HOLLIS ClassicOffice of the Librarian
Budget Planning: Some Things Have Changed
The Harvard College Library (HCL), like other units throughout Harvard University, is responding to the downturn in the economy and resultant decrease in the University’s endowment with a series of carefully considered budget reductions. The Library has endeavored to maintain a balance, effecting reductions to collections and services as well as to positions, and to make choices that offer the prospect of rebuilding recognized areas of strength once the financial conditions improve.
HCL remains committed to its key priorities:
- developing collections that respond to the teaching and research needs of the University;
- making those materials accessible through online catalogs and through teaching and outreach programs;
- ensuring that our collections, in all formats, are cared for properly;
- fostering an environment in which students and others can make effective use of our holdings as well as resources held by other research institutions.
Following is a list of budget-related changes to programs and services in HCL.
Personnel
- There are roughly 100 fewer positions across HCL as a result of: holding more than 20 positions held open; 52 retirements as part of the voluntary early retirement incentive program; elimination of more than 20 positions that resulted in layoffs; reduced schedules for several staff; and the elimination and/or closing of term of many less than half-time (LHT) positions.
The impact of these reductions is uneven across the Library, in large part due to the unpredictability of voluntary retirements and the routine turnover that produced vacancies. The uneven impact is also due to the types of funding available to each of the HCL libraries/departments. A few units are almost totally dependent on endowments while others are heavily dependent on other sources of funding. Each made reductions to staff in alignment with its respective sources of income.
- With fewer staff members it is possible that library users will experience longer lines or somewhat reduced time with staff. HCL is implementing a number of programs to provide best possible levels of service with fewer staff, such as offering more and varied online reference services, cross-training reference and circulation staff to cover desks, and expanding training student workers to handle more significant user inquiries.
- Professional and business travel are all but eliminated. The Library expects to provide limited support for staff to represent HCL at certain key conferences throughout the year. HCL is seeking new ways, such as videoconferencing, to continue to engage with colleagues at other institutions and to keep abreast of developments in the field, and are encouraging staff to share what they learn with Harvard colleagues. The Library will be exploring ways to improve our facilities for staff participation in virtual conferences, to invite outside speakers to campus, and to organize internal training workshops. Staff development funding is very limited and will focus on in-house resources, such as Harvard’s Center for Workforce Development’s leadership programs.
Collections
- Collections budgets have been reduced in many areas, across various libraries, affecting the purchase of books, media, special collections, and other materials. The current financial climate has created a tension in meeting the collecting goals and funding the positions required to acquire, preserve, and make the collections accessible.
- Collections-related travel is limited to essential business activities, which include: acquisitions trips and attendance at book fairs that cover markets for which established vendors are not in place; trips to inspect collections and/or negotiate potential acquisitions; business meetings to arrange cooperative efforts or to determine cooperative expenditures.
- Over 1,000 print subscriptions have been canceled in Widener alone as we move to greater dependency on e-journals. By eliminating print subscriptions that are persistently available as e-content there are related reductions in the costs of processing, binding, shelving, and storage. The cancelations are distributed across a broad range of subject areas with titles ranging from 20th Century British History, African Studies Review, American Journal of Family Therapy, Central European History, India Review, Journal of Academic Librarianship, Journal of Economic Theory, Journal of Scottish Philosophy, Library Quarterly, Nineteenth Century Literature, Renaissance quarterly, Russian Linguistics, Social Science History, World Politics. All these are available in online collections, accessible through HOLLIS and their digital back files are “archived” in a reliable digital archive such as JSTOR/Portico. Other libraries outside of Widener are making similar choices to move to e-only for many subscriptions.
- Fewer serials and monographs will be bound.
- HCL is minimizing duplicate monographs across libraries and acquiring paperback editions instead of bound editions whenever possible.
Services
- In an effort to streamline internal processing policies and practices and reduce overhead and duplicative work, the Library is taking steps to more fully centralize technical services across HCL. To date this involves a reorganization of the HCL Technical Services unit and the integration of staff and work from the Fine Arts Library and Widener Serials Services into the facility at 625 Mass. Ave.
- Effective July 1, 2009, the charge per Harvard College Library lost book/item was increased from $75 to $100 minimum. Additionally, a $10 non-refundable billing fee will be assessed for each item billed as lost regardless of patron status. These changes reflect an effort to recover costs associated with re-ordering, cataloging replacement items, obtaining ILL replacements, and staff time devoted to billing and reconciliation of accounts receivable transactions.
- Library services in the Quad Library were discontinued at the end of spring term 2009 due to low use at that location. Although the collections and general services will no longer be available, beginning in the fall HCL librarians expect to offer research support in the Hilles building for students, conducting sessions on topics such as how to use RefWorks, finding multimedia resources in the libraries, and creating research strategies for a paper.
- To allow staff to concentrate their efforts on building the collections and providing broad support for teaching and research, circulation services in Fung Library have been changed. The collections will be available for in-library use only. In addition, Fung will no longer be a delivery point for Harvard Depository (HD) materials owned by other libraries. It will continue to be a delivery point for HD materials it owns, and users can request Fung materials from HD by contacting the staff directly.
- In order to continue to support core library services in the current financial environment, Houghton Library closed the Harvard Theatre Collection Reading Room in Pusey and moved reference services for the Theatre Collection to the Houghton Library Reading Room. Access to the audio and video materials is now through Widener Library's Phillips Reading Room. Theatre Collection materials and the curator's office remain housed in Pusey Library.
- The main entrance of Pusey Library has been closed, which will result in savings in security, custodial, and utilities expenditures and will allow us to redirect funds to other library programs and services. Patrons can access the Harvard University Archives, the Harvard Map Collection, and the Harvard Theatre Collection staff offices via Lamont Library.
- Various units in Widener Library have been exploring ways in which the library can continue to offer users a high level of public service while allowing a reduced Research Services staff the time to concentrate on the most essential work. The first part of the plan was to close the Information Desk located in the Widener Circulation room. The change was accompanied by the implementation of a robust referral triage to manage patron inquiries of all types.
- Facilities/capital projects have been eliminated or put on hold across the University, so at this time it is not possible for HCL to proceed with the Harvard-Yenching Library compact shelving project or the replacement of the HVAC system in Pusey Library. Both remain high priorities for HCL and efforts will continue with the Capital Projects Services Office to reschedule the projects.
- In accordance with FAS-wide cost-cutting measures, HCL has adjusted building thermostats to the temperature set points for heating and cooling recommended by the American Society of Heating Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers. (The winter heating set point is 68 degrees and the summer cooling set point is 75 degrees.) For the preservation of the collections the following areas' temperature and relative humidity set points will not be changed: Houghton Library, Pusey P2 manuscripts stacks, the Houghton level of Lamont, Widener stacks, and the Tozzer Special Collections Room.
- In recent years HCL has subsidized cafe service in Widener as a convenience and an amenity for library staff and users. However, with food readily available in the Square and recognizing constrained conditions, staffed food service in the Widener Library Café was eliminated at the end of spring term. Vending selections were expanded and additional microwave ovens, hot water, and ice/water machine, and a filtered water cooler are available in the space.
- In an ongoing effort to reduce energy costs and contribute to a sustainable environment, the majority of bottled water coolers were eliminated from Widener Library. Staff have access to filtered water in the café.
