President Jischke has set a goal of making Iowa State University the finest land-grant university in the United States.

Because we share this commitment, we feel that we must voice our concerns about the drastic budget cuts facing the university libraries.

Seven years ago, the library’s journal budget was cut by 13 percent. This year, departments across campus have designated 14 percent of their journal budgets for cancellation and an additional 5 percent for possible cancellation; a list of about 550 titles.

These reductions occur within the context of increased state support for ISU and record achievements in fund-raising.

Our pursuit of excellence should include strengthening our library holdings.

The library provides essential support for basic research in all fields of inquiry. Academic monographs and journals keep faculty and students in touch with critical new perspectives and the most up-to-date data and discoveries.

And yet recent rankings show ISU’s library is losing ground. ISU’s library ranks 73rd out of 109 research libraries in the United States and Canada (down from 66th the year before).

Among land grant universities, we rank 20th (down from 18th). We cannot become the finest land-grant university in the country with the 20th best land-grant university library.

Nor will we get closer to our goal by cutting the library’s journal budget by 13 percent and then again by 14 percent in a span of seven years.

Strengthening, not weakening, our library should be a fundamental part of our shared quest for excellence at ISU.

Michael Bishop

Assistant professor

Philosophy and religious studies