On Sept. 19, the University Librarian announced several adjustments to Library Services in the face of budget cuts via an electronic campus notice. The following changes were made:
- Suspension of 24-hour entry to the Library.
- New closing time at 10 p.m. on Sunday through Thursday.
- New closing time at 6 p.m. for Fridays and Saturdays.
- Limited media reserve services.
- Adaptation of public computers to monitor-only stations in floors 1 and 2 of Geisel Library.
- New delays in additional services in the face of resource redistribution.
These changes are a result of UC San Diego Library’s efforts to “adjust its services and collections investments to preserve those that are most useful to the campus community,” according to the electronic campus notice.
The changes came into effect on Sept. 23, following their incorporation into Office of the Executive Vice Chancellor’s Fiscal Year 2024-2025 budget process.
In response to The UCSD Guardian’s request for comment, University Librarian Erik T. Mitchell assures these modifications were not implemented to directly target Library Services. The cited challenges with the state budget led to campus-wide reductions, which happened to impact the Geisel Library.
In designing the modifications, Mitchell mentions a thorough review of present library services.
“We made careful decisions to preserve core library services,” Mitchell commented. “Decisions to reduce services that impact students are not made lightly.”
“In our evaluation, we considered three key factors: 1) the feasibility of reducing services, 2) the potential impact on users, and 3) the financial savings. While we implemented cuts in a number of areas where students may not see a direct impact such as costs for public events, employee technology, and pausing recruitments for open positions, some changes to services affecting students were unavoidable,” Mitchell stated.
The modifications to Geisel Library’s operating hours has caught many students’ attention.
“As a student with multiple extracurricular commitments, I find that Fridays are often the days when I have the most time to catch up on homework, and I often need to use quiet study spaces later in the day,” Revelle College sophomore Yutong Wu explained in a conversation with The Guardian.
“The shortening of the library’s operating hours and the curtailing of the media resources runs counter to the educational mission of UCSD,” Yutong said.
“As a student with night classes [until] 8 p.m. or 9 p.m., the shortening of Geisel’s hours limits my ability to study in a safe and quiet environment.” Eleanor Roosevelt College sophomore Leah Jenkins stated.
The decision-making process behind modifying the Library’s operating hours was guided by an analysis of usage data and staffing and operating costs from both Geisel Library and Wong Avery Library.
“The data showed that usage is lowest on weekends and late at night, which informed our decision to adjust Geisel’s hours of operation,” Mitchell concluded. “We remain committed to supporting students and are actively working with campus leadership and other units to identify and promote alternative late-night study locations.”
Future plans to support late-night studying were not specified by Mitchell.
Geisel Library enacted its 24-hour access policy in 2011, following a student protest sit-in to ‘reclaim’ Galbraith Hall, formerly known as the Center for Library and Instructional Computing Services; a $3 million budget cut in the 2011-2012 year forced CLICS to shorten its hours of operation. In response to student demands, the CLICS facility remained open and Geisel Library expanded its operating hours.
Despite the removal of desktop computers to prioritize monitor-only stations, the UCSD Library will continue to provide a significant amount of computers for student use in Geisel Library and Wong Avery Library.
Regarding layoffs resulting from the reduced budget, Mitchell affirmed that employee retention remains a priority.
“To achieve this, we paused recruitment for approximately 10 vacant positions and will continue to evaluate current and future vacant positions.” Mitchell stated.
Varying delays are to be expected in additional, unspecified Library Services. However, Mitchell assured that listed services will still be conducted in a timely manner.
“Students seeking research support, interlibrary loans, technology borrowing, and other essential services will not experience delays,” he added.
As of Sept. 30, 2024, a timeframe for when Library Services will resume their previous operations remains unknown.
EDITOR’S NOTE: For student commentary on this matter, read the latest Opinions piece titled “Pinching Pennies: Geisel’s New Budget Cuts” on The UCSD Guardian website.
