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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (June 12, 1985)
* 1 Page 2/The Battalion/Wednesday, June 12, 1985 Supplementary funding needed A&M can’t be a first-class school without good library Greatness, like — — - . — beauty, may well be Charles R. in the eye or mind of SChllltZ the beholder. There Guest Columnist are many things i . about Texas A&M University which are great. Of the six attributes which are nec essary for a truly great university — an outstanding library, inquisitive students, an excellent faculty, an enlightened ad ministration, more than adequate physi cal facilities and a supportive almuni — A&M falls seriously short only in the first. This inadequacy has resulted from over a century of neglect or lack of com mitment by university administrators. Several years ago a professor of chemistry wrote to the president of A&M: “I am sure that in the history of the library at Texas A&M any number of impressive memos and summary re ports have been prepared regarding the needs of our library. Everyone is con vinced that the library is the University and there is no such animal as a first class university with a second or third rate library.” At the risk of being branded trite, I cannot resist remarking that truer words were never written, on both the number of memos and reports and the role of the library in the stature of an academic institution. Any list of the top ranking universi ties in the nation will be very similar to the list of top ranking academic librar ies. When Texas A&M opened its doors to students in the fall of 1876, there was no library for the use of students and faculty, and there was no indication of any intention to establish one. students changed this. Unfortunately, the library has never overcome this orig inal neglect. Aside from the expected regular and frequent eloquent pleas by library direc tors for adequate funding for the library during the past eleven decades, there have been, as the professor of chemistry surmised, several impressive reports in which support for the library has been recommended. In 1942, the Library Committee of the A&M chapter of the American Asso ciation of University Professors com pared the A&M library with the libraries at four other land grant institutions. The committee found the A&M library inadequate and recommended the li brary’s funding be increased substan tially until its holding reached the size of the libraries at the other institutions. There is no record of any supplemen tary funding. In 1949-50, the University Adminis tration brought in two consultants from land grant libraries to study the A&M li brary. Among the several recommenda tions they made was that there should be substantial increases in the library budget. The Board of Regents appropriated $100,000 immediately for the purchase of materials, but no additional funds were ever provided. In 1961, the Administration estab lished the Century Study Council and the Faculty-Staff-Student Study Com- mitte on Aspirations, both of which looked at the library and made recom mendations for improvement. Included were suggestions for increased funding, but there is no record of such activity. At almost the same time Texas A&M, including its library, was evaluated by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools in connection with re-ac creditation. The library representative on the re accrediting team noted that “library consciousness..does not exist here” and concluded that the A&M “Administra tion must act to improve the climate for an atmosphere that is in keeping with the other American Research Librar ies.” He then went on to remind the Ad ministration that the library is “the heart of the university for study, teaching, and research. No college or university can achieve excellence until the library has achieved excellence.” There is no record of any substantial increase in funding as a result of this re port. In 1964 the Library Committee of the College of Arts and Sciences Advisory Council made a report on the library in which it found some notable weaknesses and made recommendations for im provement. The weaknesses included lack of awareness by the Administration of what is meant by a good library, an inadequate collection of books and jour nals, a staft that was too small and not always sufficiently qualified, and salaries that were well below the levels needed to attract and retain competent personnel. Recommendations included expand ing the facility to two million volumes by 1976 (the library actually reached half that number), giving a high priority to library improvement by the Administra tion, upgrading the staff and raising large sums of money to fund the other three. Some slight improvements can be seen over time, but there was no real ev idence of a positive commitment by the Administration to improve the library. In 1971-72, A&M once again went through the self-study process for re-ac creditation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. The Library Council, which served as the committee to report on the library, recommended modest annual increases in funding for the library to fill some of the most nota ble gaps in holdings. Some increases were provided, but they were very mod est. In 1974, the Administration ap pointed a committee to recommend a plan for expansion of the facility and improvement of the collections of the li brary. This committee recommended supplementing the library budget by over $2 million a year for five years to acquire materials and expand services. An additional amount was suggested to expand the building. In one year the Administration pro vided $400,000 to puchase books so that the collection could reach one million volumes during 1976. The Administra tion provided $12 million for an addi tion to the building, but that was only about half of what was really needed to construct a facility to house an excellent collection of library materials and to provide the services needed by a first class university. Pressure from some faculty and from Slouch