgeting of the past year will leave us with a healthy fund balance which will be transferred to the new year to offset the expected deficit in our operating budget.

Mary Beth, Stephen and their staffs are busily closing this year’s fiscal activity. The materials budget allocations for next year will be available as soon as they can be prepared and reviewed.

Student Budget and Wages

At a meeting earlier this month, the Executive Committee reviewed the student budget requests for next fiscal year. Because of the need to reduce the operating budget, we made the decision to reduce all allocations by 5%. In addition, units will have to absorb an increase in the mandatory minimum wage from $6.55 to $7.25 per hour. We estimate that this increase costs the Libraries more than $60,000 which, unfortunately, will have to be absorbed by the division budgets as well as the 5% reduction. As a result, we have determined that we cannot sustain the usual longevity increases for students who have worked for the Libraries for more than two semesters. Those students will see an increase in their base paid up to $7.25, but no longevity increases.

White Papers

As promised, the Executive Committee has completed 7 draft white papers with a focus on long term issues and strategies that need to be discussed and considered. The seven papers are:

• Computers and Printers
• CTS-MCL Centralization
• Kentucky Newspaper Project
• King Library Press
• Service to Colleges
• WTYL Hours and Security
• WTYL Service Points
  

They are posted in SharePoint on the Executive Committee site under the White Papers folder. Our next steps are to have a series of discussions and conversations of the papers and determine next steps.

ICOLC Statement on Global Economic Situation

The International Coalition of Library Consortia (ICOLC) has issued a statement about the impact of the global economic situation on libraries and database licensing in particular. Two consortia of which UK is a member – SAALCK and SOLINET – are signatories to the statement. You will find the full detail at http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6630818.html?industryid=47109

The statement sends a strong message from all the major consortia in the world that it cannot be business as usual in the months ahead as we renew and/or cancel subscriptions and database agreements.

New Fellows Society Members

Last weekend has the University’s recognition of its new fellows and those who have reached new levels of giving. The Libraries recognized 11 new or upgraded fellows including Bess and Tyler Abell (and their children and grandchildren); David Rice and Ellen Rice (children of Library Associates board member, Angela Rice); and John and LuAnnette Butler (faculty members at Austin Peay University in Clarksville, TN); and Martha Durham Schweitz (and her husband Eric, the daughter of Henry Durham). I appreciate the confidence that these donors show in the work you are doing and its importance in the lives of our students, faculty and Commonwealth.

2008 Phonathon

The Libraries 2008 phonathon, conducted in conjunction with the Office of Development’s annual giving program, set all time records for both number of donors at 589 and the total dollars raised at $41,564. In addition, a long time Libraries supporter provided a first ever, matching grant of $12,500 that matched the amount that donors increased their giving over last year. Phonathon gifts this year were targeted to add to the Young materials endowment. Jessica Hughes and Sharon Ross plan and manage our phonathon participation with the Office of Development. Thanks for the good work on this important part of our fundraising program

Record Breaking Phonathon

Our record-breaking Libraries phonathon has hit $41,029 in dollars pledged. This is a 36.66 percent increase ($11,006) over the previous record set last year. And when compared to three years ago, the dollar amount in the annual Libraries phonathon has more than tripled – $41,029 this year compared to $13,344 three years ago – an increase of 207.47 percent ($27,685). The record number of pledges in this year’s phonathon has now reached 567 – an increase of 6.58 percent (35 donors) over the previous record from last year, and an increase of 180.69 percent (365 donors) from three years ago! To add to that good news, one of our long time library supporters made a challenge grant to match increased gifts of this year’s gift over last year’s gift and we have now maximized all $12,500 of that grant.

I am grateful to those members of the Libraries staff and faculty who have made a contribution to support the Libraries. If you have not been called and would like to make a gift you can contact our development officer Sharon.Ross@uky.edu at 257-0500 ext 2159 or give on line at https://iweb.uky.edu/giveonline/

The Year Ahead

Now that the FY08 fiscal year has been closed and that our budget for the year ahead is known, the Executive Committee and I have proceeded with decisions related to filling position and other strategic changes.

The strategic decisions that have been made as a result of our many months of discussion about priorities, opportunities, etc. follow:

• Have hired ConsultFour consulting company to provide a review and analysis of our organizational structure and capacity for the Information Technology and Research & Education divisions. The consultants will be visiting on September 29-30, 2008.
• Have made a decision to pursue the idea of consolidating aspects of the technical services operations in the Medical Center Library with CTS. MCL and CTS will be working on a plan for how this consolidation will occur
• Will continue to work with III and the Encore interface to improve its effectiveness for our users. The report of the Encore working group is expected soon. We expect that we will also have a visit from III in concert with Eastern Kentucky University sometime this fall
• Will maintain the Library Link operation in the Patterson Office Tower. It continues to be a very effective tool for the delivery of materials to that part of campus. Our focus in FY09 will be on expanding its use as a touchdown suite for academic liaisons who work with faculty in that area of campus.
• Will implement the changed hours for the Young Library with the start of school

Positions to be Filled

As a result of the decisions above and discussion of the strategic plan and goals, we have agreed to proceed with filling the following positions:

• Director of IT Support (IT - funded as new position by the Provost)
• Head, Collection Management (CTS - funded as new position by the Provost)
• Coordinator of Cataloging and Metadata (CTS)
• Business Reference Librarian (R&E) – with Eeva Hoch expected departure in June 2008, we want to take advantage of Eeva’s expertise and the work she has done to build our engagement with the economic development and outreach areas of the university. We will proceed now with hiring Eeva’s replacement so that the individual can overlap with Eeva for a period of time.
• Library technical support assistant (IT)
  

In addition, we will be exploring options for filling the Director, Archives position in SCDP. We will hire temps to provide assistance with reference service in Young Information Services and the Library Link. Other positions will be considered as these positions are filled and as other vacancies occur.

Two Library Positions Funded in Provost's Reallocation Process

I am delighted to report that the Provost has provided the Libraries with recurring funding to fill two faculty positions – Director of IT Support (IT Division) and Head of Collection Management (CTS). When our budget was reduced by 4% this spring to met the state’s cut to the University allocation, the Provost planned to allow the colleges to make budget reallocation proposals for up to 2% of those funds. In our proposal we requested funding for 6 positions (3 faculty and 3 staff). The positions above were our top two priorities and we will be able to begin recruitment this month for those 2 positions. Receiving this recurring funding as well as all of our year end budget planning will now permit the Executive Committee and me to make some decisions regarding filling other positions.

Budget News

We have received excellent news regarding the Libraries’ materials budget for FY09. For the year ahead, the President and Provost have provided $1,075,000 in one-time funding to avoid as much loss of content as possible. While money to sustain our ongoing resources is needed, this one-time infusion will allow us to avoid extensive loss of content for the year ahead.

We have recently learned that the Kentucky Virtual Library (which provides many of our core databases as the EBSCO suite) has had to reduce its level of support for funding those databases. Mary Beth Thomson, Associate Dean for Collections and Technical Services, is a member of the Collections working group at KYVL which will determine the impact of those cuts.

We still face challenges in the coming year in the materials budget, but we anticipate that the loss of content will be much less than we originally expected. Mary Beth will be working with individual collection managers about the specific impact of the new funding on their funds. We are also preparing a message that collection managers can share with their faculty. Please wait for that message and instructions before communicating any details to your faculty groups.

Budget Reduction Letter

I have posted a letter to all faculty and staff in our SharePoint site which explains the budget reduction that we have planned for FY09 which begins on July 1, 2008. You will find it under Office of the Dean, Budget Documents.