Summary and Conclusions

The report provides descriptive detail and some data, but what follows is a concluding summary of how large this reallocation will be and where it will occur. In simplest terms, the Libraries current State/Tuition supported budget has gone down slightly between FY’03 and FY’04. However, it is notable that $500,000 of the acquisitions is soft funding that may not occur again in FY’05. Thus the budget picture as shown in Table III is actually a bit worse than the projected budget indicates.

Table III

The preparation of this report has obligated the Libraries to revisit the 2001 Strategic Plan and undertake serious, if hurried, supplementary planning efforts. This has proved a salutary opportunity to take stock and to conclude that that plan is tracking well. At the same time, current fiscal constraints have forced the conclusion that ‘business as usual’ is just not possible if we are to achieve the goals of the plan and contribute to the achievement of excellence that is the prime objective of the University of Maryland. Because it is clear that significant growth in resources is not likely at least for the next few years, to be successful will require serious attention to reallocation within our present budget framework. If nothing else, this report has forced us to face these facts and begin a rigorous process to examine how to continue the advances of recent years even as we face budget constraints. The planning described herein can be illustrated on the basis of this budget in Table IV. In every instance, the estimates of reallocations are conservative. For instance, the maximum reallocation of staff is projected to total no more than 2% over the next five years although our initial workforce planning analysis indicates that we will have as much as 5% of the staff positions available each of those five years. Moreover, this does not even take into account the fact that individual faculty and staff will redirect their efforts to new work. It seems clear that the total internal reallocation attendant to our planning will be well in excess of 10% called for by University administration and probably in excess of 15%.

Table IV

*Includes Exempt & Nonexempt staff
**Includes Faculty, Exempt and Nonexempt appointments

The challenge for the Libraries, like other academic units, is to effectively manage the change process, gather the information needed to substantiate what is being accomplished and, at the same time, continue to focus on mission. The University of Maryland Libraries have the staff and the organizational strength to accomplish these tasks simultaneously.

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