UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Thursday, August 22, 1996
11A
Kansas could lose clout at Capitol
Voters will elect two new senators and a representative
By Neal Shulenburger
Kansan Staff Writer
On Nov. 5, Kansas will lose three congressional delegates with 47 years of combined experience.
For the first time since 1978, Kansas residents will not be able to vote for Bob Dole or Nancy Kassebaum for the U.S. Senate.
Their experience has brought both senators into the national
Bob Dole
spotlight. Dole, the senate majority leader, left his position earlier this year to run for president. Kassebaum chose to retire from the Senate last November.
In addition, Kansas will lose Jan
Meyers, who has been in the House of Representatives since 1985.
Obviously, the effect for Kansas is that we've lost a lot of clout in Washington." said Kenneth Collier, assistant professor of political science. "We've gone from having a very seasoned, well-respected congressional delegation to a bunch of newcomers who are not going to
Nancy Kassebaum
Jan Mevers
carry any kind of weight in the short term."
Just what their absence will mean for the University of Kansas and the state is unclear.
Several KU projects have received federal money, including the Dole Center. Federal funds also sponsor
Political science professor Burdett Loomis said he thought the absence of Dole, Kassebaum and Meyers would have a limited effect on the University.
several smaller research grants.
"I think that their impact on the Kansas economy is overplayed," said Steven Maynard-Moody, associate professor of public administration. "There are obviously tangible things like the Dole Center and highway money, but the average citizen will probably not notice."
"Not having them will affect the University pretty modestly," Loomis said. "For Dole and Kassebaum, maybe some people in the sciences who rely on the federal grants they bring in might be affected. Meyers was good at funneling small business money into the University, so the business school might not get some money that they would have gotten before."
What the loss will mean to the state is unknown.
However, Maynard-Moody said that Kansas will be affected in other ways.
"There are two levels it will affect us on," he said. "One is a loss of
"Obviously,the effect for Kansas is that we've lost a lot of clout in Washington."
Kenneth Collier
Assistant professor of political science
senior leadership. I think that there will be a big lapse, and that is not just a loss to the state of Kansas but to the country. The senior leadership are the guys who are able to get things done, like the Kassebaum-Kennedy Health Care Bill. The second is there is a much higher chance Brownback or Roberts might lose than a Dole or especially a Kassebaum."
Whatever the effects, Kansas' delegation to congress will look different after Nov.5.
Graves speculates on a second term
The Associated Press
TOPEKA — Seeking to quell speculation generated by his own comments in San Diego, Gov. Bill Graves said Tuesday chances are "eight to 10" on a scale of 10 that he will seek a second four-year term in 1998.
During a news conference in his office, the popular Republican governor placed at just "a one or two" the chances that he would retire after one four-year term.
"I was asked a fair question, which was if there were any circumstances under which I could perceive not running in '88, and I gave what I hope was an honest answer, when I said that, of course, I think in all our lives the uncertainty of two years down the road is hard to predict," Graves said.
"But let me also tell you that if someone were to say, 'Are there circumstances under which you see yourself running?' I would
say absolutely.
"In fact, on a scale of 1-to-10, if you want to assess the scenarios under which I might not, I would rate them probably one or two at the most. And if you want to rate the scenarios under which I see myself running again, you probably rate them as much as eight, nine or even 10."
Graves said he is continuing fund-raising activities to raise money for a re-election campaign in two years.
He also said he is "doing a lot of public policy analysis and political analysis, trying to set the stage for the possibility of seeking re-election."
"I don't want to put a damper on anyone's stories or speculation, but the truth is, while I still would admit there always are those scenarios like the proverbial speeding bus that might make it impossible to be involved in '98, certainly my intentions at this time are to seek re-election."
Task force takes steps to preserve mutilated library books
By Kimberly Crabtree Kansan staff writer
Nearly half of widely-circulated volumes in the KU libraries' stacks are mutilated
That's just one finding in a report released this summer by the Preservation Task Force.
Of volumes circulated six or more times in the last 10 years, about 48 percent of those surveyed were damaged in some way, including by pencil, ink or highlighter marks, dog-eared pages or missing or stained pages.
Pencil marks by far were the
major culprits. They were found in about 28 percent of the volumes surveyed, according to the report. The number of volumes with pages stained by food, drink or water was also high, at almost 15 percent.
can responsibly maintain them."
William Crowe, vice chancellor for information services and dean of libraries, commissioned the survey. He said this kind of problem made library workers anxious.
"Our objective here is not to castigate but to bring attention to the problem," he said. "But we try to oalance this with the fact that the collections are there to be used — not just today, but as long as we
The task force also identified problems in the type of paper some books are printed on.
About 65 percent of volumes from the combined stacks are on acidic paper. Chemicals in acidic paper react with air and the paper breaks down, becoming brittle, said Brian Baird, preservation librarian and chairman of the task force.
"You can crumple them up like corn flakes," Baird said.
Crowe said the acidic paper was an inherent vice.
"These books have the seeds of
their own destruction," he said.
Research libraries of similar size to the KU libraries have the same kind of problems on a similar scale, Crowe said.
The task force included several recommendations to correct the problems. One suggestion is to hire a conservator to address problems of maintaining the most-used volumes. Crowe said interviews for that position were being conducted.
The task force also recommended taking action to improve staff and user education to reduce mutilation of materials, and it recommended increasing preservation financing to $530,000. The estimated preservation financing for fiscal year 1996 was $318,000.
Finally, the task force suggested that surveys similar to this one be conducted every five to 10 years. Crowe said this survey was the first for KU libraries.
Members of the task force were Baird, Milissa Boyer, Judith Emde, Nancy Jaeger, Jana Krentz and Brad Schaffner. All members worked in the libraries during the survey and did not receive extra pay for participating in the task force.
The task force conducted the survey in two segments. The first was from materials returning from circulation and included 495 volumes. The second was from materials in the stacks and included 3,679 volumes. All materials were selected randomly. The survey included materials from Watson Library, Anschutz Science Library, Government Documents and Map Library, Spahr Engineering Library, Murphy Art and Architecture Library, Thomas Gorton Music Library and East Asian Library as well as some materials in storage in J.R. Pearson Hall.
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