Book loan program essential for student research projects
EDITORIALS
Issue date: 4/14/05 Section: Opinion/Editorial
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Gov. Matt Blunt's proposal to cut funds for a book-loaning program that operates among various college and public libraries in Missouri is a step in the wrong direction for a governor who has vowed to support higher education.
The Missouri Bibliographic Information User System, or MOBIUS, allows Webster University students to search through more than 50 libraries for books that Emerson Library doesn't carry. The proposed $649,000 slashing of MOBIUS by the governor would force Webster to pay an additional 40 percent more next year to keep MOBIUS afloat.
If MOBIUS' funding is eliminated, members of the program - mostly colleges and universities - will have to pay their share toward a new $2.15 million price tag. Currently the total operating budget is $1.5 million.
With budget cuts sweeping across the university, one of the best state-funded programs should be kept in the governor's budget. Every university in the St. Louis area raised tuition for next year - Webster by about 3.2 percent for undergraduates - and with the majority of Webster's money coming from student tuition (around 95 percent), it's clear that this proposed cut is going to hurt students the most.
The ease of MOBIUS is one of the few amenities at Webster that is free. A student simply types in a few search words on the Emerson Library Web site, and a book is sent to Emerson within a few days. This affords the more studious with a vast wealth of invaluable resources.
Only four months into the governor's first term, he is already backing away from promises made to the state's higher education institutions:
"A college education is increasingly a requirement for success in the workplace," Blunt said during his State of the State address Jan. 26. "Therefore, my budget maintains the current level of funding for our state's colleges and universities."
MOBIUS is as much a part of the state's colleges and universities as the libraries themselves. The hypocrisy in Blunt's address and his actions should give students and their administrators nightmares about Blunt's vision for Missouri's education system.
The Missouri Bibliographic Information User System, or MOBIUS, allows Webster University students to search through more than 50 libraries for books that Emerson Library doesn't carry. The proposed $649,000 slashing of MOBIUS by the governor would force Webster to pay an additional 40 percent more next year to keep MOBIUS afloat.
If MOBIUS' funding is eliminated, members of the program - mostly colleges and universities - will have to pay their share toward a new $2.15 million price tag. Currently the total operating budget is $1.5 million.
With budget cuts sweeping across the university, one of the best state-funded programs should be kept in the governor's budget. Every university in the St. Louis area raised tuition for next year - Webster by about 3.2 percent for undergraduates - and with the majority of Webster's money coming from student tuition (around 95 percent), it's clear that this proposed cut is going to hurt students the most.
The ease of MOBIUS is one of the few amenities at Webster that is free. A student simply types in a few search words on the Emerson Library Web site, and a book is sent to Emerson within a few days. This affords the more studious with a vast wealth of invaluable resources.
Only four months into the governor's first term, he is already backing away from promises made to the state's higher education institutions:
"A college education is increasingly a requirement for success in the workplace," Blunt said during his State of the State address Jan. 26. "Therefore, my budget maintains the current level of funding for our state's colleges and universities."
MOBIUS is as much a part of the state's colleges and universities as the libraries themselves. The hypocrisy in Blunt's address and his actions should give students and their administrators nightmares about Blunt's vision for Missouri's education system.
