SB 21-APPROP: UAA CONSORTIUM LIBRARY FACILITY CHAIRMAN MILLER brought up SB 21, and stated that Senator Ellis would present the bill. Number 564 SENATOR JOHNNY ELLIS, sponsor of SB 21 expressed appreciation of the committee for hearing the bill. Last year the legislature passed an amendment by Senator Kelly during deliberations on the capital budget that allowed the University of Alaska Anchorage to take deferred maintenance monies of about $10 million to begin work on this project. This bill proposes to appropriate from the General Fund the balance of monies needed to complete the project. Expansion of the library is essential for continued national accreditation. Support of the project is widespread among students, faculty and staff, and the general public. The UAA Library operates the most active inter-library loan program in Alaska. The project will provide new opportunities to train the future workforce in the state. SENATOR ELLIS said his true purpose is to get this on the agenda of the Finance Committee as a project in the capital construction budget and leave the exact appropriation amount and source of funding to their wisdom and experience. CHANCELLOR GORSUCH, on-line from Anchorage, spoke in support of SB 21. He said the UAA Library is 25 years old, and the student body has doubled in that time. TAPE 99-18, SIDE B Number 588 CHANCELLOR GORSUCH discussed the issues of the expansion of the library and the materials contained in it. ARILS is a collection of 8 previously independent natural resource libraries of both federal and state agencies located in a consolidated facility on C Street. UAA plans to make ARILS an integral part of its expanded library. He said UAA hopes to find other partners to join in the library expansion. He pointed out the resolutions passed by the Municipality, Anchorage Chamber of Commerce that indicate this is a high priority project. Number 556 SENATOR WILKEN asked if society is moving away from libraries. Law offices are now being built without libraries, and instead use the space for computers and offices for more attorneys. He asked, "Do we really need a $30 million library?" Would the money be better spent for a smaller building with greater distributive capacity for access by people with computer terminals? COMMISSIONER GORSUCH replied it's a good question. Steve Rawlins, Dean of the Library, is very familiar with the emergence of the electronic library, and would follow up on his comments. The chief director of the Library of Congress informed the commissioner that it was unlikely within the next 30 to 40 years that more than 30% of the Library of Congress's hard copy holdings would be fully digitized and available in electronic form. In the chief director's estimate, the written book will not die, and we will continue to have many of our historical materials in hard copy, while seeing a continued explosion of information in electronic form. COMMISSIONER GORSUCH said he has been cautioned about digitizing library holdings because with every major computer upgrade, data and information get lost in the conversion process. For archival reasons, there's a strong recommendation for continuing to have hard copy as a backup. COMMISSIONER GORSUCH explained to Senator Wilken that a major portion of the library includes study areas for students. The current reference library facilities are undersized. The $40 million fiscal note would simply bring the library expansion up to the maximum capacity standards at the time the library opens, and would not accommodate needs for the next 20 to 30 years. He said he is banking that some of the electronic holdings will diminish the demands on the library. Number 496 MR. STEVE RAWLINS, Dean of UAA Library, stated he likes to think of the library of the 21st century as a place that holds "collections and connections." Last year 65,000 books were published and very few appeared on the Internet. In planning a library for the 21st century you have to accommodate the people, the instruction occurring in the building, the existing and growing print collections, and the network connections. COMMISSIONER GORSUCH asked Mr. Rawlins to discuss the collaboration with the Municipality, the Rasmussen Library and the state library, and how people outside the Anchorage area will be beneficiaries of this project. MR. RAWLINS explained that electronic connections are being established as well as partnerships with other libraries. UAA teams up with other university libraries to save money by jointly licensing electronic library products. It will develop a joint system with the Anchorage Municipal Library where people can access the holdings from the UAA Consortium Library and all the extended campuses of UAA on one database. It will also develop more electronic access and digital formats through the Internet and Worldwide Web. Number 451 MR. JOSH HUNTER, UAA Student President, spoke from the students' perspective. He said that since the first semester he attended UAA, the students have complained bitterly about the current state of the library. Depending upon the program, there is a lag time in current research and available documents. Research documents for medical and biology students have been cut off, and there have been cuts in journal acquisition over the past four years. When students go on with their education or go to work in their fields, they are several years behind in knowing what's currently going on. Faculty can only spend so much of their own money copying and distributing important journal articles. MR. HUNTER said many students have flown to libraries in Washington and Oregon and paid to become members in order to obtain current research information. He urged the committee to look further ahead and build for tomorrow, not for today. CHAIRMAN MILLER asked the wish of the committee. SENATOR PEARCE moved SB 21 from committee with individual recommendations. Without objection, it was so ordered. The committee adjourned at 2:40 p.m.