When you don’t know what you don’t know: How two new collections librarians right-sized a collections budget

Abstract

Due to impending campus-wide downsizing, the Grand Valley State University (GVSU) Libraries projected that a worst-case scenario would result in a 14% cut to the library’s collections budget for fiscal year 2020. In the same year, GVSU Libraries welcomed several new members of its leadership team, including the dean, two associate deans, head of systems, head of collections, business administrator, and a vacancy after the long-time acquisitions manager retired. Budget cuts and staff turnover are tough, but they prompted a much-needed reassessment of roles, culture, and priorities in the library. Different approaches to spending and curating the library’s collections were vital to counteract the budgetary challenges. Cara Cadena, the new head of collections, was charged with building a task force to recommend cancellations and a plan to communicate these changes across campus. Decisions were made based on feedback gathered from teaching faculty, liaison librarians, campus stakeholders, and usage data. Ultimately, the communication plan proved to be the most critical--and challenging--part of the process. In this session, Cara and Marcia will discuss successes, missteps, results, the importance of vendor relationships, and future plans for collection management at GVSU. Attendees will gain insights into leveraging stakeholder buy-in and grasping opportunities amidst constant change (and decreased funding) in order to evolve effectively. They’ll also learn how GVSU Libraries are reimagining the role of the collections team.