This is a message from CTLS-L. Selecting "Reply" will send a message to the originator. Selecting "Reply to All" will send a message to the entire list. ---------------------------------------------------------
Due to the funding cuts in FY 2004 and FY 2005, the State Library does not have enough money to renew Heritage Quest in July 2004. Because HQ is a popular database, TexShare will attempt to raise the funds through an appeal to libraries and the users of HQ. In a few weeks the TexShare Advisory Board chair will send your library a request for a pledge. If there are enough pledges, it may be possible to collect enough money to continue HQ for another year. If not, access through TexShare will end on June 30. (The HQ vendor appears to want our business, so it is possible that the vendor may allow continued access if it appears that we could raise enough in just a few more months. If we fail to raise enough money to renew TexShare access, HQ will become a TexSelect choice, and libraries can subscribe individually at a reduced rate.) The TexShare Electronic Information Working Group suggests informing local genealogists and other HQ users of the need for funds. The pledge amounts have not been set, but it is likely that, depending on their size, most libraries will be asked to pledge between $500 and $2,000, with the biggest libraries asked for considerably more. Please tell HQ users that simply appealing to the State Library and TexShare will not help. Even with TexShare collecting $1.5 million in fees from libraries, there is only enough money to renew the Ebsco and Gale packages. TexShare must also drop Stat!Ref, which costs almost as much as HQ and is used by libraries supporting health science programs. First Search and WorldCat, which cost about $1 million per year, were renewed in July 2003 for two years, when the State Library had more money available. It will take all of the $5.5 million available this year just to renew Ebsco and Gale in July 2004. And the funding situation is even worse in 2005. In order to renew First Search and WorldCat -- which ILL and many academic libraries depend on -- TexShare must also drop some databases from the Ebsco and Gale packages in July 2005. Bob Gaines
