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On my mind
I
ON MY MIND Saving Graduate in California:
Library Programs
A Modest Proposal
by Russell C. Fischer
G
raduate library education in California is in serious trouble. In late February of last year, UC-Berkeley’s Chancellor Chang-Lin Tien accepted the recommendation of a campus committee to suspend admissions to Berkeley’s graduate library school. Then, in early June, UCLA’s Chancellor Charles Young announced plans to close UCLA’s graduate library school in July of 1994. If these two schools are closed and their programs eliminated, the nation’s largest state, with a population of 31 million people, will be left with but one ALA-accredited library school-that of San Jose State University. Such moves are tantamount to placing librarians on the state’s endangered species list.
professional library schools. It’s quite another when publicly supported institutions do so. If graduate programs do have to be reduced at Berkeley and UCLA because of the fiscal situation in which the University finds itself, there are alternatives that would be less damaging to the state and to the valuable services provided by librarians, many of whom receive their professional education at the University of California. Certainly, the fiscal problems confronting the University have not been caused by libraries or librarians, and library education programs should not be sacrificed as a way of reducing costs at Berkeley and UCLA.
Saving Money and Cutting Crime in the Bargain Adversely Affecting Public Good There is no doubt that the state of California and its publicly supported institutions of higher education have fallen upon hard times because of a deep and longlingering economic recession. But to eliminate two badly needed and highly regarded library education programs would be extremely short-sighted. Berkeley and UCLA award almost half of the approximately 230 MLS degrees granted each year in California. In addition, each school awards a handful of Ph.D.s each year. Absent these two programs, California will be without many of the new librarians needed to staff and manage the state’s academic, public, and special libraries. Because libraries play such a vital role in the educational, cultural, and recreational life of California, to precipitously cut off the supply of new librarians will only add to the state’s problems by adversely affecting the quality of life of its citizens. What Chancellors Tien and Young appear to be overlooking is that the University of California, “a public trust” according to the state constitution, has a responsibility to support programs, such as library education, which provide an essential public service to the citizens of the state. It’s one thing when private universities, such as Chicago and Columbia, which need have little regard for the public good, jettison their Russell G. Fischer is Dean City College,
of Learning
Resources,
San lose
Tracing the University of California’s precarious financial condition back to the state’s economic situation, one has to ask: If business and law school graduates had been doing a competent job, would the state be suffering bankruptcies, business failures, job loss, and unemployment, in record numbers? Hardly. Therefore, if Berkeley and UCLA must cut graduate programs, better to begin with programs that are clearly doing a lousy job in preparing students for the rigors of the real world. Setting aside some creative escapades involving junk bonds, hostile takeovers, and insider trading, the crowning achievement of the business sector during the past decade was surely the infamous savings and loan debacle-the largest financial scandal in American history-for which we all will be paying for decades to come. So much for business and the public good. Given such rapacious and nefarious behavior on the part of those in the business sector, Chancellors Tien and Young could undoubtedly strike a significant blow against white collar crime by closing their graduate business schools and tossing the keys into the Pacific Ocean. With 21 AACSB-accredited graduate business schools, plus numerous unaccredited programs, the loss of the business schools at Berkeley and UCLA would be a small price to pay to preserve the two ALA-accredited library programs. California needs more MBAs about as much as it needs a series of major earthquakes. Unlike
San Jose, CA.
The Journal of Academic Librarianship, vol. 19, no. 6, p. 384-385 01994 by the Journal of Academic Librarianship. All rights reserved.
the closing of the library schools at Berkeley and UCLA, which would save relatively little money but would produce results detrimental to the citizens of the state, the closing of the graduate business schools would not only provide substantial monetary savings but also create a model crime abatement program for the state. If closing two business schools does not provide the requisite savings, the next target should be the law schools, many of whose graduates serve as hired guns of their brethren in the business community. Lawyers undoubtedly played a major role in the incompetent and larcenous business decisions that have left California in such a perilous economic situation. Judging from the number of lawyers who hawk their services via television commercials, California needs lawyers like it needs medflies. Even former VP Dan Quayle, himself a law school graduate, was prompted to ask: “Does America really need 70 percent of the world’s lawyers?” In a state with 16 ABA-accredited law schools, closing two would be a boon to the state’s citizens.
Targeting Exorbitant Salaries and Perks Another promising target for monetary savings is the remuneration bestowed upon avaricious administrators at the University of California, many of whom currently receive excessive salaries and lavish perks. (This situation has already sparked a public outcry.) The president of the University, California’s highest paid public official, inexplicably rakes in more than twice as much as the governor of the state who is paid quite adequately at $120,000 a year. In addition, several other University administrators receive salaries significantly higher than the governor’s, and upon retirement, these same “public servants” are granted exorbitant and unwarranted severance packages. Last year, David Gardner, on his retirement as president of the
To the Editor:
May I, as the last Librarian of the National Central Library (NCL) and Donald Urquhart’s successor as Director-General of the British Library Lending Division, make two points about the excellent article in the September 1993 JAL, “From Interlibrary Lending to Document Delivery: The British Library Document Supply Centre,” by Dennis Carrigan? I wish to set the record straight. Carrigan says that “the birth of the British Library in July of 1973 involved little more
University, was given a $1 million “golden parachute” after spending only a decade on the job. Gardner’s pension even exceeds the governor’s salary! As Oscar Wilde so aptly put it: “Nothing succeeds like excess.”
