Interim Senior Vice President Smith
Office of the Vice President
University of Hawaii at Manoa

April 16, 1998

Dear Sr. Vice President Smith,

The Library Senate Executive Board has become concerned because of conflicting information we received in the last few weeks. We hope that you can clarify the situation.

We were greatly encouraged by recent statements indicating that the Library would be protected from further budget cuts. During his April 5th interview on the Price of Paradise radio show, President Mortimer said:

"The second thing that Dean Smith has done at the University at Manoa has been to take the Library off the table when discussing budget cuts. I think that's a really significant move on his part. The Library is such an important resource, not just for the University but for the entire state, that we need to protect it, and nurture it, and help it grow."

The following day our Board met with Dr. Alexander Malahoff, Manoa Faculty Senate Chair, and he commented on how grateful we can all be that the University Administration is protecting the Library from any budget cuts. Many faculty members across the Manoa campus have made similar comments to Library faculty and staff.

It was therefore a shock to us when we learned from the University Librarian on Tuesday April 7th that the Library had been asked to prepare an assessment plan for a five percent cut. Coming after years of severe annual cuts in funding, yet a further cut will have a devastating effect on the services and materials available to the University community.

From 1995-1997 the Library lost 17.9% of its faculty positions when the rest of the University experienced only a 2.5% loss. We also lost 17.2% of our civil service positions during the same period. With regard to our book budget we have seen our funding drop from $4.4 million in 1993-94 to $2.7 million in 1995-96 and slowly creep back to $4.2 million in 1997-98. This loss in real dollars is compounded by the effects of inflation. In addition, we now learn that $500,000 of our current budget year may be considered supplemental and removed from the book budget figure in 1999.

The Library requires funding to purchase materials (book funds) and also requires funding for staff to receive, process, circulate, preserve, shelve, and assist users in accessing the materials. Any further reduction in book or general funds in 1997-98 will seriously impact our users and campus programs due to loss of staff, cancellation of serials subscriptions and/or elimination of book purchases. This will negatively affect our ability to build a quality collection and provide services to support the teaching and research of the University.

We urge you to look into this matter and hope that you will be able to assure us that the Library has indeed been spared from all types of budget cuts. We look forward to your reply.

Sincerely,

Gregg S. Geary
Chair, Library Senate Executive Board

cc: Alexander Malahoff, Chair, Manoa Faculty Senate
John Haak, University Librarian