PULLMAN, Wash. — A proposal to consolidate libraries at Washington State
University as a part of general budget reductions has not been approved by
the provost or considered by the budget committee. President Lane Rawlins
told reporters at a news conference today that the proposal is still under
consideration and will be examined further.
“Budget cuts are never easy,” said Rawlins. “Consolidation of the libraries has
been under discussion for a long time and it has a lot of people upset. But
while there is a process that is still being worked through, it is not a done
deal.”
Provost Rom Markin said the process of determining the fate of branch
libraries is being handled very carefully. “In an academic environment, access
to libraries is extremely important to students, faculty and staff. Any decision
concerning libraries and accessibility of collections must be weighed and
considered with all due deliberation.”
Markin said a decision on the library consolidation would be made in as timely
a manner as possible.
Rawlins has appointed Mary Doyle as interim director of the WSU Libraries.
Doyle will also continue to serve as director of Information Technology. One
of her immediate tasks will be to study the issue of branch libraries.
WSU maintains five libraries on the Pullman campus. The proposed
consolidation would move materials from the agriculture, architecture and
education libraries into the larger Owen and Holland libraries. The Veterinary
Medicine library would be unaffected.
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