NYSHEI News

Governor Spitzer today announced a new contract agreement with United Universities Professionals that will cover employees on 29 SUNY campuses.

NYSHEI advocacy has proved remarkably successful thanks to the contributions of its members and supporters.

The Preliminary Report of the Findings and Recommendations of the New York State Commission on Higher Education explicitly endorses NYSHEI’s academic information resource proposal.

NYSHEI’s ARIA proposal calls for $15 million in state funding for statewide contracts and licenses of high-end electronic databases with a specific focus on science, medical, technology and business resources.

Here is what the Commission report stated:

“There is a second opportunity for the sharing of infrastructure: academic library pooling of electronic information. Not only are scientific discoveries shared through electronic journals, but faculty and students in both the sciences and humanities increasingly rely on electronic resources such as collections of primary literary texts and historical archives. Academic libraries are not contending with rapidly expanding information sources, and facing increasing costs for licensing fees. Some small campuses simply cannot afford what they need.

Other states have taken steps to achieve powerful economies of scale through state-wide licensing (New Jersey, Ohio, and Virginia are examples). New York can strongly benefit from the efficiencies gained through this pooling of effort. The Commission is persuaded by the arguments advanced by hundreds of academic librarians throughout New York and recommends that the State invest $15 million to facilitate college and university libraries moving from individual library licenses to state-wide shared licenses.”

On January 31, 2008 at 10:00 there will be a NYSHEI Webinar on Advocacy.

This will be an introductory session designed to fill you in on the “what,” “why” and “how” of issue-based advocacy.

Space will be limited to 25 participants, but additional webinars will be scheduled to meet the demands of NYSHEI members. To register send an email to nyshei@nyshei.org, subject line “Jan 31 Webinar.” Preferential consideration will be given to any NYSHEI member who indicated a desire to participate in the webinar during the advocacy survey.

The webinar will provide a basic overview of what advocacy is, why it is done, and how individuals and organizations can be more success in their efforts. While specifically designed in support of NYSHEI’s goals, the information contained in the webinar will be appropriate for application on your campus or in your home community.

A new kind of research partnership between research universities and major corporations can help the nation strengthen its flagging leadership in research and development, the president of Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) has argued in a new paper.

“The Commission’s preliminary report is a good start.

On behalf of NYSHEI and its member libraries, I compliment the Commission on recognizing the critical importance of significant state investments in research and the role of higher education in advancing New York’s economic goals. As the Commission develops its recommendations over the next few months I have every confidence they will fill in the gaps and underscore the important relationship of information resources to academic outcomes,” said Jason Kramer, NYSHEI Executive Director

The Commission Report sets three goals that reflect the advocacy efforts of NYSHEI.

1) Fund innovation with $300 million a year for the next ten years.
The report calls for $3 billion to fund initiatives that utilize public-private partnerships that promise to enhance economic development initiatives.

Kramer said, “the ‘innovation fund’ proposal reads like NYSHEI’s ARIA proposal. If funded by the legislature, this initiative should be available for NYSHEI’s model of public-private partnership for enhancing the information resources available to campus-based researchers and the state’s entrepreneurs. The challenge for the Governor and his staff will be to make certain that this potential funding is used explicitly for its purpose.”

2) Develop an “educational infrastructure.”
The report recommends state-wide contracting for access to high-end electronic databases.

Kramer said, “Obviously, we agree with the Commission. In this report the Commission has explicitly endorsed NYSHEI’s call for a $15 million annual appropriation to fund high end electronic information resources. We are most grateful that the Commission acknowledges the critical importance of academic libraries and champions our call for state support.”

3) Focus on research.
The report wishes to emphasize the economic development advantages of research success at the research campuses of the SUNY system.

Kramer said, “Again, NYSHEI strongly supports any idea that will empower NYSHEI libraries, however, we caution the Commission against overlooking the potential of the other public and private campuses of New York. By enacting ARIA, and supporting research across the state, New York can unlock economic development advantages in every community and at every campus.”