Update
August 7, 2003

Dear Colleagues,

Thanks to the creativity and cooperation of library managers and staff throughout our organization, we are making excellent progress toward our budget reduction of approximately $675,000. At this point, one month into the new fiscal year, we have now identified about $530,000 in savings. We have accomplished this by looking at every vacancy that occurs and coming up with a variety of strategies to avoid filling these positions. In some cases we are reassigning duties, and in others, we are making the decision to rely more heavily on a different level of staff or students to complete work. In a few cases, we have determined that the workload no longer requires our present configuration of staffing, and that a position is no longer essential. In other cases, we are planning to reduce our costs and increase our efficiency by relying on outside operations to support our work. Some staff have requested reduced hours, and we have agreed that we can meet key users needs with part-time assistance. The decision to make these changes is always the result of careful discussion and review, and we consider both the university's and library's priorities, best practices in the profession, and the impact of the decision on our ability to meet our core mission. We know there are trade-offs associated with each choice, and we know we can't always do more with less. The hard reality is that we have fewer resources with which to accomplish an expanding range of objectives. I am encouraged that we are so close to meeting our goal of identifying all necessary reductions by October.

To a large degree, our cuts now are expedient, since we have had only a few months before the budget reduction went into effect to achieve a significant drop in spending. The savings I have reported to you have included only those in the endowed general purpose budget. At the same time the contract colleges and the Hotel Library, whose budgets are administered separately, are also experiencing constrained resources. Although they have not had specific targets for reduction, their units are also experiencing decreasing resources. Mann Library, the Lee Library in Geneva, and the Veterinary Library have lost positions, and the Veterinary Library will be cutting back on some hours. ILR's Catherwood Library has also received a small reduction in its materials budget. The Hotel Library has been reviewing its staffing, and in combination with the Management Library, is reducing costs through staff sharing and coordination of acquisitions.

Our situation at Cornell is not unique. The University of California system is heavily hit, with Berkeley suffering a $700,000 decline in its materials budget, and UCLA has taken a 7% cut. At Ohio State, the library has 22 positions that are unlikely to be filled. Even Harvard confesses to tight times. Not that misery loves company, but at least we are able to compare notes and strategies with others. Economic constraints often foster cooperation, and there is evidence that regional, national, and international collaboration is increasing. At a meeting I attended in Chicago in July, participants planned for regional repositories of printed material, preparing for the time when some libraries will rely on shared repositories for access to print, especially print that has been converted into digital form, such as JSTOR journals or other commonly held periodicals. Cornell's MAS2010 (Models of Academic Support) project is looking at the feasibility of common services that can support library, campus, and regional needs in a cost-effective manner.

The LARIS (Library and Related Information Services Workforce Planning) team is also reviewing options for reducing costs in a systematic way. The Workforce Planning effort is strategic, rather than opportunistic. Unlike our budget reductions, which take advantage of vacancies as they occur, workforce planning seeks to restructure processes to be more efficient. We are still formulating our ideas, drawing on the rich reserves of data from our May survey of staff activities and other studies. We'll also be having an External Review Team visit the library on October 1 and 2. The External Review Team, comprised of Paula Kaufman, University Librarian, University of Illinois; Michael Keller, University Librarian, Stanford; and Ann Wolpert, Director of Libraries, MIT, will meet with staff, faculty, students, and administrators before making a report to Provost Biddy Martin. Their report will also be considered by the LARIS team. By mid-October or early November we should have some scenarios and recommendations for public consideration, at which time I'll schedule some town meetings for staff input.

Although it is very quiet here on this sunny August afternoon, I know how hard you have been working, even in the summer. You have all been contributing to the attainment of our goals. Many of you have just moved (Central Technical Services and staff in IRIS). Some of you have been preparing reports for evaluation by LMT or LARIS. Everyone has played a role in preparation for the arrival of students and the start of the new academic year. Personally, I am awed by your accomplishments and your spirit. Thank you for pulling together to create such an outstanding service for Cornellians. I'll end by sharing some comments that came my way this year. The first is from a faculty member in computer science: " I should note that I'm always extremely impressed with Cornell's library resources. In particular, the on-line collection is better than any other place I'm familiar with. It's a true pleasure to be able to pull up a key article in the middle of the night!" The second came from an award-winning scientist who credited the Physical Sciences Library: "One thing is quite certain, however; this would never have happened at all without the ready access I have had, all these years, to a first class science library!"From our humanists we heard that the library was instrumental in recruitment and a powerful plus for their academic review.

It's an honor to be associated with you, and I look forward to our continued progress in the coming year.

Sarah E. Thomas
Carl A. Kroch University Librarian