Consider the Alternatives In considering the impact of eliminating library education programs, Chancellors Tien and Young would do well to familiarize themselves with Article IX of the state constitution which declares: “A general diffusion of knowledge and intelligence being essential to the preservation of the rights and liberties of the people, the Legislature shall encourage by all suitable means the promotion of intellectual, scientific, moral, and agricultural improvement.” The chancellors should then weigh the indispensable role that librarians play in the “diffusion of knowledge and intelligence” to preserve “the rights and liberties of the people,” and in the “promotion of intellectual, scientific, moral, and agricultural improvement.” Without librarians educated at the University of California, an essential public service will be denied many citizens of the state. There are alternatives to abolishing the graduate library programs at Berkeley and UCLA-alternatives that would, at one and the same time, save substantial amounts of money and prove of benefit to the state’s citizens. California cannot afford to do with two fewer accredited graduate library education programs. But it can well afford to do with two fewer graduate business schools and two fewer law schools. And the University could realize additional cost savings by reducing outlandish administrative salaries, perks, and pensions to reasonable levels. If only University administrators and the board of regents have the wisdom and the courage to do the right thing. V
than a name change.” In fact, it involved a good deal more. Above all, it added responsibility for the humanities and social sciences to the NLLST’s existing coverage, which was mainly in science and technology. It also added the very large book stock of the NCL to the NLLST’s collections, and the union lists built up the NCL; these were greatly slimmed down, but they still enabled the British Library to back up its own stock with the holdings of other libraries.
Carrigan also says that “The name was changed from Lending Division to Document Supply Centre in 1986 to reflect the growing importance of the document supply industry.” I changed it in late 1985 for two reasons: following a restructuring, the British Library no longer had Divisions, and three quarters of what we supplied was (and had been for some time) in the form of photocopies rather than loans.-Maurice B. Line, Information & Library Consultant, Harrogate, N Yorks, England. v
the Journal of Academic Librarianship, November 1993
385
ON MY MIND Saving Graduate in California:
Library Programs
A Modest Proposal
by Russell C. Fischer
G
raduate library education in California is in serious trouble. In late February of last year, UC-Berkeley’s Chancellor Chang-Lin Tien accepted the recommendation of a campus committee to suspend admissions to Berkeley’s graduate library school. Then, in early June, UCLA’s Chancellor Charles Young announced plans to close UCLA’s graduate library school in July of 1994. If these two schools are closed and their programs eliminated, the nation’s largest state, with a population of 31 million people, will be left with but one ALA-accredited library school-that of San Jose State University. Such moves are tantamount to placing librarians on the state’s endangered species list.
professional library schools. It’s quite another when publicly supported institutions do so. If graduate programs do have to be reduced at Berkeley and UCLA because of the fiscal situation in which the University finds itself, there are alternatives that would be less damaging to the state and to the valuable services provided by librarians, many of whom receive their professional education at the University of California. Certainly, the fiscal problems confronting the University have not been caused by libraries or librarians, and library education programs should not be sacrificed as a way of reducing costs at Berkeley and UCLA.
Saving Money and Cutting Crime in the Bargain Adversely Affecting Public Good There is no doubt that the state of California and its publicly supported institutions of higher education have fallen upon hard times because of a deep and longlingering economic recession. But to eliminate two badly needed and highly regarded library education programs would be extremely short-sighted. Berkeley and UCLA award almost half of the approximately 230 MLS degrees granted each year in California. In addition, each school awards a handful of Ph.D.s each year. Absent these two programs, California will be without many of the new librarians needed to staff and manage the state’s academic, public, and special libraries. Because libraries play such a vital role in the educational, cultural, and recreational life of California, to precipitously cut off the supply of new librarians will only add to the state’s problems by adversely affecting the quality of life of its citizens. What Chancellors Tien and Young appear to be overlooking is that the University of California, “a public trust” according to the state constitution, has a responsibility to support programs, such as library education, which provide an essential public service to the citizens of the state. It’s one thing when private universities, such as Chicago and Columbia, which need have little regard for the public good, jettison their Russell G. Fischer is Dean City College,
of Learning
Resources,
San lose
Tracing the University of California’s precarious financial condition back to the state’s economic situation, one has to ask: If business and law school graduates had been doing a competent job, would the state be suffering bankruptcies, business failures, job loss, and unemployment, in record numbers? Hardly. Therefore, if Berkeley and UCLA must cut graduate programs, better to begin with programs that are clearly doing a lousy job in preparing students for the rigors of the real world. Setting aside some creative escapades involving junk bonds, hostile takeovers, and insider trading, the crowning achievement of the business sector during the past decade was surely the infamous savings and loan debacle-the largest financial scandal in American history-for which we all will be paying for decades to come. So much for business and the public good. Given such rapacious and nefarious behavior on the part of those in the business sector, Chancellors Tien and Young could undoubtedly strike a significant blow against white collar crime by closing their graduate business schools and tossing the keys into the Pacific Ocean. With 21 AACSB-accredited graduate business schools, plus numerous unaccredited programs, the loss of the business schools at Berkeley and UCLA would be a small price to pay to preserve the two ALA-accredited library programs. California needs more MBAs about as much as it needs a series of major earthquakes. Unlike
San Jose, CA.
