Student Council approved a resolution last night to endorse a statement criticizing the Education School dean and the University Library system for proposed changes to the Education Library without student input, citing a violation of student self-governance.
Education School Dean Robert Pianta said the proposed changes were intended “to move some of the existing collection of books and periodicals over to Alderman” to modernize the Education Library.
“Most of the information the library is storing now is digital, so we want to be able to have our model of the library reflect the changing nature of information storage and retrieval,” Pianta said.
He also noted that students were no longer using the physical collection as often as they once did.
“The library tracks the physical use of the material, so we’re seeing declining use of materials that were physically stored there,” Pianta said.
He said another rationale for the changes stemmed from the planned renovations to Ruffner Hall.
“We have to track the way that we’re managing our resources in the best possible way,” he said. “Ruffner will be slated for renovations in another year or so, [so] we’ll have to remove all the physical collection from Ruffner in a couple years anyway to accommodate the renovations.”
Council Education School Rep. Emily Macklin, however, in explaining her support of the resolution criticizing the Education School dean and the University Library system, said the plans and the reasons for them failed to adequately address the concerns of students.
“I think the biggest mistake [they] made was that [they] didn’t have a survey to find out why the students don’t go to the library,” Macklin said. “They didn’t really consult the students to see how they could make it more accessible.”
Macklin also said she was made even more concerned about the library changes as the result of two developments: First, a proposal for significant cuts to resources and personnel — which Macklin said will adversely affect students’ learning and research — and, second, the fact there is no guarantee that the library will return to Ruffner Hall, where it is currently located. She emphasized that there was a general lack of communication between Education students and faculty.
Pianta informed faculty of the proposal to relocate the physical collection and of the “significant cuts to resources and personnel that directly support Curry students in their learning and research” Jan. 21, according to the Resolution Regarding Proposed Changes to the Education Library.
Many Education students’ main complaint is that they were not informed of the proposed changes until a week after the faculty was informed, Macklin said.
“I learned about it through an e-mail that the Education Council president sent out to the Curry school as soon as he found out about it, which was a week later after the faculty made the proposal,” Macklin said.
Such an oversight could be considered a breach of student self-governance at the University, she added.
“The greater problem is that they did not consult the students,” Macklin said. “That’s why we’re going to Student Council for this. Self-governance is the key at the University ... and I think they completely disregarded that in this situation.”
Pianta, however, disagreed, adding that the proposed changes will benefit students because removing the Education Library’s physical collection will allow students increased access to librarians and materials.
“A chunk of what librarians have to do now is to manage the physical collection,” Pianta said. “So there’s a lot of time they spend in the summer and throughout the academic year literally in packing materials up and shipping it out.” The library changes, Pianta said, will reduce the amount of time librarians spend performing menial tasks and allow library staff to work more closely and frequently with students.
Under this new system, Education School librarians will be able to provide individual consultations to students and also help students access the University’s many resources, Pianta said.
As a result, “the amount of direct contact that students are likely have with librarians is going to increase,” Pianta said, noting that “the changes will increase the quality of our services.”
Although students may not have been initially informed of the proposal, Pianta said a UVaCollab Web site now has been set up and a forum was opened so that students can voice their opinions.
“We’re taking student feedback into consideration and we’re crafting the solutions to include the student feedback as best we can,” Pianta said. “It’s important to have students in the planning process so we can go forward ... It’s a change in the configuration in what was in place [and] something that takes some time to get used to.”
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