Library fee to increase
Written by Brittany Bergstrom Friday, 29 January 2010 08:00
Student Government passed a bill on Sunday that will double library fees to help alleviate the current $850,000 deficit.
NDSU has experienced an increase in enrollment every year for at least the past six years, resulting in an increase in library expenditures. The library fee of $0.83 per credit, which has not had a recorded increase since it was first instated, has not left the library with enough funds to keep up with the costs.
Student Government previously addressed the fee increase in October of 2007, however, officals vetoed the bill due to information that administration was going to increase library funds without raising the student fee. In order to make up for the deficit, the library was looking at cutting many of the online journals and books available to the NDSU community.
“It would be very detrimental to students if the libraries have to eliminate highly utilized electronic journals because the libraries are not given an appropriate budget,” Black said.
According to Amber Altstadt, student body president, addressing the fee increase has not been done appropriately, meaning NDSU student learning could suffer.
“The library fee has not increased in over six years and the library is feeling the effects of it. If the deficit isn’t solved, we will start noticing fewer research resources – especially with online journals,” Altstadt said.
The doubled student library fee of $1.66 will allocate approximately $300,000 in increased funds and the rest of the deficit has been left up to the university administration.
Michele Reid, Dean of Libraries, sees the fee increase as a positive modification for NDSU.
“I wish to thank Student Government for their support on this issue, and look forward to continuing to work with them and the university administration in assuring that students have access to the resources they need for their class assignments and research,” Reid said.
