Journals lose state funding
Tuesday, August 17, 2010 at 6:42PM By Monika Kreber
Library dean hopeful databases survive cuts
PASCAL (Partnerships Among S.C. Academic Libraries) will be pulling the plug this summer because of funding.
PASCAL, which connects 56 institutions (public, private, two-year and four-year schools) and the state library, provides about a dozen databases for Winthrop, as well as an efficient delivery program and the ability to digitize archive material.
Mark Herring, dean of library services, has been on the executive board of PASCAL since 2003 and said the organization is asking for $2 million in order to keep functioning.
“It’s a bad economy, it’s a bad decision,” he said. “For those going back to school, it’s important to have this resource.”
Herring said Winthrop has paid PASCAL a membership fee of $6,000 in order to keep its services. He also said PASCAL cannot be replaced, but Winthrop will find a way to cover it.
The speedy delivery service on books in the library has been so convenient that an ordered book arrives in 72 hours. Without PASCAL, Winthrop will have to get the books from other libraries.
Herring had told The Johnsonian in the past that with PASCAL, Winthrop students have access to 25,000 journals. Without it, students will have about 7,000 left.
“I’d like to see it survive,” Herring said. “Those on the Senate Finance understand PASCAL’s importance and want to fund it.”
President DiGiorgio has made it clear that if the university loses PASCAL then Winthrop will just have to find a way to fund it, Herring said. Winthrop currently takes about 12 databases from the organization and will be paying “a lot of money” to get those databases back.
“It’s a significant loss,” Herring said. “How do you replace something like that?”
For students and faculty it will definitely mean a loss in resources for research, and books that need to be ordered for the library will possibly take 10 working days to come in, since Winthrop will be using the mail service. Herring said this will be like “going back to the way it was in 2002,” and Winthrop will not be sharing as many resources.
“It won’t be as effective,” he said, “and it will be inefficient.”
Herring also said professors might be traveling more in order to obtain research and information from other libraries.
“It was such a convenience to order something Monday and expect it Tuesday – or Wednesday at the latest,” he said. “It’s a much larger burden on everyone in the process.”
There are 24 PASCAL databases that will last until June and five that have already been canceled. Herring said he hopes PASCAL will be saved with legislature.
“It gives me great cause for concern, but I’m hopeful we can push it through,” he said. “It would be good if they (people on the Senate Finance) heard from students just how important it is.”
Herring will be at the next Council of Student Leaders (CSL) meeting to provide information about PASCAL and how Winthrop students can be proactive in saving the service. CSL already has a campaign, Save PASCAL, that will provide students with resources to lobby the state legislature for funds.
CSL Chair Sydney Evans has also spoken with other student governments in South Carolina to corroborate efforts in saving the database. If you would like more information about CSL’s PASCAL project, e-mail the council at csl@winthrop.edu.
