Library Heads Explain Announced Layoffs

On the heels of last month’s announcement that 10 employees would be laid off in June, Harvard College Library (HCL) officials addressed workers’ concerns at an open informational forum yesterday.

About 40 percent of HCL employees—170 people—attended either yesterday’s meeting or an identical hour-long session held Monday, but only about 20 questions were asked over the course of the two days, according to Larsen Librarian of the College Nancy M. Cline.

Cline told the audience that internal deliberations preceding last month’s layoffs were focused on protecting programs and services, rather than “choosing people” to fire.

Geoff Carens, an employee in Government Documents, which will lose two of their five reference librarians, speculated last month that higher-paid, more experienced workers had been targeted in this recent round of layoffs. Nine of the 10 employees dismissed were over 40, said Carens, who attended Monday’s meeting.

According to Associate Librarian for Planning and Administration Susan A. Lee, HCL only considered the layoffs after other budget cuts, such as the reduction of journal subscriptions, had proved insufficient in satisfying the projected deficit.

“The question has come up, ‘Did we consider everything possible before we got into deciding about layoffs?’” Lee said. “We made decisions on a number of other very substantial cuts before we got up against the wall.”

Cline also emphasized the library’s enormous size and complexity, reminding employees that unlike most U.S. university libraries, HCL carries the burden of paying for all of its building costs, physical maintenance and employee fringe benefits. At other institutions, she said, these expenses are covered by the central administration.

“The size of HCL is one of our ‘working liabilities,’” she said.

She said that the Harvard Corporation’s low endowment payout, the static rate of subventions, or grants, from FAS, the rising costs of acquisitions and the recently increased fringe benefit rate have all contributed to HCL’s significant budget deficit.

Cline explained that different sources of income can only be used for certain projects.

For example, one-time donations are generally reserved for single purchases—like the new ID readers in Lamont Library—and cannot be transferred to other projects.

Lee added that prospects for fiscal year 2005 budget are grim, as the endowment payout is likely to remain low while fringe benefit rates will continue to rise.

After Lee’s speech yesterday the floor was opened up, but only four employees questioned the administrative panel, which also included Associate Librarian for Research and Instruction Lynda Leahy and Associate Librarian for Collections Jeffrey L. Horrell.

Employees asked about health care benefits, the future of the library’s financial health and mechanics of the initial “belt-tightening” implemented earlier this year.

According to Lee, January’s round of layoffs was new not only to HCL, but to all of FAS.

“I just want to acknowledge,” she said, “that it is a shock to the organization and a change in climate.”

After the meeting was adjourned, employees seemed to leave with mixed feelings. One Houghton Library employee, who refused to give her name, called it a “waste of time,” saying that she “didn’t learn anything new.”

Frank Levy, however, an employee at Technical Services, thought the presentation was informative, if not somewhat confusing for someone without a firm grounding in financial terms and concepts.

“Nancy Cline speaks very well,” he said.

—Staff writer Leon Neyfakh can be reached at neyfakh@fas.harvard.edu.