Libraries Budget Briefing

May 27, 2009

THE CHEMISTRY LIBRARY will be consolidated into the Suzzallo and Allen Libraries.
THE CHEMISTRY LIBRARIAN will continue to serve as liaison to the departments of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering and will work with faculty, graduate students and undergraduate students to meet their teaching, research and information needs.

May 26, 2009

Budget reduction overview, planning principles and action items effective July 1, 2009.

THE SITUATION

As part of the University of Washington budget reduction the University of Washington (Seattle) Libraries received a 12% cut which amounts to $3.636 million. This reduction is effective July 1, 2009.

While the Libraries functions as one library serving three campuses, each campus has its own budget. The UW Bothell and UW Tacoma campuses have conducted separate budget reduction exercises which are not addressed here. In addition, the Gallagher Law Library and the Elisabeth C. Miller Library (UW Botanic Gardens) are not included as they are not administered by the UW Libraries.

What this means:
A 12% cut translates roughly into annual reductions of:

$215,500 in operations
$1.48 million in library materials (books, journals, databases, media)
$1.94 million in personnel

This is compounded by:

The 1.5% rescission taken on the FY2009 budget and unfunded inflation on library materials which combine to create a 7.7% cut to the Libraries materials budget before taking the cuts listed above.

HOW WE ARE TAKING THE CUT

The Libraries is making its budget reductions in keeping with budget planning principles which support strategic, user-centered and future-oriented decisions.

BUDGET PLANNING PRINCIPLES

Stay future oriented and in alignment with the University and our strategic goals.
Retain and enhance our user-centered focus.
Maintain commitment to openness, consultation and communication with our personnel and our stakeholders.
Recognize the value of the Libraries staff to enable us to achieve our goals.
Look for opportunities for transformative change, including retraining and realigning staff.
Avoid across the board reductions, and examine all areas and programs in order to map our resources to strategic goals.
Achieve savings now, and create flexibility and options for the future.
Identify and seek an appropriate level of support from the University for Libraries programs for education and research.
Seek sustained funding sources from outside the University.
Establish appropriate fees for external parties to pay for services.

STRATEGIC APPROACH:

Evolving service model predicated on documented faculty and student priorities
Fewer, more consolidated library locations and delivery of information services and resources "any time any place"
Consolidation of administrative services and efficiencies in processing and operational workflow
Adjust services, resources and initiatives to reflect changes in other academic and University programs

SPECIFIC ACTIONS

SERIALS REVIEW PROJECT

The $1.48 million reduction to the annual library materials budget requires that we reduce ongoing obligations represented by our serials and electronic resources subscriptions. These subscriptions comprise more than 75% of our overall information resources budget. Reductions in our serials budget will affect all three campuses since we collaborate on providing access to these materials.

More information, including a letter from Dean Lizabeth Wilson to faculty can be found on the Libraries Serials and Electronic Resources Review website http://www.lib.washington.edu/cms/publicserialspage09.html.

PERSONNEL

Approximately 30 positions will be eliminated through vacancies and retirements as part of our budget reduction, and there will be a number of layoffs. There will also be a reduction in the student hourly budget.

FEWER, MORE CONSOLIDATED LIBRARY SERVICE POINTS

A library with 30 fewer employees cannot continue to operate as it has in the past. Leveraging our investment in electronic resources, and after careful analysis of our user assessment data we have decided to take the following actions:

THE FISHERIES-OCEANOGRAPHY LIBRARY will be consolidated into the Suzzallo and Allen Libraries.
THE FISHERIES-OCEANOGRAPHY LIBRARIAN will continue to serve as liaison to the College of Ocean and Fishery Sciences and will work with faculty, graduate students and undergraduate students to meet their teaching, research and information needs.
A SCIENCE INFORMATION DESK (similar to those in the Allen North Lobby and at the West Entrance on Red Square) will be established to provide circulation and science information services in Allen South. This will replace the Natural Sciences Library circulation desks and reference desks.
REFERENCE AND RESEARCH SERVICES will be reconfigured to form one division serving sciences, humanities and social sciences. The Natural Sciences subject librarians will continue to provide high level collection development, reference, and instruction. For instance, the Natural Sciences librarians will maintain their liaison relationships with units served by NSL, including Biology, Earth and Space Sciences, Atmospheric Sciences, and College of Forest Resources and will work with faculty, graduate students and undergraduate students to meet their teaching, research and information needs. This model has been successfully employed by our humanities and social sciences librarians for many years and includes many of the same innovative practices employed by our natural sciences reference librarians, such as departmental office hours, individual research consultations, and an array of virtual services.
The PRINT COLLECTIONS in Suzzallo and Allen Libraries will be integrated into a single call number range to make items easier to find and to make the collection less costly to maintain.
THE DRAMA AND ART LIBRARIES will be operated with a shared staffing model. The Head, Drama Library will also serve as Acting Head, Art Library.
HOURS OF OPENING - The Libraries will operate with significantly reduced hours of opening during Summer quarter 2009 in order to preserve resources to operate with longer hours during the 2009-2010 academic year.

OTHER ACTIONS BEING TAKEN INCLUDE

Efficiencies in processing and operational workflow
Consolidation of administrative services
Reduction and/or elimination of less critical or essential services
Focus on opportunities for cost-savings and revenue generation

We will continue to update this page with new information as more decisions are made.