We have a shortfall in our budget this fiscal year. That’s the bad news upfront. Recently, the KYVL Collections Workgroup presented a report to the Virtual Library Advisory Committee with recommendations regarding our licensed database collection in anticipation of response to budget cuts. I would like to provide you an update on the current state of our budget, talk about the Collections Workgroup report, and tell you about next steps.
As a reminder, in Fiscal Year 2008-09, KYVL resources were reduced by 30% due to budget cuts over two fiscal years and the indirect impact of the cuts leading to the contribution reduction of the Ky. Dept. for Libraries and Archives. Through negotiations and some vendors dropping fees by 30% and unfortunately, the cancelling of licensed resources, we met the shortfall of FY08-09.
For Fiscal Year 2009-10, the Commonwealth had a reported $1 billion shortfall. When the fiscal year began July 1, 2009, it was as yet unknown what the budget impact would be to state agencies and subsequently, to KYVL. In anticipation of reductions, the KYVL Collections Workgroup was put into service in May to begin their analysis. When the Collections Workgroup began meeting, it was undetermined if KYVL would be allocated the full 4% as that is at the discretion of CPE, since KYVL is a department of the Council on Postsecondary Education.
The reduction was announced Aug 28, effective retrospective to July 1, 2009 (the beginning of our fiscal year), but we didn’t know exactly what that meant for KYVL till mid-October. On 16 October, we determined that the 4% reduction to the Council on Postsecondary Budget would result in a deficit of $148,514. Around that same date, EBSCO/APA came back with a further reduced amount for the PsycINFO product.
What occurred at the VLAC meeting on 19 October?
Sheree Williams gave an update of the reV@10 (reVisioning at 10 Years) Strategic Planning initiative. Information on the planning can be found at http://www.kyvl.org/wiki/revisioningat10years/ or you can contact me directly.
Charlene Davis, as the workgroup chair, presented the Database Reduction Plan from the KYVL Collections Workgroup. Charlene reiterated, on behalf of the Collections Workgroup, the difficulty of the charge and gave an overview of the report, and outlined the recommendations. [A public version of the report will be posted to our website with the VLAC meeting minutes.]
Quotations from the report are marked by **** at the beginning and end of each excerpt.
**** “This is very first time that we have even entertained the possibility of disenfranchising user communities. It was extremely painful to witness even a hint of dismantling our long held belief and philosophical foundation commitment to a true core collection of databases available to everyone in Kentucky regardless of who they were or how they were identified. It should also be noted that during the KYVL rev@10 process that the databases were consistently and overwhelmingly identified as a strength of KYVL.” ****
The Recommendations are:
**** “The Work Group recommended that KYVL retain all databases in the core collection and increase fees to the members to make up the possible $150,000 shortfall.
Should this recommendation be unacceptable to VLAC and should the vendors not reduce their fees further to meet the needed reduction, the Work Group under extreme duress would offer the possibility of canceling the ProQuest AltWatch and Career and Technical databases with the knowledge that doing so during the semester will cause students who are relying upon them for projects great hardship. Because canceling these databases…will not be adequate to meet the $150,000 target, the only other option left to the Work Group was to actually entertain the option of disenfranchising user communities. ….Access to PsycINFO would be restricted to Postsecondary Institutions Only (includes state supported, AIKCU, and Special Academics.) This is an exceptionally onerous option and a clear violation of the tenets upon which KYVL was founded; e.g., in this instance access to all databases by all citizens. These two actions… (result in the savings needed.)” ****
To generate discussion and gauge interest, I presented a few potential scenarios for one-time allocations, based on the primary recommendation from the Collections Workgroup that member fees be increased to cover the funding deficit. I also pointed out some highlights from the “Review of Consortial Funding and Member Fees/Oct 2009” document I had sent to VLAC regarding other consortia handling of member and resource fees, deficits and funding models.
Member fees, cost-sharing and cost-recovery have been discussed at length during the strategic planning process by members, the Full Planning Team and the Core Team and has been a recurring theme in survey and focus group feedback. I stated that we should anticipate the new strategic plan will contain several recommendations regarding evaluation of the cost recovery and member contribution model with the intent of increasing revenue collected by KYVL. Addressing the deficit with analysis of existing fees and introducing a scenario for a one-time premium would be a first step towards a future change in our member fee structure.
The Virtual Library Advisory Committee needed additional time to digest the Collections Workgroup report and requested further investigation of scenarios for deficit coverage.
What are the next steps?
On 19 October, VLAC created a subcommittee to review the example scenarios, validate or create scenarios and bring back recommendations for VLAC’s next meeting on 13 November.
Virtual Library Advisory Committee’s Deficit/Fees Subcommittee is as follows:
Charlene Davis, KDLA (Collections Workgroup, Chair)
Leoma Dunn, Thomas More College (Collections Workgroup)
John Stemmer, Bellarmine University (FoKAL)
Enid Wohlstein, KYVL
The subcommittee report was sent 9 November to VLAC to give them time to review it. The report contained 20 different scenarios, five (5) of which were recommended with two (2) brought forward as the most viable for consideration.
KYVL/CPE will cover the subscriptions as is through Dec. 2009. Should VLAC accept a scenario to increase member fees, consideration would be given for members who need time to rework budgets, reallocate funds, etc..
The Collections Workgroup is to be commended for their expertise, for the hours committed and given with full attention and consideration, and for taking on such a difficult task.
Collections Workgroup:
Charlene Davis, Kentucky Dept. for Libraries and Archives, Chair
Linda Bartnik, Murray State University
Charles Brown, Sullivan University
Bryan Carson, Western Kentucky University
Ida Cornett, Lexington Public Library
Leoma Dunn, Thomas More College
Lesley Jackson Centre College
Betsy Hughes, KYVL
Tom Kmetz, Morehead State University
Margaret Foote, Eastern Kentucky University
James Manasco, University of Louisville
Lois Schultz, Northern Kentucky University
Lynda Short, Paul Laurence Dunbar High School
Debbra Tate, Kentucky State University
Cecelia Tavares, Jefferson County Public Schools
Mary Beth Thomson University of Kentucky
Sheree Williams, Jefferson Community and Technical College
Enid Wohlstein, KYVL
About the Virtual Library Advisory Committee meetings:
Every meeting is public. You are welcome to dial in to participate or attend in person. For the 13 Nov. meeting, contact us for the dial-in number. We will meet in Room A, at the Council on Postsecondary Education office in Frankfort. Directions and the address can be found at http://cpe.ky.gov/about/directions.htm. Meeting minutes from the 10/19/09 meeting are not yet available as VLAC will accept the final minutes at their next meeting, which is the 13th of November.
You can also contact your representative on VLAC. Each member represents not only their institution or library but also a particular user group. The VLAC wiki lists meetings, members, etc. at http://www.kyvl.org/wiki/vlac/
Any KYVL member is welcome to a copy of the report, with the stipulation that vendor contract amounts and database costs be kept confidential and not posted or disclosed publicly. Please contact me.
Thank you for your time. We value our members/partners, their participation in KYVL, and support of the ideals which drive us and the efforts of the workgroups. I am always open to your feedback, comments and requests.
Best regards,
Enid