ORONO – University of Maine faculty are up in arms about a plan to cut 901 scholarly journals from the Fogler Library that many say will compromise the flagship campus’ status as the premiere research institution in the state.

With the average price of journals rising 15 percent a year, the library has been forced over the last several years to make a series of cuts to its collection to balance its budget.

The cuts were based on the journals’ cost and usage, whether they had an online component, and how important they were to faculty. The latest cut amounted to a savings of $344,000. The price of journal subscriptions ranges from $50 to $15,000 per year.

In some instances only the paper version of a journal was cut, leaving an online backup, said Joyce Rumery, interim director of libraries. But in cases where there is no online version, the journal was eliminated altogether. Sometimes cutting the paper version meant the online version was lost, too, she said.

While initial cuts over the last three years were met with resignation, the latest reduction of 901 publications this summer has provoked outrage on the part of some professors who say it dramatically curtails the university’s research capabilities.

“You’re cutting the heart out of the institution,” said associate professor of art Michael Grillo.

The UM collection “is now the weakest among land grant universities in New England,” said professor of wood science Robert Rice.

Faculty also protested they weren’t consulted about the latest “draconian” cuts and that online journals have numerous drawbacks.

Some professors suggested they would like to work with the administration to solve the problems.

At the beginning of 2000 the Fogler Library journal collection included 5,200 electronic and paper subscriptions. Starting in January the collection will have been reduced to about 3,400 subscriptions.

Next summer the cutting process will be repeated unless additional resources are provided, Rumery said.

The university has reallocated $300,000 to the journal budget to offset part of this year’s projected budget deficit, while another $300,000 is to be used for new titles. But Rumery said she’s not sure any of the cut journals will be able to be reinstated because of the increasing costs of publications.

University libraries nationwide are grappling with the same problem, said Dianne Hoff, chairwoman of the faculty senate library committee.

Her group has come up with plans that could ease the situation. Members want UM to join with other universities to get the journal companies to “rethink the inflation rate they’re imposing,” said Hoff, assistant professor of educational leadership.

The committee also wants to establish better systems for culling journals when cuts are necessary, find additional funding sources to support the library, and “be the voice of the faculty” in long-term planning for the library.

There are a number of downsides to online journals, according to some professors who said they suffice only when the researcher knows what to look for. They aren’t conducive to browsing or to the “comprehensive reading that’s essential for any professional,” said Grillo.

With some online journals only a certain number of people can log on simultaneously. And the server carrying the online journal could decide to drop it at any time.

Also, electronic versions often don’t go back before 1985, so, for example, finding “the crucial article written in 1963 about Michelangelo” could be a lost cause, Grillo said.

“It encourages irresponsible scholarship,” he said.

Philosophy professor Michael Howard took issue with the system used to make the cuts.

“A lot of journals made it on to the list because there’s no record of them being used. But I can tell you some journals on list I’ve used quite a bit,” he said, noting that people often return a journal to its original spot rather than leaving it out.

Times have changed, said Douglas Gelinas, associate vice president for academic affairs.

“We can’t afford any longer to have the philosophy that once we start getting a journal we’ll get it forever,” he said. “Journals that were very important 25 years ago may not be so important today, so we’re going to have to go to a more dynamic kind of collection where we add titles and drop titles more frequently.”

If someone needs a journal article UM doesn’t have, the university can buy a copy from the publisher or borrow it through an interlibrary loan, he said.

Rice said he and other faculty members feel keenly about wanting to restore certain journals that “are the heart” of programs.

For Howard, the solution lies in having the public understand the big picture. “The premier campus where students can get a full range of programs … at an affordable cost … is in danger of fraying all around the edges because there’s no resources to maintain the library as it needs to be maintained,” he said.