In response to continued budget cuts, NCSU Libraries has altered its proposal to reduce library hours for the Hunt Library and D.H. Hill Library.
Although an earlier proposal called for Hunt to maintain one 24- hour day on Sunday and for D.H. Hill to maintain four 24-hour days Monday through Thursday, the new proposal instead calls for Hunt to maintain two 24-hour days, Sunday and Monday, and for Hill to maintain three 24-hour days on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, according to David Goldsmith, associate director of materials management.
Hunt and Hill currently maintain five 24-hour work days each, Sunday through Thursday.
NCSU Libraries first announced the change on its website Monday.
Goldsmith said he and members of the NCSU Libraries Student Advisory Board decided to alter the proposal after they received significant feedback following NCSU Libraries’ first proposal to close Hunt Library from 11 p.m. until 7 a.m. Monday through Thursday, while keeping D.H. Hill open 24 hours those days.
One of the major concerns for cutting hours to Hunt in the first proposal was the cuts would disproportionately harm graduate students, Goldsmith said.
“When analyzing the data we saw that both libraries had almost equal traffic,” Goldsmith said.
However, there were certain resources kept on hold at D.H. Hill, that were accessed more frequently by more students.
“Obviously, we would like to keep both libraries open as they are now, but we just can’t afford to,” Goldsmith said. “We’re trying to step up and make students more aware of what’s going on beyond our website. We’re going to put up table tents in the Brickyard to really make sure students understand what’s going to happen in the fall.”
To meet the system’s budget cut of more than $1.3 million, Goldsmith said NCSU Libraries has eliminated 27 positions and will unsubscribe from about 625 academic journals.
Even with cutting hours to the Branch libraries, which include the Harry B. Lyons Design Library, the Natural Resources Library and the Veterinary Medicine Library, Goldsmith said there was still not enough funding available to keep both Hunt and Hill open five days a week for 24 hours.
NCSU Libraries has already sustained a 5 percent budget cut in the current fiscal year and could face more cuts in the next fiscal year, which begins July 1, Goldsmith said.
When NCSU Libraries proposed cutting hours in 2001, 500 students participated in a sit-in at the D.H. Hill Library and then marched to the Chancellor’s residence at midnight to demand that the library stay open all night. That same spring, more than 5,000 students marched to the state capitol to protest a $125 million cut to the UNC-System.
That year, NCSU Libraries did not cut any hours, and the state legislature declined to pass what would have been a significant cut to the UNC-System.