As a result of the tough economic times and lower university student enrollment last fall, the Ashland University library has experienced recent budget cuts similar to other organizations and departments on campus.

Although some of the library’s resources were eliminated, the library strived to reduce the impact that the budget cuts would have on the students, faculty and other researchers at the university.

“We tried to make cuts that would affect the least number of students as possible,” Library Director Ed Krakora said. “Only certain disciplines will notice cuts.”

Essentially, the library cancelled more specialized resources while still maintaining many of the more popular databases and journals to minimize the impact of the lower budget.

One of the main resources impacted by the cuts includes the JSTOR database. This database contains information for higher level research and involves articles from the humanities and other related fields. Although many full-text articles will not be available as a result of the cuts, users can search on this database for articles and topics. Upon finding an article, they can always obtain it from another location or make an interlibrary loan.

Other databases in specialized areas affected by the cuts are Access Science, Cabell Business set, Cabell Education set, Columbia International Affairs, IBIS, Oxford Art Online, Oxford Music Online, Physical Education Index and Women Writers.

Unlike these resources, the EBSCO host database used by many students for research purposes will still be available for students in the fall.

In addition to these databases, fifteen journals were cancelled as well. These journals include the

American Philosophical Quarterly, Art Forum, College and Research Libraries News, France Antique, International History Review and the Journal of Ethnographic and Qualitative Research. In addition, other cancellations are New York, New York Times, Objective Standard, Paris Match, Reader’s Digest, Taxes, Times Literary Supplement, Weather and Women’s Wear Daily. However, the library still offers the New York Times online.

Despite these reductions in databases and journals, the library will continue to provide a vast array of other resources for students and faculty to use. Individuals might try to search using another one of the university’s databases. They may also find it helpful to investigate into related journals regarding their topic of interest or study.

Additionally, they could check out or search for relevant books offered by the library.

In the meantime, Krakora remains hopeful that enrollment will increase for this school year.

“It depends on the enrollment as to how much the budget will be restored,” Krakora said.

A higher enrollment would generate additional university revenue to be allocated to various budgets across campus. With an increase in its budget, the library can potentially begin offering some of the resources again in the future.