Academic Libraries: "UCSD Library Cuts Mean 150,000 Books Must Go"

From a California Watch Report:

Driven by dramatic budget cuts that will shutter four campus libraries, staffers at UC San Diego are removing roughly 150,000 books and journals from their collections by summer’s end – selling volumes to the highest bidder or donating them.

If UCSD students or researchers want to check out the selected writings of Benjamin Rush, they might have to request it through an interlibrary loan and wait for a couple of days until it is delivered from another UC campus or from one of two UC library storage facilities.

The UCSD libraries face at least a $3 million budget cut in the coming academic year – about a 12 percent decrease. That comes on top of previous cuts of $5 million since 2008-09, UCSD libraries spokeswoman Dolores Davies said.

To deal with the cuts, the university has closed its medical center library, the International Relations & Pacific Studies library, and the Center for Library & Instructional Computing Services. The Scripps Institution of Oceanography is slated to be closed next year.

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Overall, the university will cull about 4 percent of its 3.5 million volume print collection by the end of summer. The university could get rid of more volumes later this year, depending on officials’ assessment of other collections.

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Filed under: Academic Libraries, Libraries, Reports