Volume 2, Issue 1, Fall 2000

LASC Invites Campus to Public Hearings

The Library Allocation Steering Committee (LASC) will initiate a series of public hearings this fall to address the complex issues of Library budget allocation among campus units. All faculty, students, and administrators are encouraged to attend.

During the hearings, LASC and Library administrators will present information about current collection development policies and seek comments regarding how well they address scholarly needs. A number of issues will be explored: Is the Library supporting all fields in which scholarship is active? What criteria should be used to establish the acquisitions policy for each departmental library? Can the Library better serve the campus by reducing departmental allocations for some types of electronic resources and administering them centrally? Are there consortial arrangements that can provide more efficient access to information?

LASC will ensure that at least two committee members attend each hearing. One of these members will be familiar with the field in question while the other will not be as familiar. Such pairings will broaden LASC's perspective and ensure that someone from the committee understands the terminology and viewpoint of each field.

Following the hearings, LASC will continue to promote campus involvement in determining the appropriate budget allocation process for collection development. Input via the Web will be encouraged for those who are unable to attend or have additional thoughts. After a draft allocation plan is devised, it will be available for comment prior to formal review by the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Senate and its Committee on the Library.

Established by Provost Richard Herman, the LASC is charged with recommending a policy for budget allocation among Library units. For more information and a list of committee members, visit http://www.provost.uiuc.edu/provost/committees/libraryallocation.html.