Archives
Letters
To the Editor:
On behalf of the University Libraries, I’d like to express my appreciation to Professor Ernest Sternberg for his eloquent and heartfelt recognition in the March 6 Reporter of the role of our libraries in the learning and research experiences at UB. In response to his concerns about evolving changes in library collections and spaces, I would like to briefly discuss the transformation process now underway, a process intended to position UB’s libraries to meet the information and learning space needs of students and faculty in the 21st century.
The UB 2020 strategic plan and its Building UB: The Comprehensive Physical Plan now underway are intense collaborative initiatives that position all UB Libraries units as central and active components of our university’s ambitious plans for growth and academic excellence. Redesign and updating of UB libraries’ space are clearly recognized as crucial and strategic. While space is at the forefront of present planning, the steady decline of budget resources for collections, both print and digital, also demands immediate examination and institutional response if UB is truly committed to improving its libraries.
It is our hope that the university’s strategic planning initiatives will clearly communicate an overall vision and comprehensive space plan for the UB Libraries prior to the commencement of sequential projects that redesign and reallocate specific spaces in various individual libraries’ units. The envisioned future libraries need to be understood and embraced by the university community before initial and limited transformations begin to happen. Some of the contemplated early changes may be temporary steps in a compelling, overall design to eventually create library and learning spaces that inspire, invite intellectual curiosity, and facilitate diverse learning modes. Many exciting ideas for space redesign are being voiced and thoughtfully considered right now as we collectively engage in UB 2020 and the “Heart of the Campus” component of the comprehensive physical plan.
Professor Sternberg articulates the sense of diminishment that is presently evident as a result of long-term decline in the ability of the UB Libraries to keep pace with both cost increases and the information explosion in print and digital publications. These, of course, are not merely local problems; all research libraries are struggling with the same challenges. The UB Libraries have achieved exceptional success and innovation by embracing the information revolution to provide expansive, diverse information resources and services in digital and print formats. We also continue to expand the selection of current print materials in most of the libraries. In anticipation of space reconfigurations, however, we are no longer adding print materials to the Undergraduate Library’s book collection mentioned by Professor Sternberg. Despite our stewardship efforts, our budgetary resources have now reached a breaking point, where further declines would lead to significant degradation of collections, services and resources. We are engaged in ongoing conversations with the university regarding this situation and we are responding in a proactive manner by expanding our fundraising strategy to help raise revenue through previously untapped avenues.
Although we are in a time of challenge and change, we are fully engaged and have great faith in the UB 2020 planning process. We are excited by emerging visions of future libraries’ spaces—spaces that will make our libraries a key component in the delivery of UB’s academic mission. We believe that together with the university community, we can and will create inspirational learning spaces in an improved and transformed libraries’ footprint that will span and serve our three campuses.
Stephen Roberts
Associate Vice President for University Libraries