University President Joab Thomas has said the libraries are his first priority, and the University Faculty Senate wants to make sure he keeps it that way.

The Senate Committee on Libraries proposed at yesterday's meeting that the library continue to be the University's top funding priority. The committee also recommended that library funding be increased from 2.2 percent of the general and restricted budget to 2.5 percent within five years.

Those recommendations give faculty senators a chance to send a message to the administrators and state about important the library is, said David Bressoud, professor of mathematics and chairman of the Committee on Libraries.

Keeping the library as the top funding priority would show the governor the importance of library funding, Bressoud said.

To increase library funding to 2.5 percent would require $2.4 million or $480,000 a year over a five-year period. These figures are based on the entire library system and not just Pattee, Bressoud said. The library system services University Park and all of the University's Commonwealth Campuses.

One suggestion about raising money for the library was to impose a 10 or 15 cent tax on football or basketball tickets, said Peter Thrower, professor of material science. Thrower, who mentioned the idea was not originally his, said it would create the revenue the library needed. The idea received a loud laugh from the senate.

Bressoud said he had heard the idea of taxing athletic tickets from various sources but he was unsure whether the idea was feasible. There could be a problem in transferring funds from the athletic department to the general funds budget, he said.

Emily Grosholz, associate professor of philosophy, said that a tax on football tickets was not that funny. She questioned why a campaign for the library was not started to raise large sums of money from the alumni. She also questioned why the University was graduating thousands of students who would give money for an arena and not to a library. Grosholz called the report "one of the most important reports of all year."

Bressoud said he saw the merit of a library campaign.

"I think it's definitely a possibility," he said.

But he said the University is concerned with requesting money from the same people for two different projects. Once the convocation center funds are raised then perhaps the University will address the library issue, he said.

Grosholz said she received a call from a student soliciting money for the Academic/Athletic Convocation and Events Center. After reading the library report, she said, she realized that the center's construction shows the administration's concerns compared to the faculty's concerns.

"The library comes first," she added.

All of the suggestions represent a faculty desire to fund the library, said Caroline D. Eckhardt, chairwoman of the subcommittee on costing of the Academic and Physical Planning Committee.