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Show r ww The Thunderbird 84TH YEAR; NUMBER 40 SOUTHERN UTAH STATE COLLEGE CEDAR CITY, UTAH MONDAY, MARCH 5, 1990 State acquisition funding to boost Library holdings BY KARA LYN POTTS same day they are requested instead of waiting the 10 days currenlty required y loan system. on the The funds will also provide for a system. This system uses compact disks that will list all holdings in Utah higher education institutions, public and private. Students will have access to more than 4 million titles which they y loan can access through the system. Were really excited about the upgrade of the system and more terminals. This is something the students really need, said Graff. The one-tim- e acquistions funds cannot g be used for any costs, but with the increase in students, the Library hopes to hire more personnel through the growth funds, Graff said. The legislation offering $500,000 to state libraries will continue to assist the ' Library in their efforts and must be partially raised through student funding efforts. The money needs to come from the students so they have a chance to be a part of making the Library better, said ASSUSC President Jan Shelton. The bill, passed by the Legislature last month, was presented by the Utah Student Lobbyist, a branch of the Utah Student Association whose membership includes all students in Utahs higher education of which Shelton was chair. How the money is to be paid will be left up to the next student body, but I suggest a tuition surcharge (not increase) to help get the amount needed, said Shelton. inter-librar- During this years Utah State Legislature, congressmen allotted e $800,000 for acquisitions and $500,000 for matched funding to all college and university libraries across the state to increase their acquisitions. For every dollar that the students contribute, the state will match it with $2, according the the matching funds bill. Both the SUSC Library and the students will benefit from these funds. This year the Legislature has given over $200,000 of support toward onetime acquisitions to SUSCs Library, not including the matched student funds. Library books and materials will get more than $149,000 of this. Were really excited. We hope to improve the quantity and quality of the books in our Library so that it can compare with national standards, said Diana Graff, Library director. Another $55,000 will be used to upgrade the computers of the circulation system, she said. It will also provide more terminals for student use, with the possiblity of installing two additional computers on the fourth floor.This way the student wont have to do so much traveling up and down the stairs looking for books, said Graff. In addition, the funds will be invested in a Telefax Network, she said. The network consists of a plain paper students, including Charlie Crellin, a graduate accounting student from Enoch, may machine that can deliver articles across find more books available in the Library thanks to recent funding from the Legislature. the state. Students would get articles the one-tim- soon CD-RO- inter-librar- SU officials prepare request for semester calendar BY NATALIE COOMBS SUSC students, polled in Wednesdays general election, were strongly in favor of keeping the current quarter system; 659 students were in favor of the quarter calendar compared to 237 in favor of switching to a semester calendar. But, this latest student opinion may not mean much, as college officials and ASSUSC leaders predict a switch to semesters as early as 1992. Retta J. Gale, ASSUSC academic vice president, said the ASSUSC Senate has had only one official vote on the issue. The vote, which took place in October, showed nine senators against the changeover, one senator for, and one abstaining. Gale noted that the senates vote is a recommendation to college officials. The question appeared on the general election ballot even though senators didnt know if that would make a difference or change anything, Gale said. I think it (appeared) because the senates job is to know what the voice of the student is. My senators decided that they wanted to know how the students felt about it." Provost Terry D. Alger is currently preparing a request to the Regents for approval of the change. As far as Im concerned, unless I hear differently, my next step is to prepare a request (for a semester change) to go to the Regents, Alger said. Since the request is nearing the final stages of the approval process, student officials doubt that student opinion will have a great impact on the decision to change. I know were going to semesters, said ASSUSC President Jan Shelton. When the faculty, the last group to vote on the change, passed the semester proposal 62 to 42, ASSUSC senators were concerned and wanted to get a better student opinion sampling, Gale said. Alger and Michael Donovan, associate professor of biology, presented the pros and cons of semesters to the student senate, but said Gale, at that time senators didnt necessarily go back to their schools and take a vote. However, she said, senators did talk to individual students about the issue. Rather than getting a vote from their individual schools, senators proposed polling students about the issue when they polled students about changing to university status. They decided that theyd concentrate on one thing at a time, she said, and save the semester question for the general election. Shelton, who voted in favor of the change in Octobers Institutional Council meeting, said she wasnt aware a vote for a semester changeover was going to be taken until SUSC President Gerald R. Sherratt proposed the conversion from quarters to semesters to the council members. Shelton said, When we voted on it, I sensed from students that semesters would be a really good change. However, there was no opportunity to talk with students before the vote. Shelton said one reason she voted for the change was simply because it was a good chance for professors to go through their lesson plans. Students dont look at future needs of the school, Shelton said. Though the change may cause hassles for those attending SUSC when it occurs, Shelton noted, Were accommodating the student of the future, not the student now, she said. quarter semester |