The graduate Labor Union and graduate students as a whole at the University are very concerned about the recent budget cuts at the University's Library. Each and every one of the cuts that the Library has had to make is making it more difficult for graduate students at the University to do their work, both teaching and research. The Graduate Labor Union is horrified by the recent cuts in graduate (and undergraduate) student jobs at the Library, the decrease in the number of hours, and possible cuts in Library acquisitions and maintenance of resources.
A library is the heart of a university and it is the seat of all learning at universities; taking resources away from the University's Library not only hurts graduate students but also hurts the University as a whole. Cuts will hurt the University in these ways: It will hurt the teaching mission, the quality of research and the general quality of graduate students' lives and work. It is the position of the Graduate Labor Union that this is unacceptable. The Library is one of the last things that should be cut, not the first.
Many graduate students at the University have held jobs at the Library to supplement the income they receive as teaching assistants, graduate instructors or research assistants. The loss of a significant number of these graduate student positions at the Library has put an additional burden on graduate students in their attempts to make ends meet. The University has a responsibility to ensure that its graduate students, who do so much of the very valuable teaching and research, make a livable wage.
In an attempt to save money, the Library also has decreased the hours that the libraries are open. This has a very real effect on graduate students. The hours that the libraries are closed are some of the very hours that graduate students use the Library the most for their research. Library work is essential to most dissertations and theses. Because graduate students spend much of their weekday time teaching or doing other essential jobs around the University, nights and weekends -- including the weekend mornings -- often are the only time left for graduate students to work on their dissertation research. Research fellowships are scarce enough that relatively few graduate students can afford to work on their dissertations throughout the day. Cutting library hours will make it more difficult for graduate students to finish their dissertation research in the length of time requisite for obtaining a job.
A decrease in library resource acquisition and maintenance funds will have disastrous effects on the research that can be done by graduate students on Grounds. Almost all graduate students depend on the excellent resources that are provided by our University, either in digital or traditional format, in order to do our research and to impart to the students that we teach the most up-to-date knowledge and thinking in our particular fields. We can only hope that the Library will not have to make cuts in the acquisition and maintenance of its resources in order to meet budgetary demands. Such action will hurt not only graduate students but also the quality of our Library, which up until this crisis has been held in high esteem by researchers across the nation. The University's and the Library's excellent rankings in this nation should not be lost due to a decrease in Library resources. It would be a mockery of the University's academic roots, should the very heart of academic learning be lost due to a decrease in Library resources.
The University is subject to the very real budget crisis in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The administration may feel that its hands are tied by the state's budget crisis. However, I, along with the Graduate Labor Union, wish to make it very clear to the administration that the budget crisis cannot be solved by cutting the jobs of graduate students and by decreasing the resources that make this University great. The students of the University, their parents and the taxpayers deserve better.
We hope the University administration will take these concerns seriously and will work to make the changes necessary so that the University remains a prestigious center for higher learning. The Graduate Labor Union is ready to meet with the president and other members of the administration in order to find solutions to the Library budget crisis that will benefit everyone at the University.
(Daniela L. Bell is president of the Graduate Labor Union.)
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