Jeffrey Hall, a senior from Chicago studying business, helps Bryan Haggard, center, and his friends Casey Smith and Patrice Northern, all freshmen from Chicago, to find a book for their Psychology 102 class Wednesday at Morris Library. Last week the university partially lifted the moratorium, which has allowed the library to use $250,000 out of the $668,000 budget for one-time only purchases, such as books and CDs. - Sami Bowden | Daily Egyptian
Howard Carter said he is glad Morris Library will now have more than his optimism to get through the university’s cash-flow problems.
Chancellor Sam Goldman has partially lifted the moratorium on the library’s $668,000 one-time purchase budget for this fiscal year, said Carter, acting associate dean of support services at Morris Library.
Carter said the library had already used about $220,000 of that budget before the ban, leaving about $450,000 in the library’s budget that could not be touched.
In November, the university placed the library under a moratorium, which does not allow any one-time purchases, he said.
One-time purchases can range from books to DVDs. Periodicals and journal subscriptions were not affected by the ban because those are not one-time purchases, Carter said.
The library expected the moratorium to be completely lifted in January, said David Carlson, dean of library affairs.
However, under the economic circumstances, Carter said this partial lift — which allowed the library to spend $250,000 of the remaining $450,000 in the one-time purchase budget — is making it possible for the library to catch up on needed published materials.
“What we did was we assumed that at some point the money would be released,” Carter said.
He said the library had been business as usual except when it got to actually placing orders for publications. Librarians continued to add lists of books they wanted so they would be prepared if the university released some funds, Carter said.
“That’s a regular flow and that happens throughout the year and that’s fine,” he said. “Well, when the moratorium hit, things were no longer being purchased so they weren’t coming in.”
Immediately after the university allocated $250,000 back to the library, Carter said the librarians spent $150,000 in orders and purchases for new materials.
Some titles had already gone out of print, leaving the lists with some holes, said Susan Tulis, associate dean of library affairs.
“We just don’t know how many more we’re going to find as time goes on,” Tulis said.
She said in the worst-case scenario, the library could always try and borrow publications from other libraries.
Carter said he’s weary that the library staff will become swamped when the recent orders start to come in because they are usually made gradually throughout the year.
“Instead of a steady rain we’re going to get a flash flood,” Carter said. “And that creates some problems for our folks who are used to our steady flow.”
Carter said in addition to the flood of new publications that will arrive at the library, there is now a race against time to get the remaining $200,000 lifted from the moratorium to finish the one-time purchases for this year.
He said any leftover money does not carry into the next fiscal year. It instead goes back to the university and is used at the university’s discretion, Carter said.
“If we get it too late in the fiscal year, we won’t be able to get that spent,” Tulis said. “No department ever wants to give back money to the university because then you’re just cut that amount next year.”
Tulis said it is difficult for the library to spend the money later in the year because it takes time to process large book orders.
Sometimes those orders can take up to 60 days, Carter said.
Even though the library has struggled with the one-time purchase budget, Tulis said the library’s services have fortunately remained the same.
Besides a cut in hours and a decrease in deliveries from the McLafferty Annex earlier this semester, Carter said he is hopeful no more cuts have to be made.
“All the easy stuff we cut years ago,” Carter said. “It’s a difficult thing, but it’s the way the world is now.”
Erin Holcomb can be reached at eholcomb@dailyegyptian.com or 536-3311 ext. 255.
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It’s good to see books are available again.
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