It’s not just municipal libraries that are feeling the pinch of ongoing budget cuts. Campus libraries are also facing cuts, which result in reduced staff and even reduced hours. In the past three years alone, UCSC’s libraries have lost $2 million in funding. New books are rarely acquired and important journal subscriptions are going unfilled.
To protest the new library austerity, students have spent the past three nights engaged in what they call a “study-in.” They show up at the libraries in the evening and read, refusing to leave at 10pm when the library is about to close and pressing for it to remain open til midnight.
The first protest was held on Monday night, and the campus responded by sending in 10 police officers to supervise the students. Another protest was planned for Tuesday night at the McHenry and Science and Engineering libraries, but when students showed up they discovered that the libraries had closed at 4:30pm.
Yesterday’s protest brought 50 students to the Science and Engineering library, where they planned to stay and study till midnight. This was preceded by a meeting between student and library representatives hoping to iron out the problem. One participant at the meetings, graduate student Brian Malone, said that the librarians understand the students’ plight and are appreciative of how the protests have prevented even further cuts. Next year, the school plans to cut library funding by an additional $180,000. Read more at Santa Cruz Sentinel.
