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Multimillion dollar cuts to Louisiana's higher education system can seem very abstract. But they are having some very real effects. Take the statewide electronic libraries system. It's running on temporary funding, and those familiar with it say losing it would be devastating.

The system is called LOUIS, and it incorporates everything from library catalogs to book check out. The system also includes an on-line database of about 72,000 E-books and journals. Losing access to those concerns many people, including LSU Assistant Professor of Accounting, Jackie Moffit. "Professionally my concern is very simple," Moffit says, "without access to the databases I would have to find another school, because I could not do my research here."

Saiward Pharr, WRKF A student logs in remotely through LOUIS to the LSU Library's catalog. LOUIS, the statewide libraries consortium, provides access to over 72,000 E-books and journals. It also provides support systems for libraries such as catalogs and authentication services.

LSU Senior Erin Cromer majors in English. She says she uses the databases even in the summer to explore topics on her own. Cromer walks me through using a full text database called JSTOR. "I usually go to lsu.edu, go to the library's page, click on databases, and here's JSTOR." She shows me an example of a search for a favorite topic, "I study rhetoric a lot. You can type in something about rhetoric, and all these wonderful articles come up. Here we go; we'll click on ‘Aristotle and the Types of Rhetoric.' Normally there's an abstract and title information."

LOUIS had $4 million budget last year. The 47 colleges and universities that choose to participate, pay a fee determined by student enrollment. The fees make up a third of LOUIS's budget. The state Board of Regents pays the rest. But a month ago, the Regents cut the funding. A few days later the Board put up $500,000 in bridge funds, but they're only for two months.

Colleges have decided to pick up the balance, for the rest of the year. But, "In addition to the increased LOUIS fees for my college," says Wendy Johnson, "I will also have to replace those databases that have to be cut because of the state not funding LOUIS." Johnson is Director of Library Services at River Parishes Community College in Sorento.

Johnson says her school will pay more for LOUIS, but she's frustrated with the additional expense, "$20,000 to 25,000 thousand is what I'll be during this next year to provide my students with the same services that we used to get for $5,000 dollars a year."

LOUIS is a bit like a Sam's Club for libraries. Because of the large number of participating schools the consortium has bargaining power. LOUIS is able to buy more texts at a greater savings than could any one institution. Without LOUIS, universities would have to spend three times as much for the same text. And the resources are essential, for accreditation.
Belle Wheelan is president of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, or SACS . "All institutions are making difficult decisions, I know, about all of their resources," Wheelan says.

"But when you start cutting opportunities for students to do research," she continues, " because that's what libraries do, they provide the information for students to access the information referred to them by faculty members, it becomes, a little...a little disconcerting"

Disconcerted is not how schools want SACS to feel. The association accredits all schools in Louisiana. If an institution is not accredited, students can't get financial aid for tuition, many employers won't recognize a degree from the school, and the school will lose federal funding.

Library resources is one item specifically on the check list for SACS accreditation. LOUIS helps fulfill the library requirement, a fact not lost on the Board of Regents, says Kim Hunter-Reed, the Board's Chief of Staff, "It's a great program; it's an efficient program; it's a program that's clearly needed by our campuses."

The Board of Regents is the state agency that oversees public higher education policy - and budgets. Hunter-Reed says the issue is not LOUIS's value. The issue, she says, is the $17.6 million budget cut lawmakers gave the Board of Regents in the final days of the last regular session. "Dollars are down," she says. "We do not see this as a short trend; we see this as a permanent reduction in state funding and so we have to move through the process as such."

Hunter-Reed points out the Board took a half million dollars from its own budget to give LOUIS stopgap funding for two months.

Sara Zimmerman's not satisfied with the quick fix. As the new Executive Director of LOUIS Zimmerman says it's not her job to tell people above her how to do their jobs, but she says it is her job to tell them why LOUIS deserves funding.

Zimmerman has no problem trumpeting that message, "Not only can the Regents say this touches every constituent, every elected official in this state that supports its, it affects their constituents because it is in every parish, all through the state. You know, everybody is affected by this."

Zimmerman says cobbled together funds will keep LOUIS afloat this year, but at the expense of other library resources. She hopes to get permanent funding as a line item in the state budget.

The odds of getting that dedicated funding are slim. Lawmakers have put higher education on alert for another $300 million dollars in cuts next fiscal year. That's slightly less than the budget for LSU's Baton Rouge campus.