The Library Council advises the Provost and the Senior Vice President for USF Health or their designees on matters pertaining to the composition, function, and structure of the USF Libraries. The Library Council is currently focused on several pressing issues:
Advocacy: Restoring the Library Budget & Enhancing Institutional Support
The cuts to the USF Libraries' budget dominated the Library Council's agenda over
the last year. Dean Chavez shared detailed information about the budget, our status
within the SUS, as well as our status as an aspiring ARL, The budget cuts have had
a direct impact on faculty and student success and they have delayed USF aspirational
goals.
The LC took the following actions:
- Provided the Senate with a statement about the impact (Statement attached.)
- Spoke to the Strategic Planning Committee to express concerns about the budget cuts
and to advocate for proper Library funding to support USF's success.
Materials Policy
As a result of budget cuts, the USF Libraries implemented mitigation procedures that
included the elimination of publication packages and the rerouting of access to many
resources. The Library administration and staff shared phases of the process and considered
feedback from council members.
Continued Council Priorities for 2021-2022
The USF Libraries seek a path to membership in the Association of Research Libraries.
The Association of Research Libraries fosters the open exchange of ideas and expertise,
promotes equity and diversity, and pursues advocacy and public policy efforts that
reflect the values of the library, scholarly, and higher education communities. ARL
forges partnerships and catalyzes the collective efforts of research libraries to
enable knowledge creation and to achieve enduring and barrier-free access to information.
To achieve ARL invitation, the Library Council will continue to advocate for the USF Libraries with the following priorities:
Restoration & Growth of the Library Budget
The USF Library budget, which has been a flat budget for 13 years, is a reduced budget
for the Library due to increasing costs of subscriptions. To date, the growth in the
USF index score is attributable to Student Tech Fees, grants and contracts, and employing
an all source budget strategy, not increases in the budget. USF administration need
to restore and grow the Library budget.
Focusing on Faculty Success
The University of South Florida states that it is committed to advancing the success
of faculty in relation to their teaching, research, clinical, and service goals. The
university recognizes the importance of an inclusive institutional environment and
culture that incorporates an organizational framework for faculty success across the
following core areas:
- Teaching and Student Learning
- Research, Partnerships, & Communication
- Access & Empowerment
- Finances, Infrastructure, & Analysis
USF Faculty Success initiatives should identify USF Libraries resources and key factors that enable knowledge creation and barrier-free access to information across these core areas.
Maximizing Library Contributions to Emerging Strategic Signature Initiatives
The USF Library Council reviewed the USF Strategic Planning Metrics with specific
focus on the USF Libraries. As a council of the Faculty Senate, we provided the following
feedback from our experience as faculty who have worked closely with the USF Libraries
(Tampa, St. Petersburg, Sarasota, Health).
The success of USF’s strategic future is directly tied to the success of the USF Libraries. Across the Blueprint for a Bold Future, and within the 11 Institutional Core Commitments, the 7 Strategic Areas of Focus, and the 5 Approved Goals, the USF Libraries are primarily described as “infrastructure.”
Although we acknowledge that the USF Libraries serve as infrastructure through their collections and facilities, we want to emphasize that the Libraries are also essential to research, creativity, and learning through the curation of meta-collections, the development of responsive research workshops, and their role as collaborative partners in research and teaching endeavors.
- Every research project begins with a literature review or some type of connection to relevant and high-quality information.
- The Library staff, the collections, and digital resources facilitate the discovery of information using tools that satisfy intellectual curiosity and promote innovation in research and teaching.
- The USF Libraries provide an inclusive environment with the freedom and resources to work towards a vision of the future.
- The USF Libraries provide the tools necessary to share the results of research with
both the local community and the world, and to measure its impact.
Whereas IT primarily serves institutional stakeholders, the USF Libraries’ collections, services, and partnerships engage the regional, national, and global academic communities.
As members of the USF Library Council, we want to distinguish the USF Libraries from IT infrastructure, to identify that without adequate and continual support of our libraries and information services the university cannot achieve its strategic goals, and to ensure the metrics accurately reflect the Library’s essential role in USF’s future success.