Letter to the Editor

Administration appreciates critical role of libraries, supports future enhancement

I am writing to respond to a letter that appeared last week, signed by the members of the University Senate Library Committee. I am grateful for the committee’s support for the library and their advocacy for the students and faculty of Syracuse University. Their letter referenced the recommendations in the recent report by an external library review team, and urged the administration to heed their recommendations, including provision of additional resources and to “take seriously the SU Library as an integral part of the academic enterprise at the university.”

As the chief academic officer for SU, I can say that the university administration deeply appreciates the critical role the SU Library and its staff plays in advancing the diverse educational and scholarly aspirations of our students and faculty. It is fair to say that the level of funding dedicated to the SU Library during the past half-century has not always been commensurate with the quality of the institution, and has required compromises in parts of the collection and their set of services. Over the past half dozen years or so, though, Dean Suzanne Thorin, the Senate Library Committee and faculty and students have advocated well for the library and its many constituencies, and — while not able to overcome years of underfunding — additional resources are being directed to the library. Dean Thorin and her staff have used this increased support and their hard work and ingenuity to enhance library services and begin to extend the collections.

SU has sought to be responsive to the needs of the library and our students and faculty in a variety of ways, including:

·         Increase in general (non-collections) operating support for the library, including a base budget increase of $1 million and one-time-only funding of $1.7 million over the past five years. These increases have enabled key initiatives, ranging from the SUrface scholarly repository to staffing for the new storage facility.

·         Increase in the collections budget, including a base budget increase of $1.4 million and one-time-only funding of $1.2 million (for key collections and electronic backfiles) over the past five years, with future annual increments currently projected at five percent for print media and at least seven percent for electronic media.



·         Construction of a $5 million, climate-controlled, high-density storage facility to alleviate overcrowding in Bird Library, allow for growth in the library collection and create flexible spaces that meet the collaborative learning needs of today’s students.

·         A multi-million dollar commitment to begin upgrading and transforming Bird Library, including key elements of a learning commons.

·         Substantial renovations to Carnegie Library, including restoration of the Reading Room and a variety of building and mechanical upgrades.

·         A plan to repurpose Barclay Library for the University Library after the College of Law relocates to Dineen Hall in 2014.

The relentless evolution of information technology and the changing needs and expectations of students and faculty have generated unprecedented challenges for all academic research libraries in recent years, no matter their funding level. Our challenge as a university – as well a strategic opportunity – is to strive not simply to “rebuild” the optimal academic research library of yesterday, but to evolve to better meet the needs of our students and faculty of today and tomorrow. We must all be committed to communicate well about needs and relative priorities for the library, and I am certain that we can continue to enhance the support for, and centrality of, the modern research library at Syracuse.

Sincerely,

Eric F. Spina
Vice Chancellor and Provost





Top Stories