Comments on: Hard Times For Higher Education http://acrlog.org/2009/01/13/hard-times-for-higher-education/ Blogging by and for academic and research librarians Fri, 19 Mar 2010 15:43:31 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: manners v. hospitality, revisited (or, posi v. judgy). « info-mational http://acrlog.org/2009/01/13/hard-times-for-higher-education/comment-page-1/#comment-138662 manners v. hospitality, revisited (or, posi v. judgy). « info-mational Wed, 02 Sep 2009 20:38:04 +0000 http://acrlog.org/?p=1207#comment-138662 [...] no longer news that tough times all around are hastening what has been characterized as the “new normal” in librarianship. While all of us are experiencing it a bit differently, my personal new [...] [...] no longer news that tough times all around are hastening what has been characterized as the “new normal” in librarianship. While all of us are experiencing it a bit differently, my personal new [...]

]]> By: A Guide To The “New Normal” For Academic Libraries http://acrlog.org/2009/01/13/hard-times-for-higher-education/comment-page-1/#comment-118418 A Guide To The “New Normal” For Academic Libraries Tue, 07 Apr 2009 13:13:00 +0000 http://acrlog.org/?p=1207#comment-118418 [...] read a higher education news publication or engage in a conversation with a colleague without the economic meltdown finding its way into the discussion. According to the guide the big question for libraries is [...] [...] read a higher education news publication or engage in a conversation with a colleague without the economic meltdown finding its way into the discussion. According to the guide the big question for libraries is [...]

]]> By: ssmith http://acrlog.org/2009/01/13/hard-times-for-higher-education/comment-page-1/#comment-112004 ssmith Wed, 14 Jan 2009 14:58:45 +0000 http://acrlog.org/?p=1207#comment-112004 My husband is looking for a full time teaching position in philosophy. (He's been teaching adjunct since we left our old positions over a year ago.) He had an interview at the American Philosophical Association Eastern Division convention back in December. There were over 800 job candidates registered (at the time he signed in) and fewer than 120 schools actually interviewing for positions. And he's already received letters from schools saying "we've cancelled the position, won't you please reapply when we repost sometime in the nebulous future?" And the community college where I work is operating on an extremely short library staff - the director left this past summer, and they've decided not to re-hire, nor have they filled any of the other positions that were vacated by folks changing jobs. That plus the state proration on the education budget means that not only do we not have enough staff to competently assist our students with the resources we do have, we also are not allowed to purchase any new books (or even pencils!) for the forseeable future. My husband is looking for a full time teaching position in philosophy. (He’s been teaching adjunct since we left our old positions over a year ago.) He had an interview at the American Philosophical Association Eastern Division convention back in December. There were over 800 job candidates registered (at the time he signed in) and fewer than 120 schools actually interviewing for positions. And he’s already received letters from schools saying “we’ve cancelled the position, won’t you please reapply when we repost sometime in the nebulous future?”

And the community college where I work is operating on an extremely short library staff – the director left this past summer, and they’ve decided not to re-hire, nor have they filled any of the other positions that were vacated by folks changing jobs. That plus the state proration on the education budget means that not only do we not have enough staff to competently assist our students with the resources we do have, we also are not allowed to purchase any new books (or even pencils!) for the forseeable future.

]]> By: Ameet Doshi http://acrlog.org/2009/01/13/hard-times-for-higher-education/comment-page-1/#comment-112003 Ameet Doshi Wed, 14 Jan 2009 14:26:42 +0000 http://acrlog.org/?p=1207#comment-112003 Although the proposal is still being worked out, I've read that much of the forthcoming stimulus is expected to go towards state and local governments to help maintain services and improve infrastructure. I would think that libraries (both academic and public) would benefit from such funding. An area of particular opportunity, in my view, is using federal funds to sustainably retrofit older library buildings in an effort to improve their efficiency over the short and long term (using the US Green Building Council's LEED approach). Although I'm uncertain whether such efforts could be extended beyond public libraries to state-funded academic libraries. Although the proposal is still being worked out, I’ve read that much of the forthcoming stimulus is expected to go towards state and local governments to help maintain services and improve infrastructure. I would think that libraries (both academic and public) would benefit from such funding.

An area of particular opportunity, in my view, is using federal funds to sustainably retrofit older library buildings in an effort to improve their efficiency over the short and long term (using the US Green Building Council’s LEED approach). Although I’m uncertain whether such efforts could be extended beyond public libraries to state-funded academic libraries.

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