A USC journalism student recently sent the Library a number of questions regarding the 2009-10 budget and the impact of its implementation on our users. You may find the following slightly edited versions of her questions as well as the answers we provided of interest.
Can people comment on the UCLA Library’s 2009-10 budget plan? What’s the most effective way?
The UCLA Library welcomes suggestions, questions, or comments from UCLA undergraduate and graduate students and faculty regarding its 2009-10 budget. Submissions have been received via an email form on the Library’s budget Web site, emails to me, comments on this blog, and various UCLA-related Facebook pages.
How serious has the impact of the budget cuts been on collections, services, and facilities?
It is important to remember that the UCLA Library is ranked among the top ten academic research libraries in North America and offers collections totaling more than 8.3 million volumes and more than 230,000 electronic resources as well as extensive services to support teaching and research and a campuswide network of facilities. Collectively, the libraries of the University of California have the largest collection in the nation and one of the largest in the world; all of these resources are accessible to UCLA students, faculty, and staff.
Building on this solid foundation, the Library’s primary commitment is to sustain the excellence of its collections, services, and staff in support of UCLA’s students, faculty, and staff and to ensure that the Library emerges from this crisis strong, relevant, and sustainable. All actions are being taken with those goals in mind.
Why were Saturday hours eliminated and evening hours reduced at the College Library? Are there any alternatives when the College Library is closed?
The only reduction in night hours at the College Library has been on Sunday nights, when it now closes at 6 p.m. However, the Night Powell after-hours reading room opens at 6 p.m. on Sunday evenings and is open until 7:30 a.m. on Mondays, when the College Library reopens. Given that, there has been no student feedback indicating that the 6 p.m. closure on Sundays has posed a problem.
Regarding the closure of the College Library on Saturdays: that was the day of the week with by far the lowest usage levels, so Library administrators chose to instead preserve full operating hours on other, much busier days.
Note, however, that the UCLA Library is not only a physical entity; it is also a virtual entity that never closes and that is far more heavily used than the physical facilities. Among virtual offerings available 24/7 are electronic reserves; more than 230,000 electronic resources, including scholarly journals, reference sources, and digital collections; online reference assistance offered through the UCLA Library’s membership in the national 24/7 Academic Reference Cooperative; and user self-services including renewals, interlibrary loan, document delivery, and item paging from the off-site Southern Regional Library Facility.
Has the UCLA Library been working with any campus partners on actions to mitigate the effects of the budget cuts?
Three highly visible examples of the UCLA Library’s cooperation with campus partners are:
- working with the chancellor’s office and representatives from USAC to secure funding to restore the hours of Night Powell, the extended-hours reading room
- working with faculty and students in the music department to adjust the Music Library’s operating hours to fit better with students’ class and rehearsal schedules
- working with USAC and ASUCLA Academic Publishing to develop a campuswide solution that leverages Library-licensed/owned materials to lower the prices students pay for printed course readers
Countless other examples of cooperation are ongoing every day, though at an operational level and thus far less visible. These include:
- encouraging instructors to use electronic rather than print reserves, which makes reserve readings more easily accessible to more students
- consulting closely with faculty regarding their collections needs for instruction and research during the current academic year
- assisting faculty with modifying author agreements for academic publishing to retain educational re-use rights, which obviates the need for the Library to buy back scholarship generated at UCLA
- supporting UC-systemwide efforts to make UC scholarship broadly accessible to the public via UC eScholarship and supporting national open-access efforts including federal legislation
Did UC or UCLA administrators have a say in how the UCLA Library made the necessary cuts?
Consistent with UCLA’s decentralized structure, units have the flexibility to make adjustments to their own operations and programs in accordance with new funding realities. Thus, I have made the decisions about how budget cuts are being implemented within the UCLA Library. The one exception is salary savings achieved via the UC-wide furlough program mandated by the UC Office of the President; those reductions are being taken centrally.
Both UC President Mark Yudof and UCLA Chancellor Gene Block have reiterated publicly their concerns about the present and future impact of the state’s serious financial condition on funding for the UC system. They have also expressed cautious optimism about recent actions by the state’s leadership and are pleased by the positive response to their call for UC students, faculty, staff, alumni, donors, and interested members of the public to participate in advocacy efforts aimed at the governor and state legislators.
Decisions were announced last fall on where the Library was making cuts. Were those decisions final, or can changes be made in response to user input or changing circumstances?
Adjustments in how the UCLA Library is implementing its budget cuts are made on an ongoing basis as necessary, often in response to feedback from UCLA students, faculty, and staff. That flexible approach will continue.
What’s going to happen with state funding next year?
The governor’s 2010-11 budget and his statements in his final State of the State address regarding funding for the UC and CSU systems are encour