The Journal of Academic Librarianship, vol. 19, no. 6, p. 384-385 01994 by the Journal of Academic Librarianship. All rights reserved.
the closing of the library schools at Berkeley and UCLA, which would save relatively little money but would produce results detrimental to the citizens of the state, the closing of the graduate business schools would not only provide substantial monetary savings but also create a model crime abatement program for the state. If closing two business schools does not provide the requisite savings, the next target should be the law schools, many of whose graduates serve as hired guns of their brethren in the business community. Lawyers undoubtedly played a major role in the incompetent and larcenous business decisions that have left California in such a perilous economic situation. Judging from the number of lawyers who hawk their services via television commercials, California needs lawyers like it needs medflies. Even former VP Dan Quayle, himself a law school graduate, was prompted to ask: “Does America really need 70 percent of the world’s lawyers?” In a state with 16 ABA-accredited law schools, closing two would be a boon to the state’s citizens.
Targeting Exorbitant Salaries and Perks Another promising target for monetary savings is the remuneration bestowed upon avaricious administrators at the University of California, many of whom currently receive excessive salaries and lavish perks. (This situation has already sparked a public outcry.) The president of the University, California’s highest paid public official, inexplicably rakes in more than twice as much as the governor of the state who is paid quite adequately at $120,000 a year. In addition, several other University administrators receive salaries significantly higher than the governor’s, and upon retirement, these same “public servants” are granted exorbitant and unwarranted severance packages. Last year, David Gardner, on his retirement as president of the
To the Editor:
May I, as the last Librarian of the National Central Library (NCL) and Donald Urquhart’s successor as Director-General of the British Library Lending Division, make two points about the excellent article in the September 1993 JAL, “From Interlibrary Lending to Document Delivery: The British Library Document Supply Centre,” by Dennis Carrigan? I wish to set the record straight. Carrigan says that “the birth of the British Library in July of 1973 involved little more
University, was given a $1 million “golden parachute” after spending only a decade on the job. Gardner’s pension even exceeds the governor’s salary! As Oscar Wilde so aptly put it: “Nothing succeeds like excess.”
Consider the Alternatives In considering the impact of eliminating library education programs, Chancellors Tien and Young would do well to familiarize themselves with Article IX of the state constitution which declares: “A general diffusion of knowledge and intelligence being essential to the preservation of the rights and liberties of the people, the Legislature shall encourage by all suitable means the promotion of intellectual, scientific, moral, and agricultural improvement.” The chancellors should then weigh the indispensable role that librarians play in the “diffusion of knowledge and intelligence” to preserve “the rights and liberties of the people,” and in the “promotion of intellectual, scientific, moral, and agricultural improvement.” Without librarians educated at the University of California, an essential public service will be denied many citizens of the state. There are alternatives to abolishing the graduate library programs at Berkeley and UCLA-alternatives that would, at one and the same time, save substantial amounts of money and prove of benefit to the state’s citizens. California cannot afford to do with two fewer accredited graduate library education programs. But it can well afford to do with two fewer graduate business schools and two fewer law schools. And the University could realize additional cost savings by reducing outlandish administrative salaries, perks, and pensions to reasonable levels. If only University administrators and the board of regents have the wisdom and the courage to do the right thing. V
than a name change.” In fact, it involved a good deal more. Above all, it added responsibility for the humanities and social sciences to the NLLST’s existing coverage, which was mainly in science and technology. It also added the very large book stock of the NCL to the NLLST’s collections, and the union lists built up the NCL; these were greatly slimmed down, but they still enabled the British Library to back up its own stock with the holdings of other libraries.
Carrigan also says that “The name was changed from Lending Division to Document Supply Centre in 1986 to reflect the growing importance of the document supply industry.” I changed it in late 1985 for two reasons: following a restructuring, the British Library no longer had Divisions, and three quarters of what we supplied was (and had been for some time) in the form of photocopies rather than loans.-Maurice B. Line, Information & Library Consultant, Harrogate, N Yorks, England. v
the Journal of Academic Librarianship, November 1993
385