We at the Mark Twain Papers sincerely appreciate your concern, Scott.

The university budget cuts have impacted us through the loss of funding

for our administrative assistant line, which means lengthier turn-around

times and delays in terms of processing requests. Because the AA was also

instrumental in the preparation of MTP's grant applications to NEH, this

loss could potentially have an adverse effect on our ability to attract
future

funding for our editorial work. But please rest assured, MTP is in no

immediate danger of closing.



Kerry Driscoll

Associate Editor

On Wed, Mar 8, 2023 at 12:15 PM Scott Holmes <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> So I see a notice that UC Berkeley is closing three libraries and I
> became a bit concerned about the Mark Twain Project.  They are
> reportedly shuttering the Anthropology, Physics-Astronomy, and
> Mathematics Statistics libraries.  Once budget cutters start, they
> seldom stop...  Also, it's important to maintain a sports program over
> any  academic efforts.  From a 2020 report:  "Cal's Justin Wilcox is the
> seventh-highest paid coach in the Pac-12 this season with a total pay of
> $3,276,248."
>
> From their Scholarly Resources: 2022-24 Budget Reduction Plan
>
> Due to anextremely challenging budget situation
> <https://news.lib.berkeley.edu/2022-23-services>the Library must reduce
> its collections budget by $1.7 million over the next two years. Added to
> our recent reductions, this will bring the total collections budget
> reduction to $4.425 million since 2016 – an approximately 35% reduction
> of campus, state, and unrestricted funding for collections. In the
> current 2022-23 fiscal year, an initial $850,000 will be cut from
> selectors’ discretionary allocations which are used for print and
> digital books, media, datasets, and the like. In the following year, the
> remaining cut of $850,000 will come from a reduction in recurring annual
> costs such as subscription databases, journal subscriptions, ebook
> packages, and journal packages.
>
> The Mark Twain Project is not mentioned in any of this, for what it's
> worth...
>
> So it goes...
>
> --
> /Unaffiliated Geographer and Twain aficionado/
>