The UO Libraries are one of several areas on campus facing significant loss of Career faculty FTE in the coming year. Of the 42 faculty librarians, 15 have been renewed at only .55 FTE for the coming year, and 5 more face half-time contracts because promotions would put them on a new contract cycle. This FTE reduction would cut the UO librarian workforce by roughly 25%.
Many library units are already short-staffed after several years of budget cuts. These additional cuts would inevitably lead to a significant reduction in or loss of many library services and professional expertise, which will have ripple effects on research, teaching, and learning across the entire university. Some of the many functions at risk include:
Research and Instruction Expertise
- Eight subject liaison librarians who support instruction, research, and library collections for the College of Education, Lundquist College of Business, School of Music and Dance, and 20 departments or program areas in the College of Arts and Sciences.
- All three librarians in the Price Science Commons. They manage the Math tutoring center and support instruction, research, and library collections for STEM fields.
- Three out of five librarians in the Law Library who teach credit-bearing courses on legal research, and support instruction, research, and library collections for the School of Law.
Access to UO Libraries Collections
- Two librarians who manage library databases and e-resources, ensuring online access to full-text journals and e-books.
- Three librarians who catalog specialized material formats, including serials, sound recordings, and rare books. They ensure that library users can find what they search for.
- Two librarians who manage access, preservation, and instruction for digital collections, including the Historic Oregon Newspaper Program and Oregon Digital, UO and OSU’s joint digital cultural heritage archive.
- Two librarians in Special Collections and University Archives who manage 50,000 linear feet of collections, preserve and curate large collections of archival visual materials, and support access to unique primary source collections.
Digital Scholarship, Data, and Open Access
- Two librarians who support digital scholarship projects and the advancement of digital scholarship and data management on campus.
- Two librarians who coordinate the Digital Research, Education, and Media (DREAM) Lab.
- Two librarians who support open access resources through leadership roles in the Senate Sub-Committee on Open Access and the Senate University Library Committee.
How you can help:
- Email your Deans, the Provost, and others with institutional power to make clear the broad impact that these losses will have on teaching, research, and learning at UO. Let them know that we need our librarians!
- Contribute testimonials by filling out a short survey.
- Visit UOLibrariansUnited.com to stay informed about how UO’s librarians are organizing!