By Jim Earle 1 don t agree with his method, but you gotta admit he has whipped II l WWW . Easy answers to tax reform questions By ART BUCHWALD Columnist for The Los Angeles Times Syndicate The mail has been pouring in on tax reform: Dear Sir, I keep reading in the newspaper that the only people who will benefit from tax reform are the very rich and the very poor. How can the very poor benefit from a change in the tax laws? Larry of Lafayette Park Dear Larry, The very poor will gain in this way. Their capital gains taxes will be cut from 20 percent to 17.5. So, for ex ample, if a poor person sells a piece of investment real estate or a block of stock he will profit tremendously from the reduced rates. Secondly, while poor people may not be able to subtract the interest on their vacation homes, they will still be able to deduct the interest on their principal resi dences. Thirdly, even though poor people will be limited on deducting business travel and entertainment al lowances, they will be able to keep more of their minimum $3.50-an- hour income. * * * * Dear Sir, My company makes computer chips. We have a sky box for the Dal las Cowboys home games where we entertain our customers. Under the new tax bill we will not be able to de duct the cost of the box. How can we sell chips if we can’t take our clients to watch the Cowboys play? Horatio Alger IV Dear Horatio, For starters you might make a computer chip that works. * * * * Dear Sir, Why is the President so insistent that state and local taxes no longer be deducted from your federal taxes? He keeps referring to my state as a wasteful spender. Worried New Yorker Dear Worried New Yorker, The President doesn’t like your state because you have a Democratic governor, and if Mr. Reagan can make life miserable for him, Mr. Cuomo won’t be able to get his party’s nomination in 1988. * * * * Dear Sir, How much revenue will President Reagan’s tax reform bill bring into the Treasury? Just Curious Dear Just, The President’s tax simplification is “revenue neutral," which means that by the time the lobbyists and Congress get through with it, there will be a lot less money coming in and the deficit will grow even larger than it is now. * * * * Dear Sir, Then why is he doing it? Just Curious Dear Just, You already wrote in a question. Let someone else have a chance. * * * * Dear Sir, Why doesn’t President Reagan in his tax reform speeches mention that the real reason people are so mad at the present system is because the IRS computers don’t work, and the peo ple who work for the Internal Reve nue System are always trying to scare the hell out of us. Frightened Silly Dear Silly, When the President talks about the tax abuse he never likes to point the finger of blame at anybody. It’s just not his style. * * * * Dear Sir, My brother and I are two people who believe that the more compli cated the IRS tax forms are the better it is for the American people. We say Washington should keep their cot- ton-picking hands off the 1040 form. Could you please pass on this mes sage to Mr. Reagan and the Con gress? H&R Block Dear H&R, It’s done. By A* Homes, hotels am Hryan-Col thing in co ■ Fleas, p Since la leee Statin Jerry C Herwald abundanc* ity this sp ideal for a to breed. I “This p: end of Ay we’ve gott day,” he s one and it’ ired to tl “We ha' rious hote lotels art I AUSTir ing sued Court for that vanish t The Te: charging f Cornmissi( ficial sunn hospital co Two | . tdentiftec day’s Bat | A pict i man of t Iregems, fwithaste increase litres. Elf Larry Gi construct | A picn with an a appoint tt trustees * ’ Medicine reedy ide / < i The Target 2000 committee recom mended in 1983 that the library’s bud get be augmented by $1 million every year to attain first class status by the year 2000. While this is a step in the right di rection, it is not nearly enough. To at tain first class status by the year 2000 — to adequately develop the collection, in crease the size of staff and upgrade its quality, construct the necessary facilities, and improve the services — the library will need total supplementary funding of more than $150 million over the next fifteen years. In 1983-84 the University supple mented the library budget by $800,000. This is the largest amount that has ever been given the library in a single year. What supplement, if any, will be made in 1985-86 is undetermined. Since the legislature has cut the library’s bud get by a substantially larger percentage than that of the University, a sizeable supplement will be needed simply to maintain current status and services. Both Texas A&M University and the Sterling C. Evans Library have excellent potential for greatness, but neither can become great alone. For the Univeristy to be great, the Evans Library must be bigger and better than it now is. For the Evans Library to be great, the Univer sity must make a firm longstanding commitment. Expecting the library to become great on legislative appropriations based on formula funding and occasional supple ments of end-of-the-year surpluses is a pipe dream. The library must receive substantial supplementary funding at the begin ning of each year in order to make the most effective use of it. Charles R. Schultz is the University ar chivist for Texas A&M The Battalion USPS 045 360 Member of Texas Press Association Southwest Journalism Conference The Battalion Editorial Board Kellie Dworaczyk, Editor Kay Mallett, John Hallett, News Editors Loren Steffy, Editorial Page Editor Sarah Oates, City Editor Travis Tingle, Sports Editor The Battalion Staff Assistant City Editor Katherine Hurt Assistant News Editor Cathie Anderson Entertainment Editors ,«% Cathy Riely, Walter Smith Staff Writers Karen Bloch, Ed Cassavoy, Jerry Oslin, Brian Pearson Copy Editor T rent Leopold Make-up Editors Ed Cassavoy, Karla Martin Columnists Cheryl Clark, Karl Pallmeyer Photographers Greg Bailey, Anthony Casper Editorial Policy The Battalion is a non-profit, sell supporting newspaper operated as a community service to Texas A&M and Bryan-College Station. 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