Town Hall Meeting Rescheduled

The Town Hall Meeting on the Smathers Libraries 2009-2010 Budget has been rescheduled for Friday, February 27^th. It will be held from 1 to 3 p.m. in Smathers (Library East) Room 1A. Although this meeting is specific to the Smathers Libraries budget, not the Health Science Center Libraries, the Legal Information Center or FCLA budgets, it is an open meeting and individuals from those organizations are welcome to come.

The purpose of the meeting is to discuss the proposed budget for the Smathers Libraries in advance of its submission to the Provost on April 1st. This will be an opportunity to receive a briefing on the proposal as well as to ask questions and provide initial comments.

Please remember that this is only a budget proposal. Later this spring, we will receive a response from the Provost and more specific budget guidance from the President. We will not know our actual budget until the Board of Trustees approves the University Budget in early June.

President Machen has set up a site for budget information, including questions & answers (Q&A) at: http://budget.president.ufl.edu/. This site will be updated throughout the budget process, so I encourage you to look at it periodically.

The Faculty Senate has a budget blog at: http://blog.senate.ufl.edu/. This is another excellent source of information and opinion about the University-wide budget process.

This blog is a means to share comments and questions specific to the Smathers Libraries budget and budget process. I encourage you to participate.

University Libraries Committee Resolution

At its January meeting, the University Libraries Committee passed the following resolution in support of the UF Libraries' budgets:

"The University Library Committee strongly supports the retention of the budgets of the Smathers, Law and Health Science Center libraries at no less than the July 1, 2008 level. We are making this recommendation because the libraries are integral to the research and educational mission of the University, as stated in the Strategic Work Plan. A cut in library budgets would have a detrimental effect on every educational and research program at the University."

Budget Planning Information Resources

Other information resources with useful information about the University-wide budget planning are available.

The President has a website: Budget News: The Latest on the Budget at UF (http://budget.president.ufl.edu/).

The Faculty Senate has a budget blog (http://blog.senate.ufl.edu/).

The Libraries' blog will not be duplicating information from these sites, so you may wish to consult them periodically for up-to-date information that is beyond the scope of this blog.

Budget Planning for 2009-2010

The Smathers Libraries will be submitting a proposed budget to the Provost on March 4, 2009. We are gathering recommendations from each department now. Those recommendations will be integrated by the Dean, Associate Deans and Directors and a consolidated proposal will be available the week of February 16th. A Town Hall Meeting will be held on Thursday, February 19th, to provide a briefing on the proposal as well as to respond to questions and receive comments.

This blog is an additional means to share comments and questions specific to the Libraries budget and budget process.

President Machen has set up a site for University budget information, including questions & answers (Q&A) at: http://budget.president.ufl.edu/. This site will be updated throughout the budget process, so I encourage you to look at it periodically.

Please remember that we are currently preparing a proposed budget. Later this spring, we will receive a response from the Provost and more specific budget guidance from the President. The Libraries will not know our actual budget until the Board of Trustees approves the University Budget in early June.