Fogler condition debated UM Faculty Senate urges Westphal to divert funding

ORONO – A $17.2 million plan to expand the library at the University of Southern Maine’s Gorham campus should be diverted to improve the University of Maine’s library, members of the UM Faculty Senate have told Chancellor Joseph Westphal.

Faculty Senate President Robert Rice said the group’s executive committee has asked Westphal to reconsider the proposal for USM on the grounds that UM’s Fogler Library is the “state’s research library … located on the campus where 90 percent of all research for the system is done.”

The University of Maine System board of trustees was scheduled Monday to vote on the plan as part of a larger bond referendum proposal, but the meeting was canceled because of the weather. Westphal met with the UM Faculty Senate on Wednesday.

Last year, former Chancellor Terrence MacTaggart asked the Legislature to fund an approximately $17 million addition to Fogler as part of a bond package, but lawmakers said it was too expensive.

“He regarded it as a priority and intended to bring it back next time as a capital project … ,” said UM President Peter Hoff on Thursday. MacTaggart said in a separate interview that he had intended the library to remain “a top priority.”

Pointing out that UM is a land grant university with a “legal mandate” to perform research, Rice said his campus has asked for money for years to renovate and expand its library.

“The collection is scattered because of lack of room and we’re falling behind because we haven’t funds to purchase books and serials and journals needed to perform our mission. We have a limited number of resources and we think they should go to the state’s research center,” he said.

The forestry professor said he was surprised when he noticed the agenda for the last meeting of the UMS trustees included a proposal for a bond request to update classrooms in Bailey Hall and to expand the library located on the first two floors of the Gorham building.

Westphal said Thursday that he is recommending that trustees approve USM’s request, because almost all of the money would be used to renovate classrooms, and he places “a very high emphasis on the impact to students.”

Of the $17.2 million, the amount dedicated to renovation of USM’s library in Bailey Hall is $2 million.

Even if the trustees approve the bond request, “we’ll need to revisit this with the new governor. This is not a done deal,” he said.

“We’ll continue to look for ways to fund the library at UM,” he added.

The competition for university resources is emblematic of the underlying tension that has existed between the two campuses over the years as southern Maine’s population has grown and the state’s resources have become tighter.

While USM and UM each have about 11,000 students, most of USM’s students attend part time. UM has most of the state’s graduate programs.

The presidents of the two university campuses spoke cautiously on Thursday.

In a prepared statement, USM President Richard Pattenaude said, “USM is grateful for the continuing support of the chancellor and the board of trustees and for their recognition of the role USM plays in southern Maine and the consequent high demand on our campus buildings.”

UM’s Hoff called it “a matter for us to work out within the system. I have a lot of confidence in our system’s ability to work on meeting the needs of the various campuses.”

He added, “We have expressed … an expansion of the library as a number one capital need of the campus.”

The proposal under consideration by trustees includes $9 million to renovate UM’s Holmes and Coburn halls.

Besides the money for Bailey Hall, USM’s proposal includes $1 million to renovate three classroom buildings.

Feeling the effects of last spring’s budget cuts, UM officials also have been complaining about other library constraints. Library staff recently cut $450,000 from the periodical budget, Dean Elaine Albright said Thursday.

Probably 1,020 journals out of 5,200 will be eliminated by January, she said. Some will be available online, but most will not.

The elimination of scholarly journals such as Accountancy International, Biochemical Genetics and American Music “makes it very difficult for faculty who are trying to do research to get up-to-date information in their subject fields,” she said. “We’re the largest library in the state, and if things aren’t here, they’re not likely to be anywhere else. So it’s very important we have the information at least somewhere in the state.”

The need for more space is dire, according to Albright, who said that even the library’s storage facility on the edge of campus is full.

Inside the library, student tables and chairs have been removed to make room for more shelves.

Because of building code issues, doors and barriers have had to be erected that make it hard to move around “so we can’t use our space as efficiently as possible,” she said. Wiring the old building for new technology is also a challenge, she said.

“You get in here and it’s a very, very confusing and difficult building to use,” she said.