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Blunt seeks to eliminate funding for MOBIUS
Ben Swofford
Issue date: 4/4/05 Section: News
Missouri Governor Matt Blunt proposed a $239.2 million budget reduction on March 24, on top of more than a billion dollars already announced in proposed budget cuts. Tucked away in the new proposed budget cuts is the complete elimination of state monetary support of the Missouri Bibliographical Information User System, more commonly known as MOBIUS, a Common Library Platform.
At $649,530, it is a complete cut of state appropriations for MOBIUS CLP, which will hamstring MOBIUS, the database of libraries, users and catalogues with over 17 million items.
MOBIUS was founded in 1998 by 50 Missouri libraries and since has grown to 60 members. Its members include almost every college or university in the state and two non-academic libraries.
Funding for MOBIUS began at the university level with each charter member paying for itself to be in the program, including upgrades to computing and creation of the needed infrastructure.
For the cuts to become official they have to pass through the House Budget Committee, which began work on Tuesday March 29, and then the House and Senate. Even if the cuts do not pass the House or Senate, the Governor can use the power of line item veto to enact the cuts.
In 2000, an official legislative letter of intent was issued by the Missouri House Budget Committee and the Senate Appropriations Committee specifying the state of Missouri would appropriate an amount to support half of the CLP budget. Funding never reached that high and today supports approximately 23 percent of the CLP budget.
Last year member libraries supported MOBIUS with over $1.5 million in funds, $650,000 of it coming from private colleges and universities.
If the cuts are approved, fees paid by the 60 member colleges and universities will increase by 40 percent. For UM-St. Louis, which has a yearly appropriation of $73,166 for MOBIUS, this would mean an increase of almost $30,000. At UM-Columbia the extra appropriation would be around $119,000.
At $649,530, it is a complete cut of state appropriations for MOBIUS CLP, which will hamstring MOBIUS, the database of libraries, users and catalogues with over 17 million items.
MOBIUS was founded in 1998 by 50 Missouri libraries and since has grown to 60 members. Its members include almost every college or university in the state and two non-academic libraries.
Funding for MOBIUS began at the university level with each charter member paying for itself to be in the program, including upgrades to computing and creation of the needed infrastructure.
For the cuts to become official they have to pass through the House Budget Committee, which began work on Tuesday March 29, and then the House and Senate. Even if the cuts do not pass the House or Senate, the Governor can use the power of line item veto to enact the cuts.
In 2000, an official legislative letter of intent was issued by the Missouri House Budget Committee and the Senate Appropriations Committee specifying the state of Missouri would appropriate an amount to support half of the CLP budget. Funding never reached that high and today supports approximately 23 percent of the CLP budget.
Last year member libraries supported MOBIUS with over $1.5 million in funds, $650,000 of it coming from private colleges and universities.
If the cuts are approved, fees paid by the 60 member colleges and universities will increase by 40 percent. For UM-St. Louis, which has a yearly appropriation of $73,166 for MOBIUS, this would mean an increase of almost $30,000. At UM-Columbia the extra appropriation would be around $119,000.
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