Librarian of the College Richard Lucier addressed all library employees yesterday morning and the Student Assembly last evening to clarify the impact of the $1 million budget cuts that the library must make over the next two fiscal years.
Lucier had no information as to when the proposal would be returned to him from the Office of the Provost, but speculated that it would be before the end of the month. He suspected that changes would be implemented during this academic year.
Lucier wanted an open forum for discussion and suggestion, yet he did not want to disclose specific information regarding layoffs until the library executive committee had reached more conclusions.
In his proposal submitted to the Provost today, Lucier recommended cutting 2,400 of the library system's 68,000 student work hours, which would allow one extra full-time staff member to keep his or her job.
Addressing the centralization of some humanities libraries under the Baker-Berry umbrella, Lucier said that a balance must be achieved between distributed and centralized library services, and advocated "economies of scale."
"By moving services to Baker-Berry we are able to continue to build a collection," he said, emphasizing that having current resources in the collections is more important than where library services are provided.
The changes proposed will not reduce the amount of time that the library is open. Sherman will be open for an additional 24 hours each week, and the 1902 Room is scheduled to reopen in a few weeks as a 24-hour study space.
"The rumor when I came here was that I was going to throw all of the books out, and now I see myself as a primary supporter of the collections," Lucier said. He noted that "Dartmouth has funded a research library for centuries." If cuts to the collections budget are made by about $250,000, Dartmouth will become a "good undergraduate liberal arts library." The effects of a $500,000 cut would mean to Lucier that, "We wouldn't even be an undergraduate library."
The library committee that is making the proposals recommends that Sanborn House become a reading room rather than a separate library. Approximately 2,000 of the volumes housed in Sanborn are duplicates of books already in the main stacks, and these will remain on the shelves under the oversight of the English department. The unique books, also numbering about 2,000, will be moved to Baker-Berry.
The plan for a physical connection between Sherman Art Library and Baker-Berry began long before any budget cuts became necessary, according to Lucier. The circulation desk in Berry is 30 feet from the current circulation desk in Sherman.
Rauner Special Collections Library may be asked to integrate some rare books to the regular collection, and a look into the library's "contribution to the educational program" will be conducted, said Lucier.
"Rauner's a jewel to us, but we need to look at that jewel in a different light," he said.
Because of the distance from Paddock Music Library to Baker-Berry, the facility will remain open, but some of its collections may be cut.
The status of the professional libraries -- Feldberg and Dana Biomedical Libraries -- is entirely different from the libraries for arts and sciences. A possibility for the Feldberg collections is a switch to digital resources, but that will require quite a bit of study and a close examination of costs associated with the change.
Lucier did not relish the reality of budget cuts. "Do I still go to bed every night with the hope that someone will rescue us from this? Yes," he said.
Other Assembly business last night included the passing of a resolution to promote the 2002 Revelations Dinner, an annual event for first-year students and members of the Class of 2003 to meet and share experiences and concerns.
The Assembly Web committee is working on a project to create a digitally-based lost and found for students to log into and search for missing items. Some concern was expressed by Safety and Security as to whether students would dishonestly use this resource as a method of shopping.
