NU libraries facing
tough budget problems
By Brian Sharp
Staff Reporter ,_
No money.
No books.
No service.
While academic libraries across
the country struggle to deal with ris
ing costs and limited funds, few arc
facing the problem to the same degree
as the University of Nebraska. ,
The cost of books, periodicals, etc.
arc increasing at a rate of 10 to 15
percent annually. The budget for NU
libraries is not.
Kent Hendrickson, dean of librar
ies, said while the shortfall hadn't led
to total disaster, it had created a crit
ical problem.
“The inflation has been with us ...
at this level as long as 10 years,”
Hendrickson said. “As that continues,
our funding from the stale has not
kept pace.”
Hendrickson said increases in li
brary funding had been averaging
around 3 percent.
“It’s really impossible to get the
things we need," he said, “let alone
protect what we have on the shelf.”
Library officials estimate they’ve
had to cancel well over 1,000 serial
titles in the past two years. When it
comes to books, NU is buying 11,000
volumes less per year than 10 years
ago.
There’s also the problem of pre
serving what they have. A lot of works
arc printed on paper that is acidic,
meaning they will become brittle,dis
colored and ihcn turn to dust if not
preserved.
Hendrickson estimated at the very
least. 25 percent of the libraries’ col
lection is in danger,
“It’s a very, very expensive prob
lem,” he said. “We have had very few
treated, most have to be done on the
basis of grants.”
Congress has approved mill ions of
dollars to preserve an estimated 3
million books. Unfortunately, there
arc 120 million books considered “se
riously endangered.”
And it’s doubtful that any of that
money will be seen at libraries like
NU’s.
Those types ofprograms and grants
arc going to places like Yale,
Hendrickson said, and NU just has to
hope that some of the money will
trickle down.
Meanwhile, NU libraries’ prob
lems continue.
Hendrickson said he anticipated
having to cut $400,000 in acquisitions
in the near future.
It’s a cut that’s becoming some
what of a tradition. Over the past six
years, the libraries have had to make
three similar cuts.
Randal 1 Haack, director of budgets
and analysis, said NU’s request of
$1.2 million for libraries was among
the highest priorities submitted to the
Legislature.
But that doesn’t guarantee the
money will be there when the final
budget is approved.
Haack said NU had presented a
similar scenario in the past, and when
James MehsHng/DN
Jason levkulich/DN
Using special binders and cases, eight workers at Love Library work against the ravages of
time and acetic paper to save over 1.2 million books which are in jeopardy of turning to dust.
the Legislature had money, the funds
had come through. But it hasn’t had
money for some time, he said.
“The problem is that there has been
a lot of competing priorities,” Haack
said, “and the Legislature has had to
make some tough decisions.”
This year will be no different, with
the Legislature estimated to start out
facing a $60 to $100 million deficit.
Haack said a recent ranking of the
top 108 research 1 ibrarics placed UN L
74th.OfiLspccrgroup,onlytwoplaccd
lower. •
“Thai kind of speaks of Ihc prob
lem we’re facing,” Haack said. “And
the university library is the heart of the
campus.”
Officials blame violence, neglect
for changing face of classroom
By Deborah D. McAdams
Editor
Teaching used lobe a profession
for proper young ladies and
unmarried women, but that’s
no longer true.
“Teaching has changed,” said Jane
Closc-Conoly, associate dean of the
University of Ncbraska-Lincoln
Teachers College. “It’s broadening
way beyond the classroom.”
One reason is violence.
Nearly 3 million thefts and violent
crimes occur on or near school cam
puses each year, U.S. Secretary of
Education Richard W. Riley said in
Carnegie Quarterly. That translates
into 16,000 incidents per school day.
Close-Conoly said the Teachers Col
lege tried to prepare students for the
realities of the classroom.
“Wc see people come here from
small-town schools in Nebraska, and
think they’ll just go back there and
teach,” she said.
Most of the available teaching jobs
are in rough, inner-city schools, or
schools with few resources, she said.
Students aren’t even admitted to
the teacher’s college until they’ve
passed a battery of tests. Close-Conoly
said. Once admitted to the college,
one of their first courses in the college
addresses the number of hours teach
ers work as well as classroom diversi
ty
Many Nebraska schools are be
coming more culturally diverse, she
said, and more graduates find them
selves facing aclassroom of American
1 ndian or A mean American children.
Teachers must also be prepared to
handle violcntbchavior, which plagues
children from all cultural back
grounds.
“What do you do when a child
comes toward you in a violent way?
All of the people who want to be
teachers take special education be
cause kids who arc behavior disor
dered are in spec ial-cd classes “Close
Conoly said.
“Even when there’s not violence in
the i ss, the teacher’s being pulled in
a thousand directions. There’s kids
who’ vc been abused, kids who haven ’ t
eaten a decent meal,” she said.
Teachers are dealing with more
students who don ’ t ha ve stable homes,
she said. Many live in residential care
or foster care, and school is the only
continuity they know.
“Poverty and neglect arc the major
See YOUTH on 2
