Photos: UO students working with archive librarians in UO’s Special Collections. Credit: Jack Liu
Text: Authored by UA Library Stewards
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The University of Oregon administration’s recent decision to rescind proposed eliminations of tenured faculty positions and entire academic programs acknowledges the severe consequences such cuts impose on the institution’s academic mission.
However, the elimination of four faculty within UO Libraries, as well as three OAs and one vacant classified position, demonstrates a lack of awareness of the integral role academic librarians and other library workers play in sustaining the research enterprise and educational infrastructure of a comprehensive research university.
The work of librarians and all libraries staff is integral to the research and educational mission of the University and to learning communities in Oregon and beyond. We work directly with students, faculty, and researchers in classrooms and library spaces throughout the year. UO librarians are currently preparing to host first-year and transfer students in the largest incoming class in UO history for a special event at Knight Library during the Week of Welcome. The libraries have purchased required course materials as eBooks to collectively save students more than $1 million in educational expenses. We catalog collections in a variety of languages to support scholarship across UO campuses, and liaise with faculty across the campus and disciplinary map and to support their teaching and research. These are only a few examples of the ways in which the libraries support UO’s academic mission.
Librarians constitute essential intellectual partners in the university’s knowledge production and dissemination activities, and library initiatives demonstrate measurable returns on institutional investment. The recent acquisition of $300,000 in federal grant funding for the digitization of 100,000 historical newspaper pages exemplifies how our expertise contributes to expanding scholarly resources and securing external funding. Beyond these tangible achievements, the provision of global access to over 500,000 digitized primary sources positions the University of Oregon as a significant contributor to international scholarship.
Pushing through the administration’s remaining fast-track plans like laying off librarians and other career and research faculty is not the right way to pursue the University’s mission of serving the state, nation, and world. Instead, as suggested in a letter to President Scholz signed by six Oregon state legislators, we call on the UO administration to explore alternatives to this drastic action which would uphold shared governance and put students first.
The elimination of librarians constitutes an institutional loss with far-reaching consequences. Research productivity, grant competitiveness, and academic reputation will inevitably suffer as the loss of specialized expertise translates into concrete deficiencies: fewer grant applications, weakened research support, degraded research skill instruction, and deteriorating collection strength in critical disciplinary areas. These outcomes stand in direct opposition to the administration’s stated commitment to institutional excellence and competitiveness.