The UW System Board of Regents added a proposal to include a UW System Libraries digital commons"" in its biennial state budget request for 2010-'11.
The ""UW Digital Commons"" would allow 170,000 students and 30,000 faculty in the UW System to access databases for collaborative research and communication. The project would require an annual $6 million state investment, according to a university statement.
According to UW-Madison Libraries Director Ken Frazier, the university has covered journal subscriptions independently in the past, and the cost has risen 700 percent in the last 19 years. To help alleviate rising costs, the libraries have used other resource funds such as Big Ten Network revenues to pay for subscriptions.
UW-Madison professor William Cronon said he supports the project because Google contributes to the decline of students' research skills.
""The reason this project is so important is that so much of our knowledge today is tied up in these commercial databases,"" Cronon said in a statement.
UW-Madison faculty and staff will be able to access the digital commons from campus, home and while traveling abroad.
