Don Lanier asks about "strategies for supporting new courses...or even new
disciplines, when financial support is not forthcoming."

We are trying what is for us a new approach -- setting aside 5% of the over-
all acquisitions budget (after binding and preservation costs are removed)
as a special fund to support new curriculum initiatives and other special
needs regarding changes in courses, etc.  This was well supported by faculty,
as it creats a fund from which all disciplines can draw.  Applications for
funds can ask for ongoing commitments (eg. for added serial purchases), or
for one-time monies to build the monograph holdings retrospectively in an
area not previously taught in depth, etc.  Ongoing commitments are held to
half of the 5% each year.  Decisions re the applications are made by the
Allocations Committee of the Senate Library Committee of the university (our
library council).  The difficulty, as we anticipate it, may be that in some
years the Acquisitions Budget is not increased by as much as the 5% -- this
would mean a decrease in other commitments in actual as well as "real" $$$
amounts.  In any case, we believe that this method is worth trying.
                                                      Bernard Katz
                                                      U of Guelph Library
                                                      Guelph, Ontario
                                                      bkatz@cosy.uoguelph.ca