Even in These “Interesting Times,’ GALILEO Helps Libraries be the Solution

As GALILEO turns 30 this year, I’ve been feeling the stress of “living in interesting times” recently! While no statewide library legislation passed this year that would have required GALILEO to significantly rework its services, and we do not directly rely on Institute of Museum and Library Services funding, we are nonetheless feeling the impact of changes.

GPLS relies on IMLS to fund several services, including their participation in GALILEO. Many USG institutions have had federal grants cut, which will likely affect library funding at some point. The Digital Library of Georgia is mostly funded by UGA and GALILEO, but received notice this week that its newspaper digitization grant has been cut – luckily, most of that grant’s work had already been completed.

Like all of you, we always need to balance ongoing service needs with limited budgets. We are always looking for ways to reduce costs while maintaining (or improving) services. The USG libraries’ move to an open source library management system, FOLIO, is one example of that. We’re also negotiating with vendors of K-12 and public library content to get better value for those stakeholder groups.

Recently, we were able to rework an existing vacant position line to hire a new GALILEO training and support specialist, Jef Whatley. Jef has hit the ground running and is already providing training. John Stephens continues to work with vendors to provide e-resource portfolios that meet your needs, both from a content and value perspective.

And we received some good news this week: we will once again be able to spend some one-time funding on e-book content for higher education libraries (as well as funding some open source content that will be available to everyone). Our Affordable Learning Georgia program turns 10 this year, and has–by conservative estimates!–saved USG students almost $200 million dollars in textbook costs, while simultaneously developing open learning materials that are being used worldwide.

Throughout this legislative session, I heard the phrase “libraries are the solution, not the problem.” Whatever the future brings, and even if budgetary or legislative requirements cause us to rethink some services at some point, I want to reassure you that GALILEO is here to help you be the solution. Here’s to another 30 years and beyond!