Subject:

Update on Library Transitions

As many of you know, over the last few years, the UC San Diego Library has been consolidating library facilities, services, and print collections in response to changes in how our services and resources are used and to accommodate our reduced staff size and our smaller footprint on campus. Along with these consolidations, the Library has been going through an internal restructuring, a process that began last year and will continue through fall 2013. We as an organization are transitioning from a decentralized, discipline-based branch library model to a leaner, more centralized, program-based organization. These changes will enable us to provide a more integrated and centralized suite of services and resources to our campus community, while maintaining the excellent and responsive user services our library users have come to expect from us.

As part of this restructuring, effective June 30, 2013, we will be eliminating our remaining discipline-based libraries. Those libraries within the Geisel building-Arts, Science & Engineering, and Social Sciences & Humanities-as well as the Biomedical Library, are all becoming part of a single cohesive library structure. We have also been transitioning from calling ourselves the "UC San Diego Libraries" to the "UC San Diego Library." This name better reflects our new organization and, we hope, our new structure will result in greater economies of scale and eliminate redundancies across our organization.

While these discipline-based libraries will no longer function as separate units, our faculty, students, and other users will continue to have access to many of the services and resources-both physical and digital-that they have come to expect from the Library. Although some staff reassignments have been and will continue to be made, library staff will continue to support campus teaching and research with expert and subject-based support and advice.

In the summer of 2011, the Library embarked on a three-year effort to consolidate our print collections, with the goal being to retain on campus the materials that are most actively used and needed to support current instruction and research. We expect this process, which has primarily involved the consolidation of our physical collections in the Geisel and Biomedical Library buildings, to be completed by the end of 2013. Last year, we began the process of transferring Scripps Library materials to the Geisel Library. Until this process is complete, these materials can be paged at Geisel Library.

While we realize these transitions may be challenging for some-faculty, students, and staff alike-we will continue to do all we can to minimize any impacts. Feedback from our faculty users has been essential to our consolidation efforts to date. We will continue to solicit feedback from faculty and other library users over the next year to ensure that the changes we implement effectively meet the programmatic and service needs of the campus community.

If you have questions about any of these activities, please consult our Library Transitions FAQ:
http://libraries.ucsd.edu/transitions/index.html

We would also welcome your feedback at:
http://libraries.ucsd.edu/suggestions.html

Brian E. C. Schottlaender The Audrey Geisel University Librarian