Over the last decade, the NCSU Libraries has emerged as a national leader in the application of new information technologies in research libraries. Building both on this strategic leadership role and on its cooperative resource sharing programs with the libraries at UNC-Chapel Hill and Duke University, the NCSU Libraries is poised to offer its users the full potential of information services of the twenty-first century.
That the library has reached this position while suffering from critical shortages in collections and staff is truly remarkable. The sources of the problems with the library collections budget are well documented and have resulted in a collection that is increasingly inadequate to support the mission of a research university.
Answers to open-ended survey questions show that the status of the library collections is clearly the single greatest library-related concern among all categories of respondents. At the same time, self-study results show overall satisfaction with the library: for every library item except one, and for all groups surveyed except one, the majority of respondents were either satisfied or very satisfied. The sole exception was faculty concern over the journal collections (57 percent were either dissatisfied or very dissatisfied). The campus community approaches these problems, however, in a spirit of support, as evident in the several library endowment funds initiated by faculty, students, and retired faculty and staff, many established solely through the fund-raising efforts of library users.
The University administration has declared its firm commitment to halt further cuts in the library collection and to increase other library support. Special one-time allocations from the University to the library collections, protection of library positions during staff cuts or freezes, a request for $2.5 million for library support (including collections, staff, and equipment) in the 1993-95 change budget, and increased emphasis on institutional-advancement support for major development efforts are all promising signs that NCSU is taking serious steps to resolve library budget problems.
NCSU houses a variety of instructional facilities and support services. The quality of these facilities and services varies greatly from college to college, and even within colleges at NCSU. Those colleges that put instructional support as a high priority have excellent facilities. Similarly, those colleges that include faculty and students in instructional-facility development have the highest satisfaction with existing facilities.
But a combination of several years of state budget constraints, together with cutbacks in federal and private funding and the unevenness of financial resources available to different schools and colleges, have begun to take their toll on the fabric of the University. Ideally, all colleges on campus should be as well equipped as the best, and all faculty and students should be satisfied with the results. Apparently decentralization does not provide an adequate solution. North Carolina State University must establish universitywide minimum standards for accessibility, level of maintenance, and quality of equipment and supplies for instructional-support facilities.
NCSU is not alone among institutions of higher learning in the United States in facing financial constraints. Its ability to respond through careful use of available funds and effective pursuit of new funding to meet needs for basic educational-support resources will contribute to the achievement of its aspirations to be regarded as a preeminent research university.
