Bush Memorial Library (BML) is a cornerstone of the Hamline campus, serving students both digitally and physically. Recently, however, the library budget was reduced, leaving less money for subscriptions to various digital libraries and websites. According to an email sent to faculty, 17 subscriptions were not renewed. This included EBSCO, a national database for journals, e-books and magazines, as well as the Oxford English Dictionary.
“Every year we look at how much money we have, and what resources are needed to support the programs [on campus],” Associate University Librarian Amy Sheehan said.
Each fiscal year departments across campus are asked to review previous budget reports and reallocate money to fit within a specific budget. This includes reevaluating services such as subscriptions to various online journals and streaming services.
“We don’t always know the budget ahead of time, but when we learn that information, we look to see what historical cost increases have been, how things are rising and what that means in terms of what we can keep and what might have to go,” Sheehan said.
Before this fiscal year, the library’s budget was supplemented by a donation from the late Dr. George Vane. With the donation, the library was able to maintain the previous amount of subscriptions it had until this fiscal year.
“The decision was made a few years ago to not have the library have a capital budget. That left us our operating budget and the restricted funds, like the gift from Dr. Vane to help carry us through and acquire the things we needed,” Head of resource and acquisition management Mary O’Dae said.
Many professors were aware of the coming reductions of Hamline’s online subscriptions. The faculty are consulted and given the information to ease the process of the changes.
“It’s a consultative process driven by their engagement with metrics of use; they make informed choices and tell us why,” English and Communications Studies Department Chair Mike Reynolds said.
Faculty were also previously asked to compile what they felt was necessary for their program and the necessary research.
“I remember going through and mentioning the databases that are super valuable to the fine arts department,” Performance, Production and Community (PPC) Chair Jeff Turner said.
Though some services were available only through Hamline’s digital catalog, some of the resources still exist in print in the library.
“We lost the online subscription to the Oxford English Dictionary; however, we do still have it in print. People can come and consult it during the library’s hours,” O’Dae said.
Another resource students and faculty have is the Interlibrary loan system. This system allows students and faculty to request digital materials, such as articles and research papers, or physical media such as books and journals to be sent to the university for them to use.
“The Interlibrary loan system is how we will be filling a lot of the gaps,” O’Dae said. “We’re hoping that not all these losses will be permanent; we would really like to be able to bring some of them [online resources] back.”
With the Interlibrary loan system, students and faculty may receive requested articles in a matter of hours and physical materials within a few days. Looking to the upcoming years, however, there is some hope for the restoration of some resources.
“I think there’s an opportunity with our new leadership for them to determine what their priorities are. If students are like, ‘Hey, I miss this,’ or faculty can’t get personal research done or for course content and creation, there are many voices that can contribute to the conversation, and we are happy to take that feedback and to learn from the decisions we’ve made. If people want to share their thoughts, we would be happy to hear them,” Sheehan said.
