The Faculty Senate Library Task Force recommended extending a budget addition for the OU library system for 10 more years.

The plan increased the yearly funding of OU’s libraries by $1 million for 10 years, starting in 1996, to increase their competitiveness within the Big 12.

LeRoy Blank, task force chairman, said OU libraries were ranked second in the Big 12 in 2006, compared with fifth place in 1996. Blank said this was due to the increase in funding. If OU wants to prevent slipping to the bottom of the list again, it needs to continue investing in Bizzell Memorial Library, he said.

“We know this is the worst time to ask people to add money to a budget, but this is a 10 year plan,” Blank said. “We expect a lot of progress over the next decade and in order to stay competitive this is what we have to do.”

The task force hopes to get the money from various endowments and one-time donations.

Another part of the proposal included hiring more library personnel.

OU libraries became very competitive in many areas over the past decade, but fell behind in the number of library personnel, according to library spokeswoman Sarah Robbins.

“We have done really well on money spent on materials and books but we haven’t done as well on staff, so having a bigger staff would help you enhance your services,” Robbins said.

In 1996 and 1997, “the library was viewed as a physical location which served as a fundamental source of knowledge,” according to the report.

Blank said students and faculty use the library differently now, relying more on Web-based services.

To accommodate, the report proposes a “shift to enormous e-utilization and Learning Centers while maintaining hard copies and other necessary materials.”

Leslie Haymon, political science senior, does not agree with moving books to off-site storage.

“I can understand why they might move some of the books online, like the ones that get a lot of circulation, but I like hard copies more,” Haymon said. “Even if you have a pretty fast internet connection, if you have a 200 page book online, it can take a while for those pages to load.”

Robbins said the report is meant to give recommendations to OU’s administration and is not a finalized plan.

“This is more big picture,” Robbins said. “The report is meant to guide administrators on how to grow the libraries in the next decade.”