The Missouri Students Association and the Graduate Professional Council are putting together a committee to meet with library staff regarding a possible student fee.
In order to maintain the current services the libraries provide as well as add new services, MU Libraries is asking for a student fee.
The fee could range anywhere from 50 cents to $2, according to MU Libraries Director Jim Cogswell.
The revenue generated from the fee would go toward maintaining extended hours in Ellis Library, paying for online collections and possibly adding services such as a 24-hour section in Ellis Library and more leisure-reading material.
The MSA and GPC committee would meet with library staff, including Cogswell, on a regular basis to discuss options for the library fee.
MSA Academic Affairs Committee Chairman Ben Levin, who will be serving on the library fee committee, is not optimistic about the possibility of a student library fee.
“I don’t see anything higher than $1 getting student approval,” he said. “One dollar doesn’t seem likely as it is.”
MSA Student Affairs Committee chairman Tyler Ricketts will also be serving on the committee. He said he thinks the committee is necessary for MSA to represent the students.
“I think it’s our job to be the bridge between the students and the administration,” he said.
Ricketts did not have an opinion on the potential fee.
“I don’t want to say yes or no right away,” he said. “I want to see a proposal before I make any judgment.”
Both Levin and Ricketts made it clear MSA has not officially supported the idea of a library student fee.
“By creating this committee, we’re not endorsing this idea,” Ricketts said.
Cogswell met with MSA senators from the Academic Affairs and Student Affairs committees Feb. 21, but did not have a proposal prepared.
MSA polled students during the fall 2011 semester about a potential library fee. The consensus was overwhelmingly against the idea.
“I think a lot of the reason it polled badly is because students don’t want another fee,” MSA senator Matt Kalish said. Kalish will be serving on the library fee committee.
Ricketts said he thinks the fee might be more positively received if it provided students with additional services.
“Adding a new fee might not be a popular move, but I think that if the proposal provides a lot of tangible benefits to students, they might be in support of a fee,” he said.
Ricketts said it is important to remember the survey did not specifically outline the benefits students would receive from the library student fee.
“The data might just be a little biased because of that,” he said.
MU Libraries is experiencing a budget shortfall after a few years of using lapsed salaries to fill the holes in the budget. The lapsed salaries were used to extend hours at Ellis Library until 2 a.m. during the 2011-12 academic year.
The extended hours cost about $25,000 a year, and the library will not be able to maintain these hours without some sort of financial help, Cogswell said in a previous Maneater article.
Levin is not concerned with library services being cut.
“I expect the library to continue to provide (services) with or without this fee,” he said. “It doesn’t really matter much to me personally either way.”
Ricketts said he hopes to keep the lines of communication open between students and library staff.
“This is exactly what we’re here to do,” he said. “We’re here to explore these ideas.”