Despite being the largest library on campus, Troy H. Middleton Library has a reputation among students for a seemingly constant state of disrepair. A look into the building’s nearly $12 million budget shows that little funds are allocated to the purchase of new equipment and the repair of existing facilities.
LSU Facility Services handles the general maintenance and upkeep of the library building. However, the library is responsible for any building updates or furniture purchasing. Unlike other SEC universities, Middleton’s budget lacks sections allocated to specific areas like building alterations and furniture, according to library dean Stanley Wilder.
For that, the library must reallocate funding from other areas to compensate, Wilder said. For example, the library recently added a reflection space for students to pray or meditate from reallocated money. The library also furnished the former faculty technology center and replaced carpeting in a staff area that hadn’t been updated since the early 1980s.
Wilder said the library usually takes the money from salary savings. The library has a certain number of staff positions that it receives funding to maintain. However, if all of the positions are not filled, the library is allowed to keep the money. Wilder said he estimates this year’s salary savings is going to amount to a little less than $600,000.
Middleton’s overall budget is usually around $12 million, Wilder said. Over half the budget is dedicated to collections, most of which goes to serial and academic journal subscriptions. About 35 percent of the budget is allocated to salary and benefit payments for faculty and staff, including student assistants. The remaining 15 percent of the budget is for everything else including supplies, interlibrary loan and travel for faculty.
“Honestly, we’re incredibly strapped,” Wilder said. Wilder said the cost of journals is exponentially high and has been that way for the last 20 years. The library has to continue to purchase subscriptions to serials and journals to have Ph.D programs, particularly in the science and engineering fields. Wilder said the cost of scientific journals rises at a faster rate than the consumer price index.
Wilder said he loses about $300,000 in purchasing power every year due to the inflation on the serials and journals. The library subscribes to about 40,000 journals including e-journals and print. Many of these journals come in big packages, which are financially efficient, but the library doesn’t need most of the titles.
Middleton hasn’t received an inflation adjustment for serials. Two years ago, the Provost increased the library’s budget permanently by a million dollars.
“All it take is three years and a little bit more and then that permanent increase is completely gone doing the math that way,” Wilder said.
Other SEC libraries spend about a million on books each year, but Middleton struggles to put together $400,000 to purchase new books each year, Wilder said.
“That’s just not enough to support all of the disciplines that rely on books,” Wilder said.
The scientific disciplines don’t rely on books to communicate with one another, but several other disciplines need books to stay current, Wilder said. Middleton struggles to stay current even with books that the University’s faculty is publishing.
Middleton’s funding predicament is part of a national trend, according to Wilder.
“It’s bad, maybe worse here at LSU, but you can absolutely see the number of books purchased in research libraries in steady decline as people are paying more and more money for serials,” Wilder said.
Wilder said Middleton also lacks significant funding for faculty and student technology used within the building. They need to replace the staff’s computers and scanners and fund student technology, but they don’t have a budget for it.
“If you walk around the first floor, it’s just an embarrassment to see what we can make available to people,” Wilder said.
The University’s library budget ranks low compared to other SEC universities, which Wilder attributes to the cuts Louisiana’s higher education has seen the last few years.
“Higher education in Louisiana has taken such a beating,” Wilder said.
Despite the lack of funding, Wilder said he’s optimistic about the library’s future. He said he has support from the administration. The prospect of a new library building also keeps him hopeful, he said.
“Provost and the deans recognize that LSU can’t do what it needs to do for recruitment, retention, teaching and learning without a better library,” Wilder said. “More than a million people come through our doors each year.”
Wilder said the University will be holding budget hearings, where the deans from each college, including the library, can express their budgetary issues and concerns. The University will tax 1 percent of each of their budgets to form a pool of money that will be allocated to whichever area needs it the most.
“I’m hopeful that these budget presentations will give us a chance to make our case,” Wilder said.

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Caleb Bourque

Troy H. Middleton Library sits under construction at LSU campus on Jan. 9, 2018.