MU is looking to increase revenue for its libraries. Administrators are proposing a new student fee to help close the gap in funding.
The $5 per credit hour fee would go into effect during the fall semester of 2016 and increase by $2 annually over the next five years.
Director of Libraries Jim Cogswell said the libraries are the only academic division on campus that does not use a student fee to supplement its revenue.
“In order to provide students with the sorts of things they have been telling us over the years they really wish to have, such as 24 hour library access, increased access to electronic and print resources, and innovative services and renewed facilities and spaces in the library just to name a few, we are suggesting that we enact a $5 per credit hour fee,” Cogswell said.
Cogswell also said the student library ambassadors would serve as the voice of students so the libraries can better determine how the fees will be used.
The libraries are given a budget every year to start with, but it doesn’t cover all the costs Deputy Provost Ken Dean said.
“We have had to find periodically chunks of money to put into the library, and we’ve done that,” Dean said.
Dean said the university has also stopped subscribing to certain services and shared materials from other campuses for research to try and help with the budget.
“We’ve found all the efficiencies we can find,” Dean said. “If we want to continue to be a high quality research university we have to find a way to increase revenues to the library.”
Students will have the opportunity to vote on the fee this coming November.
