Group Opposes Library Cuts
at Washington State University
A committee formed to oppose a proposed $166,314 budget cut to Washington State University/Pullman Libraries has begun a campaign to convince incoming President V. Lane Rawlins and other administrators that threatened layoffs and consolidation will strike at the heart of the university’s mission.
Library Director Nancy Baker’s budget-reduction proposal includes the elimination of 8.8 FTE staff and the consolidation of five science libraries into three, according to the May 24 Daily Evergreen campus newspaper. The fate of Baker’s plan, formulated in response to a 3.14% university-wide reduction, will be decided in July.
The Save Our University Libraries committee is trying to get the message out that “libraries are the center of universities,” said SOUL coordinator and WSUP library technician Lauren McNiece. “Since 1991, we have lost nearly 30 employees,” McNiece explained, adding that staff have “absorbed other people’s work” at the expense of offering service to researchers.
Posted May 29, 2000.
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