Calendar: 1975-1976 Page 420

xlviii Annual Report of the Delegacy THE LIBRARY Finance At time when all university institutions are experiencing degree of financial stringency unparalleled in recent years it is not surprising that the main preoccupation of the Librarian and indeed of the Library Committee was again one of finance It is true that the Library Committee was also preoccupied with problems of accommodation during the year but these problems are also financial in origin since they stem from the absence of funds for the continuation of the Col- lege's redevelopment scheme and the completion of the new Library An indication of the importance these two related matters assumed during the session under review is that the Library Committee found it necessary to hold no less than four special meetings to deal with one or both of these matters in addition to its regular terminal meetings The Library Committee continued its survey of standing orders with view to seeking reduction in their number so as to preserve balance as between books and serials on the one hand and between the humanities and the sciences on the other The views expressed by faculties made it clear that the consensus of opinion in the College was not that King's was spending too much on subscriptions to periodicals but that it was not spending enough on books in short the funds available to the College Library were inadequate to meet its minimum needs and if these funds could be increased to realistic level the ap- parent imbalance could be redressed Professor Pirani carried out invaluable research into this problem and reached the conclusion based on studies of library grants and their disbursement in other comparable libraries that the grant available to the College Library in 1973 74 fell short of the norm by some 66 per cent in reaching this conclusion Professor Pirani had taken account of comparability with other institutions accounting for 35-7 per cent increase the UGC recommendation for all-round increases 10 per cent inflation 12-7 per cent in 1973 according to the Tress-Brown Index and rising student numbers 2-4 per cent The Library grant for the session had been fixed at £60 225 more than half of which would be needed for the maintenance of standing orders if no economies could be effected In September 1973 however the Finance Committee agreed to make supplementary grant of £5 000 available to cover the rising cost of subscriptions to periodicals for further year to enable the situation in relation to possible cancella-