2019 Charleston Library Conference

In the fall of 2018, due to impending campus-wide budget downsizing, the Grand Valley State University (GVSU) Libraries projected that a worst case scenario would result in a 14% cut to the library’s collections budget for fiscal year 2020. In the same year, GVSU Libraries welcomed several new members of its leadership team, including the Dean, two Associate Deans, Head of Systems, Head of Collections, Business Administrator, and left with a vacancy to fill after the Acquisitions Manager of 26 years retired.
 
Budget cuts and staff turnover are tough, but they are part of library life, plus they prompted a much-needed reassessment of roles, culture, and priorities of the library. Different approaches to spending and curating the library’s collections were vital to counteract the budgetary challenges. Cara Cadena, the new Head of Collections, was charged with building a task force to recommend cancellations and a plan to communicate these changes across campus, all within a six-month timeframe. Decisions were made based on feedback gathered from teaching faculty, liaison librarians, campus stakeholders, and usage data. Ultimately, the communication plan proved to be the most critical--and challenging--part of the process. The amount of time spent visiting departments, collecting feedback, and ensuring every measure was taken to make these cancellations seamless was remarkable.
 
In this session, Cara and Marcia will discuss successes, missteps, results, the importance of vendor relationships, and future plans for collection management at GVSU. Attendees will gain insights into leveraging stakeholder buy-in and grasping opportunities amidst constant change (and decreased funding) in order to evolve effectively. They’ll also learn how GVSU Libraries are reimagining the role of the collections team.