Journal subscriptions in the library won’t be facing further cancellations in 2010, thanks to $677,000 from the provost.

Although the University lost 600 journals last year through budget cuts, the one-time discretionary funding will allow the library to maintain its subscriptions.

“I think [Arnett Mace, senior vice president for academic affairs and provost] recognized how important journals are for research instruction missions at the University,” said William Potter, head librarian, in a phone interview Monday.

The provost has a small amount of discretionary funding to meet such emergencies, said Tom Jackson, vice president for public affairs, in a phone interview Monday.

As of last month, before the one-time funding was put to use, an additional 1,000 journals were facing cuts in 2010, Potter said.

Journals provide scholarly access to students – graduate and undergraduate – and faculty at the University, said David Hurley, former chair of the University Library Advisory Committee, in a phone interview Monday.

“UGA is a Ph.d.-granting institution and has an obligation to be a center of significant scholarship,” Hurley said.

Earlier this year, the University’s budget cuts left the libraries with too little cash to pay for its more than 9,000 journal subscriptions – which cost $6 million annually.

In a campus-wide e-mail, Potter asked students and faculty for feedback on 1,600 journals that were considered for cuts. Their responses saved 1,000 journals.

“If we don’t provide access to these journals, our researchers and our students won’t know what the latest developments are,” Potter said.

The price of journal subscriptions is expected to continue to increase by a rate of between 5 and 7 percent, Potter said in an e-mail Friday to the University community.

The University library committee will discuss creative ways to meet these increases, Hurley said.

“They need a clear policy and a clear justification. We’re going to have to argue that funding has to be available,” he said.

The journal subscriptions rest on unsteady ground for 2011.

The one-time funding provided by the president in 2008 and by the provost in 2009 is not assured in 2010. The library may purchase fewer books to deal with the budget cuts, Potter said.

However, the long term solution is to look at the whole system of journal publishing and ask what is a better, less expensive way to communicate.

“That really has to be addressed by the faculty and the administration, because the content of the journals is produced by faculty working in universities around the world. They’re usually supported by public money,” Potter said.