Academic institutions in New York State have felt rather slighted by recent initiatives to improve funding for libraries. It seems that public and school libraries have benefitted, while college and university libraries have been largely ignored. The Provost of the State University of New York, Peter D. Salins, led an effort to correct this perceived imbalance, notably, to obtain more state funding for the purchase of electronic content for NY state academic institutions, both public and private. If state funding were forthcoming, it could free both CUNY and Brooklyn College dollars for use for new e-collections.
In February 2002 what has become known as the Higher Education Initiative http://nylink.suny.edu/nyshei/default.htm moved from a steering committee model to a board of directors with two CUNY representatives (the University's Director of Library Services and the chair of the Council of Chief Librarians). The board developed by-laws, a strategic plan, and a financial plan, and in the spring 2003 hired an executive director, John Townsend. The University's central office pays the membership fees for all CUNY libraries.
The value of CUNY's membership in the NYSHEI remains to be seen, and other private and public institutions throughout the State have quietly expressed this same feeling. There is good reason to suspect that the deals for e-journal packages the State is able to negotiate are not as good as some that we already have.