In my last post, I talked about the State of California’s $26 billion shortfall, the funding reductions of $584 million to the California State University, and the impact of those reductions on the Library’s services to the campus. Let me bring you up to date on the ongoing fiscal challenge as well as some other news about the Library.
- Will the budget cuts continue?
- The fiscal predictions for the 10/11 year indicate that further reductions may be necessary. Consequently, the Library, along with every other area on campus, is making plans for further budget cuts. We are hoping that the worst case scenario won’t come to pass.
- If the Library has to take additional cuts, what areas would be cut?
- Since we have been in a budget reduction for five years, we now would have to cut into the core of the service which would include cuts to the collection (electronic resources, databases, instructional resources, media and books) and cuts to service. Cuts to the collection are very serious because a robust collection is vital for student academic achievement and faculty research. There are over 13 million uses of our web pages per year and about 500,000 uses of our physical collection annually.
- What do “cuts to service” mean?
- First, the Library would have to reduce the number of hours that it is open. Currently, the Library is open 82 hours a week, seven days a week. This is already down from 90 hours a week from the previous year.
- Second, open hours at the various service desks would also be reduced since we will not have the staffing in adequate numbers to support the longer open hours. The Library has already frozen 16 positions which will not be filled anytime in the near term if at all.
- Will we still have 24/Access to the Library during finals?
- Yes, 24/7 Access is supported by the student Campus Quality Fee. 24/7 Access was very popular last year with students. Feedback from students last year indicated that they would like a few more days before finals. We proposed this and it was also approved in the Campus Quality Fee.
- Is the Library going to have a coffee cart?
- It is in the planning stages and if all goes well, we will begin to offer service possibly later this semester or certainly next semester. The Freudian Sip will be running the service and students will be able to enjoy coffee and snacks during the weekdays during the semester. The cart will be located in the lobby.
- Does this mean we can eat in the Library?
- Yes, you can bring in drinks with lids and small snacks. We are asking everyone to be careful with spills of course and to report them right away. Spills cost the Library money as we have to pay for clean-up.
- Does the Library have textbooks?
- The Library has a few textbooks but not textbooks for all classes as you sometimes hear. However, the Campus Quality Fee also supported the Library for a pilot to purchase textbooks for some classes. This select group of textbooks is on reserve (4th floor, east wing) and is very popular. http://library.csun.edu/Library_Services/Reserves/
Please let me know if you have any questions.
Susan C. Curzon
Dean