Re: Pricing of Journals

On 1/26/99, Albert Henderson <noblestation[_at_]compuserve.com> wrote:
>
> You should get surplus revenue dollars by increasing expenditures
> to equal revenues. Dept. of Education figures for the state of
> Louisiana, for instance, indicate surplus revenues of $9 million
> in FY94 and $59 million in FY95. You would probably need only a
> small fraction.
>
> Going back 20 years in the Digest of Education Statistics, one
> cannot find a single year in which public or private higher
> education ran in the red. Instead, we see surplus revenue
> (in constant dollars) tripled while library spending increased
> by one third!

     I think we should continue this discussion off list, if at all, since it is not really copyright in subject matter. However, I have been in Louisiana public higher education for 16 years, and I can tell you from personal experience there is no annual surplus at LSU, and has not been. The state does interesting accounting magic where it raises appropriations but takes them back for insurance, and regularly enforces unfunded mandates. During the last administration we had regular mid year takebacks of appropriations. The University can not run in the red. That would be illegal in Louisiana. Any surplus would also revert to the state, so, of course, we spend down any remaing funds at the end of the fiscal year. I do not know how the figures you cite were generated, but whatever their source they do not reflect reality in the case of LSU. There has certainly been endowment growth, through continuing contributions and market growth, but these funds are held in a seperate foundation and any transfer from the University's general funds would be illegal.

                                            BRB

Bert R. Boyce, Professor & Dean
School of Library & Information Science
Louisiana State University
267 Coates Hall
Baton Rouge, LA 70803

     (225)388-3158
FAX: (225)388-4581
LSBOYC[_at_]LSUVM.sncc.lsu.edu Received on Wed Jan 27 1999 - 19:31:38 GMT