Salient. Victoria University Student Newspaper. Volume 38, Number 10. 22nd May 1975

The Library Budget

The Library Budget

The library has another major headache, that of an insufficient budget. This year the library wanted a 26% increase to the book budget but it got given 12½% ($30,000) by the council. This barely covers inflation. This is particularly bad when the library was commencing the year with a $40,000 overdraft.

The staff budget is no better. The library asked for 3 extra positions (2 full-time and 1 part-time), but the council only provided enough money for 1 part-time person to become a full-time worker. As a result of this the librarian considers that the technical services may get by but the public services will not. If the present set-up continues they will just be unable to continue the good service to the public. It has been decided therefore to reallocate a certain amount of the work. This is being done by saving 30 man-hours a week in the circulation department — a saving of $ 1,100 a year. This means that they are ceasing to issue books between 8.30am and 9.00am and after 9.00pm. They will also cut out issuing on Saturday and Sunday afternoons. This won't affect closed reserve or three-day loan books however. They have also decided to reduce the manning of the periodicals department.

At the last library committee meeting a request was made by the Law faculty club to provide an entrance to the Law library on floor 6 from the South stairway and lifts. This would require a checkout counter and someone to man it. This proposal is highly desirable and logical. It would mean that the Law library could expand its opening hours and the Law students wouldn't have to go through the main library and use one lift or one set of stairs (this lift doesn't stop at floor 6 anyway). The inclusion of the proposed entrance would therefore make all library facilities much more accessible to everyone. However even though everyone at the meeting agreed that the outside entrance to the Law library was a good idea, it just simply could not be done due to the lack of money available.

It is clear that in future the council must recognise the value of the library to a greater extent by allocating it a much larger grant, and, it must ensure that the Library is able to continue its expansion by providing it with the necessary space.