The University of Oregon Libraries are one of several areas on campus face significant loss of Career faculty FTE in the coming year. Of the 42 faculty librarians, 15 have been renewed at only .55 FTE for the coming year, 3 more face half-time contracts because promotions put them on a new contract cycle, and 2 Assistant Librarians decided to withdraw their promotion materials because of reduced contracts.
Many library units are already short-staffed after several years of budget-related layoffs and unfilled positions. These new cuts will inevitably lead to significant reductions in or loss of library services and professional expertise, which have ripple affect on research, teaching, and learning across the University.
Updates
Essential, Yet Disposable: How the Career Faculty FTE Cuts Impact Librarians
Like many colleges and universities, the University of Oregon is anticipating a potential budgetary shortfall as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, due to expected cuts to the university’s state funding and a projected drop in enrollment for fall term. Without yet having any reliable data on the status of either funding stream, UO has opted to preemptively cut costs by targeting 211 Career non-tenure-track faculty whose contracts happened to be up for renewal this spring; these faculty have had their FTE for the 2020-21 academic year cut in half, and have received 1-year contracts in lieu of the 2- or 3-year contracts they would normally expect. Among those 211 faculty who are bearing the brunt of the university’s savings plan are 14 faculty librarians who have received notice that their positions will be reduced from full-time to 0.55 FTE. Another 5 librarians who were up for promotion this year faced the choice between receiving a similar reduction in FTE with their new contracts upon promotion, or pulling their promotion applications to retain their full FTE under their current contracts.
By the Summer of 2021 there will be an estimated 8 out of 42 Librarians working full-time.
25% Reduction in the UO Librarian Workforce in FY21
* The numbers provided are cumulative.
81% Reduction in the UO Librarian Workforce in FY22
* The numbers provided are cumulative.
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