THE DAILY ALL GI
PSU projects need
borrowed finances
By Jenna Spinelle
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER I jcssooo@psu.edu
With construction booming across
campus, Penn State officials say there
are still projects to be completed
projects that sometimes require the
university to borrow funds.
Deborah Blythe, Office of Physical
Plant (OPP) facilities resource manag
er, said that despite the "sticker shock"
associated with building costs, con
struction is still needed.
"Many of our buildings, including
Willard and Hammond, were built very
cheaply in the 1960 s and '7os, and are
now falling apart," she said. "Even
though everything costs a fortune, the
projects are necessary to update our
facilities."
She added that plans are currently in
the works to renovate the Moore Build
ing, another building constructed in
that time period, which is expected to
cost about $21.8 million.
The money spent on campus con
struction is not related to the continu
ing increase in tuition, Penn State
spokesman Tysen Kendig said.
Funding for construction projects
comes from state money allocated
through the capital fund. The capital
fund is separate from the university's
general funds budget, which is used for
things such as salaries and employee
benefits.
Penn State's 2005-2006 capital budget
request was $71.89 million, which
includes $53.5 million for construction
projects and $18.39 million for purchase
PARKW AY
a
of construction equipment. The request
is part of a total $945 million five-year
capital construction plan.
The university's 2005-2006 general
funds budget request was $344.8 mil
lion, but Gov. Ed Rendell's budget
released Feb. 9 contained $324.2 million.
Kendig said the lower general funds
appropriation was in no way related to
the amount of capital funding request
ed and will not affect construction on
campus.
"The university's capital budget and
its general funds budget are two sepa
rate entities," he said. "The amount of
money requested for one has no effect
on the amount received in the other."
Blythe added that Penn State's
enrollment has grown faster than its
building space, and the university cur
rently has the least amount of square
inch space per student.
"Our enrollment has increased faster
than our facilities have, so it is only nat
ural that we will need more space to
accommodate the increased number of
students," she said.
OPP spokesman Paul Ruskin said
the three main funding sources for con
struction projects are state funds, pri
vate donations and borrowing.
"People are trying to connect con
struction funding with tuition," he said.
"The reality is that we do everything we
can to try and get state and private
sources for our projects."
Dan Sieminski, assistant vice presi
dent for finance and business, said in
an e-mail message that tuition is used
to pay for debt associated with borrow-
Campus co •
Total costs of Penn State's major
University Park construction projects.
:.. • rest Resources
50 80 70 80
Mao= of Dollars
SOLIIINK Offtal of fiffisical gent
ing funds for construction projects.
"As we prepare our capital funding
plans, we consider the amount of state
funding available," he said. "Where
those funds run short of needs, we aug
ment those funds with a reasonable
amount tuition dollars."
Ray Marsh, director of development
communications, said the majority of
donations to the university are not for
construction projects.
"Most alumni give money to scholar
ship funds or to support programs with
in a specific college," he said.
"We do raise money for capital con
struction projects, but it is a small per
cent of our overall efforts," Marsh said.
Free
ISABELLE'S BEAD SHOPPE!
LOCAL
Ilina ItsVCollieglin
for PSU
Increasing journal prices
poses problem for library
By Christlana Varda
and Bethany Fehllnger
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITERS
cxvlBl@psu.edu, brfsoo2@psu.edu
Buying about 30,000 journals per
year for Penn State students and facul
ty has become a problem for the Penn
State libraries.
The escalating prices of serial jour
nals all publications that come out
more than once a year was brought
to the attention of the University Facul
ty Senate in an informational report at
Tuesday's meeting.
Bonnie Mac Ewan, assistant dean for
collections and scholarly communica
tion, said if the library continues pur
chasing serial journals, it would run
out of money to buy any material at all
by 2015.
In the past 17 years, a 260 percent
increase in serial journal costs has
been recorded.
Faculty Senate Chair Kim Steiner
said there is an abundance of scholarly
publications and requiring the libraries
to keep them up-to-date is an expen
sive expenditure.
"The Senate can figure out the right
thing to do," he said. "We need to pro
vide some credible guidelines for prop
erly credited [publications] and resort
to electronic publishing."
Science and medical journals are
marked with the highest prices, said
Bob Alan, head of serials and acquisi
tion services.
"The price increase for many sci
ence journals exceeds the normal
inflation rates," he said.
In an effort to combat the high cost
master Dinner
Students @
Time: 12pm-6pm
treet 234-1060
, Weis, Autoport, Rider Olds,
he Churches of State College,
rt, Giant, and Starbuck's!
THURSDAY, March 17, 2005 I 3
of the journals, the libraries have taken
a series of steps to maintain lower
spending. They have cut 6 percent of
serial journals, eliminated duplicate
copies across print and electronic for
mats, and signed deals with big pub
lishers to ensure more electronic
access.
The University Press and the
libraries have also joined forces in an
additional attempt to resolve this prob
lem. .
The Penn State Office of Digital
Scholarly Publishing was created in
October for increased cost-efficient
publishing and a greater focus on elec
tronic publishing. "What this means is
that a book would never go out of
print," Mac Ewan said. "It will always
be available to you."
The office wants to provide non-com
mercial publications and scholarly
information that professors can use in
their research.
It is a response to the high prices
determined by commercial publishers,
said Peter Potter, University Press edi
tor in chief and associate director.
"We are exploring new outlooks in
the electronic realm," he said.
Some faculty members do not real
ize the cost of the journals when they
request some journals from the library
Mac Ewan said.
"There is an expectation for scholars
to prepare scholarly research, but this
can be done online," she said.
Mac Ewan added online research
would certainly reduce the costs the
library is currently facing.
Steiner said the Senate could do
something about the problem.