ACRL College & Research Libraries News

College & Research Libraries News

From Inside the DLP

By Dr. Katharine M. Stokes

College and University Library Specialist, Training and Resources Branch, Division of Library Programs, Bureau of Libraries and Educational Technology, U.S. Office of Education, Washington, D.C. 20202.

With far less staff assistance than last year, we are working (as this is being written in mid-April) on the Fiscal Year 1972 College Library Resources Program (Title II-A of the Higher Education Act of 1965). It is evident, as a result of last year’s program redirection which concentrated Title II-A grant funds on neediest institutions to the exclusion of others, that many colleges and universities have chosen not to submit an application this year. While a final tally has not yet been determined, a preliminary review indicates that approximately 1,500 Basic/Supplemental applications have been received, as opposed to 2,165 in fiscal year 1971.

In the special purpose grant categories, 350 Type A applications have been received as opposed to 500 in 1971; 44 Type B applications as opposed to 50 in 1971; and 40 Type C applications as opposed to 60 in 1971. The reduced number of applications in these grant categories can also be attributed to the tightening of the criteria to concentrate on special needs.

The emphasis on graduate enrollment from minority groups that was added to the criteria for Special Purpose Types A and B applications this year was apparently overlooked by the grants writers in many undergraduate institutions. They repeated the figures for undergraduate enrollment from minority groups in Part III, Item D when they filled out Part IV where the “Number of Minority Group Graduate Students Enrolled” was requested.

In the applications for supplemental grants there seemed to be a lot of confusion about Item 3, Part III which asked:

In Fiscal Years 1971-72 (July 1, 1970-June 30, 1972) did the applicant participate in the Special Services for Disadvantaged Students Program (Title IV, Section 408, as amended by Title I, Part A, Section 105 of the Higher Education Amendments of 1968 (P.L. 90-575)?

We had included that question in 1971 because we wanted some check on the number of disadvantaged students reported and we could estimate the number being assisted in the institutions by the size of its Special Services grant. We discovered in our checking last year that both the Talent Search and Upward Bound Programs came under Title IV, so we used the grants list for those two programs as well as the one for Special Services in our scoring. In many cases we went to the agencies administering the grants (fortunately they are on the floor below our offices) to check both the Title III (Developing Institutions) and Title IV answers that did not match our lists, but almost always our lists were correct. The inclusion of questions as to participation in Titles HI and IV of the Higher Education Acts relates to the necessity to determine the extent of critical needs for a given institution, and also to encourage the coordination of Title II-A grant funds with those programs.

By the time you read this, grant awards for Title II-A probably will have been announced. If your institution was not among the grant recipients for 1972, we hope that, despite the obvious disappointment, you will appreciate the educational and economic necessity of concentrating the limited funds available on institutions in greater need than your own, rather than the “spreading thin” of grant funds to the point where little or no impact would prevail.