Small cuts, big difference: Many smaller budget cuts can help the University save big bucks in the end

The University has found another way to cut the fat from our budget with little academic disruption.

University libraries have canceled almost 640 seldom-used journal and magazine subscriptions.

It seems highly doubtful that more than a handful of students have ever voluntarily flipped through a copy of “The Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada” or “The Journal of Metamorphic Geology.”

 Yet the libraries have been subscribing to these obscure bimonthly publications for years.

The University Library staff has recently collaborated with professors from each department in order to create a list of expendable publications that the library subscribes to.

Every subscription was given a fighting chance as students and faculty members had until last Friday to attempt to save a particular subscription.

The University Libraries cut nearly $253,000 by cutting these subscriptions, more than doubling its goal savings of $106,500.

By eliminating these outdated and unpopular journals, the University will be able to invest the $150,000 difference into purchasing new, more useful journals and books.

Other departments and University facilities can learn from the steps the University Libraries have taken.

This most recent decision might have been small but it was also smart and effective.

Drastic, large cuts are not always the only answer.

Sometimes, the small cuts are the ones that add up in the long run.

Every department should follow the libraries’ lead and look for minor cuts that might result in major savings.