Science Libraries Will Face Merger

In an inaugural effort to streamline the operations of Harvard’s scattered science libraries, four will merge underneath the administrative purview of Harvard College Library in July.

The Physics, Statistics, Chemistry and Chemical Biology, and Mathematics departmental libraries will report to Lynne M. Schmelz, the librarian of Cabot and Tozzer Libraries, which fall within HCL. The remaining science libraries will see plans for an eventual administrative transfer to HCL, which manages the circulation of over 11 million items.

The news—which was e-mailed to members of the library system by Jeremy Bloxham, dean of science for the Faculty of Arts and Sciences—came five days before Tuesday’s town hall meeting, where FAS Dean Michael D. Smith unveiled a shift from small cost-reduction measures to a sweeping reevaluation of FAS structure in the face of a $220 million deficit.

HCL spokeswoman Beth Brainard said the plans for consolidation were “not associated with the budget.”

Even before the financial crisis hit Harvard, library officials had been entertaining the idea of revamping the structure of the science libraries to create greater efficiency, she said.

The consolidation of services and collections across the science library services would facilitate interdisciplinary research and economize the purchasing, licensing, and processing of materials, according to Bloxham’s statement.

But Brainard did not deny the possibility of cost-reduction measures. Given the current fiscal picture, the merging of the science libraries under one administrative umbrella is likely part of a concerted effort to shave costs, according to two library staffers interviewed yesterday.

“Any plan to consolidate in this climate is basically a retreat—a step back to contain losses, to try and control expenditures,” said Richard E. Kaufman, who works in the psychology department library, one of the science libraries that has yet to see plans for consolidation. “How far can things be allowed to slide?”

At a meeting of the Science Library Council on Monday, administrators emphasized that the plan was not driven by the desire to slash budgets. But a librarian in one of the science libraries said she believes that the declared manifesto will not necessarily leave staffers completely secure.

“We’re sure that there will be job cuts,” said the individual, who asked that she not be named in order to protect her relationship with the University. “We’re not naive.”

In February, HCL displaced 17 workers in the Widener serial services division to a Central Square facility currently occupied by HCL’s technical services unit as part of an effort to help reduce its budget for next year by $12 million.

—Staff writer Esther I. Yi can be reached at estheryi@fas.harvard.edu.