Impact of The cuts

“Since 2003, the library’s staff has shrunk by 40% and inflation-adjusted funding per student has decreased by 47%."  - from Library Long-term Space Proposal

Library workers are overburdened. 

UCB has a burgeoning student population which has increased 25% over the past 10 years. But funding and resources for the Library has been continually reduced. As a result, library workers have repeatedly been asked to do more and more with less and less. This approach harms library workers, perpetuates a cycle of burnout, and makes it impossible to meet the goals of providing excellent resources and services for the research and teaching needs of the University. What will be the effects of library consolidation and/or closures on library workers? What will be the effects for our faculty, students, and researchers with this continuous erosion of the workforce?

Potential marginalization of key collections. 

There are serious drawbacks in moving to a “satellite” or “appointment” approach for several of the libraries affected by the long-term space plan. The Library collections are broad, deep, and diverse. The satellite model essentially demotes particular collections, including key resources and knowledge from the South/Southeast Asia Library, Social Research Library, Art History/Classics Library, and others. There’s a danger that these “satellite” libraries and collections will be further marginalized, resulting in poorer access, diminished visibility and future closure.

STEM will be affected too! 

While spaces and physical collections may be less important to the sciences where labs and electronic resources prevail, this important half of the campus will also feel the pain of the imminent cuts. Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics will be responsible for at least 49% of the serials cut in 2024. Faculty and students can expect to resort to interlibrary loan as they did during the Elsevier boycott, or ask colleagues at other institutions to email them articles. Cutting-edge scholarship will no longer be at their fingertips and access for the other nine UC campuses could also be in jeopardy as consortial agreements could be broken without Berkeley’s participation.

Librarians provide important academic and research support. 

In addition to being crucial student study spaces, UCB Libraries are centers for collaborative disciplinary research, reference, and instruction. Key to making the Library’s collections come alive is the professional expertise and academic support provided by professional librarians and library workers. Yet the Library has reduced the number of front line positions that are critical to student engagement and success—precisely at the time of historic enrollment and an espoused commitment to historically disadvantaged and first generation students. Since 2003, the library’s staff has shrunk by 40% and inflation-adjusted funding per student has decreased by 47%.