Ball State University's Bracken Library is getting more books thanks to President Jo Ann Gora's efforts in finding an additional $200,000.
Faculty members brought up concerns last year in University Senate about the budget, which academic departments use to request materials for graduate classes and research. This is the first time in five years the amount in the budget increased, while costs of books and journals have been skyrocketing, Arthur Hafner, dean of University Libraries, said.
"We always want to put more in the library budget," Gora said. "The question is where are we going to get the money from."
Burris Laboratory added an additional 50 students through a gifted test-in option, generating additional revenue. This allowed the university to decrease the amount of money it spends to support Burris and, instead, put that money into the library.
O'Neal Smitherman, vice president for information technology, said because the budget was the same for five years, the faculty consistently said they were unable to keep up with rising costs of books and journals.
"I think it's an extraordinary response effort on the part of the president to help attend to those issues that we hear and continue to work with throughout the university," Smitherman said.
The money for academic departments in the library's budget allows faculty to request materials needed for graduate and faculty research. Books and journals are the main items purchased and in past years the prices went up so much that there wasn't money left. Since items such as journals, which are renewed annually, need to purchased every year, the money used for items such as books, which are not purchased every year, decreased to cover rising costs.
This 20.4 percent increase in the budget for academic departments will increase the amount of money faculty have to work with to $1,180,500, Hafner said. The added money is not a one-time increase, but will continue annually, Gora said.
While the books bought with this money are intended for upper-level students, graduate students and faculty for research, they remain on the shelves for anyone to use, Hafner said.
"This will allow the faculty to really buy material that they feel are necessary to help our students learn more and succeed better," Hafner said.
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