NJKI in Trouble

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The state budget that will begin July 1 is being discussed in the legislature now. I just received this message from Judy Cohn, Chair of the VALE consortium, of which we are a member, and which has been in the forefront with the State Library in championing the New Jersey Knowledge Initiative:

We have just learned that resolutions were signed earlier today by Richard Codey, Louis Greenwald,

To >and the State Treasurer to reduce NJKI funding from $3M to $2M for FY2008. To see the resolutions, go to

<http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/changebudgetproposal/Resolutions/3081.pdf>

 

Please contact anyone you know who might help us change this outcome.

<http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/changebudgetproposal/Resolutions/2337.pdf>
<http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/changebudgetproposal/Resolutions/1610.pdf> 

In figuring our budget for access to databases for the coming year, I recently compiled a list that shows the databases that we will purchase directly (total $30,000), those that we will ask the Perkins program to fund (total $34,000), and those that we expect to receive from the NJKI (New Jersey Knowledge Initiative) statewide contracts (total estimated value to CCC if we had to purchase ourselves $50,000-100,000).

Clearly, it is in the interests of the state to fund these contracts centrally: all the 50 academic libraries in the state - and through them, students and faculty at remote locations - and some 300 businesses made use of these resources under the $3 million worth of statewide NJKI contracts during the past year; all public libraries also received some of them. Negotiated by libraries individually, they would cost some $75 million.

The Initiative was developed to support NJ businesses, and those preparing for careers therein, so the resources are weighted toward high-end scientific and technical material. But they also include resources now considered essential for everyone, such as Academic Search Premier, the database most heavily used by our community.

Assemblyman Greenwald has been one of NJKI's staunchest supporters. We need to remind him what an extraordinary value this has been for our students and businesses. If you have occasion to speak to anyone about this today or tomorrow - this is moving fast - or feel led to email your State Senators or Assembly people, please let them know how important it is for Camden County College Libraries.

Thanks -