Faculty and students at Oberlin and other Ohio colleges are speaking out as the Ohio Library and Information Network (OhioLINK) is canceling subscriptions to 490 periodicals for 2005. Eight hundred more will probably be cut for 2006. OhioLINK will also institute a membership fee for the first time in its 12 years of existence in order to make up for an expected shortfall.

Chair of the Library Committee at Oberlin Sebastiaan Faber said that “OhioLINK is a cutting-edge example of cooperation among a large number of libraries, belonging to both public and private institutions, that have agreed to share their collections with each other and use their collective bargaining power to secure access to a large number of databases at a relatively low cost per institution. This has allowed many Ohio libraries to maintain a level of access that for libraries elsewhere in the nation or the world would simply be unaffordable.”

The cutting of subscriptions will save the network $288,000 per year, but according to many the price is not justified.

The fee, assessed beginning in July 2005, will supposedly raise $200,000 annually.

“OhioLINK provides critical support for academic programs at Oberlin,” said Ray English, Oberlin’s director of libraries. “OhioLINK is the nation’s leading higher education library consortium. Beyond its immediate educational impact, OhioLINK produces broad benefits for the state’s economy.”

In a letter to Oberlin faculty asking for their help, English refers to some of the advantages of OhioLINK. Among them are efficiency and cost-effectiveness, competitiveness, support for cutting-edge research and educational support.

“By licensing journals and databases on a statewide basis, OhioLINK has been able to increase access to resources while also controlling costs,” English points out in his letter.

“Whenever I debate the benefits of being a researcher and teacher at a small liberal arts school in Ohio, I think about the crucial role the Oberlin Library plays in my remaining here, given that I am an active researcher,” said Assistant Professor of Gender and Women Studies Frances Hasso.

“Increasingly, the library cannot afford to maintain its subscriptions for hard copy journal material,” she said. “As a result, much of my access is often online through OhioLINK and resources such as EBSCO, etc.  Because of this, I feel that I am up-to-date on research, including in Middle East studies, and can successfully compete in the marketplace of ideas with any colleague from any institution in terms of publications and grant competitions.”

Administrators and faculty together are calling for Oberlin students to engage their attention with the issue. “Funding for education in general is in great danger right now,” said Grace Hammond, Mellon library associate.

“In Ohio, the current state capital budget for higher education has recently dropped by 20 percent. There are many things going on, a decline in funding for higher education in general, journal costs skyrocketing as publishers test what the market will bear, etc.”

The Oberlin Libraries staff has already started the crusade for saving the network.

“We had a meeting with Senator Armbruster in the fall and he seems to be generally supportive,” said English. “However, what we badly need is general support from all over the state.”

He encourages all students whose parents currently live in Ohio to ask them to write to the governor local representative in other areas of the state and ask them to support OhioLINK.

“The budget process will be determined essentially by the state legislature,” English said. “Oberlin as such and other colleges and universities can’t simply tell the governor or the legislature what to do.”

The state budget will be constituted first in the House of Representatives, then in Senate.

“The problem seems to be that some people in the Ohio state legislature do not understand that OhioLINK is a unique, rich resource,” said Ann Sherif, associate professor of East Asian Studies.

“Through OhioLINK we have quick access to Japanese books and journals that our small college library could not possibly afford,” Sherif said.

Part of the problem is that OhioLINK’s budget over the past few years has not been enough to catch up with the rising costs. The immediate loss will be in electronic journals.

“The state of Ohio should be proud of its extremely efficient state interlibrary loan system that contributes immeasurably to education and research here,” Sherif said.

“The potential effect of these cuts is very negative and will affect not only all the individual libraries that are part of OhioLINK, particularly of course their patrons, including Oberlin faculty and students, but also Ohio’s competitive position,” Faber said.